Peter-Allan Finlayson, Crystallum & Gabriëlskloof

Today on the podcast we have Peter-Allan Finlayson, winemaker and co-owner of the very successful Crystallum label, and now winemaker of his father-in-law’s Gabriëlskloof wines – both based in Bot River. I first met Peter-Allan, or as most people know him, Fin, when he was pouring his wine at the same small booth as Chris and Suzaan Alheit at Cape Wine 2012. He was the first “young gun” winemaker from South Africa that I had come across that was specialising in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Most others were using Chenin Blanc and Syrah. One of the main purposes of this podcast is to produce a document of record, and not to talk about a single release too much, it is worth noting that this conversation took place in July 2020, almost exactly one year ago. Fin had just released his 2019 Crystallum wines, so that is the vintage we reference mostly throughout this episode. As you will hear, Fin and I are quite good friends, so we didn’t always keep it strictly professional throughout this conversation, and there are some nice little verbal jabs at each other along the way. I wanted to chat to Peter-Allan for a few reasons: 1) Because he makes very good wine, 2) As already mentioned, because he is one of the few of the younger generation focusing on Burgundian varieties, and 3) Because he has a different perspective than many of his contemporaries in the way he approaches the business of wine. I give you Peter-Allan Finlayson…

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