Dear Friends of Creation,
There is a grape variety that reveals everything. Unlike its more robust cousins – Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and others – Pinot Noir cannot mask where it comes from. It is thin-skinned, temperamental, and utterly transparent. Every breeze that crosses the vineyard, every mineral in the ancient soil, every decision made by the winemaker, is laid bare in the glass.
‘Pinot Noir is the transparent communicator of origin; the most honest narrator of place,’ says Jean-Claude (JC) Martin – and it is precisely this honesty that makes Creation’s Pinot Noir so extraordinary.
This is the story of how the world is discovering what we have always known.
FROM THE VINEYARD
Gerhard Bruwer, Viticulturist
The Art of Pinot Noir and Emma’s Pinot Noir 2026 have been harvested and are safely in the cellar. We brought in five tons per hectare on the Art of Pinot Noir, Emma’s Pinot Noir and the Ridge Pinot Noir, a healthy, balanced crop that speaks to the exceptional vine health we have nurtured on the Ridge for over two decades. On the Art of Creation and Emma’s Pinot Noir, the bunches weighed between 80 and 100 grams each, relatively small, and beautifully concentrated. When nature keeps the clusters this intimate, every berry carries the full intensity of our terroir.
FROM THE CELLAR
Gerhard Smith, Cellar
The Art of Pinot Noir has barely started fermentation. Very good fruit came in at optimal ripeness, after the rain, we waited patiently for it to work its way through the vines, and the fruit condition remained immaculate. We are looking at between 30 and 50 percent whole bunch in the ferments, which adds complexity, some spice and texture to the wines.
The grapes for the Ridge Pinot Noir are looking good. We still have a day to complete our Pinot Noir harvest. We have to be patient, it is a waiting game to do this perfectly. Hand picking into small 12-kilogram crates starts early in the morning until mid-morning, then the fruit goes straight to our chiller rooms and into the cellar the next morning for processing.
THE UNPAINTED CANVAS
The World’s Wine Elite Visits the Ridge
Over recent years, Creation has had the privilege of welcoming a remarkable number of Masters of Wine to the estate, from a single gathering of 42 MWs to individual visits by distinguished figures such as Victoria Mason MW, Robert Mathias MW, and Tim Atkin MW among many others. They come from different countries, with different palates and vastly different perspectives. Yet when they walk through our vineyards, taste our wines, and experience our terroir first-hand, they arrive at a remarkably similar conclusion. Here are just five of those voices.
Jane Boyce MW had visited the Hemel-en-Aarde some fifteen or sixteen years ago and returned to find something transformed. She was struck by the biodiversity, the health of the vines, and the cooling effect of the wind. But it was her reflection on Pinot Noir that resonated most deeply: ‘If there’s one grape that is transparent and will show any little fault at all, it’s Pinot Noir. And we were getting that purity in the wine.’ She spoke, too, of the land itself, how JC had found an unpainted canvas, free from the overuse of copper sulfate that marks so much of the Old World. ‘How wonderful,’ she said, ‘to be able to take nature at its best and paint your picture on it.’
Mary Gorman-McAdams MW saw the whole story, the circular economy, the approach to biodiversity, the deep respect for nature, and the level of research behind the quality. She observed something that many visitors feel but few articulate so directly: ‘You kind of wonder why these wines are not more recognised and established for the quality that you taste in the wine and actually see in the vineyard.’ She also spoke of the wind, the cloud cover, the cold temperature drops, and how everything JC describes about this place is not just talk but visible, tangible reality.
Kym Milne MW, an Australian Master of Wine and winemaker, tasted the Art of Pinot Noir and was captivated by the whole-cluster winemaking: ‘There’s no greenness, just lift and perfume and freshness and a fantastic texture. It’s really good.’ He described Creation as an incredible landscape with beautiful wines, high praise from someone with decades of international winemaking experience.
Robin Kick MW, an American based in Switzerland for over a decade and accustomed to some of the world’s most beautiful cool-climate vineyards, was profoundly moved by the purity of what she tasted. ‘I had not realised the impact of the wind,’ she reflected. ‘The beauty and the purity of the wines.’ Walking through the vineyards, she observed the biodiversity, the cooling maritime influence, and the health of the vines, concluding simply: ‘It is just truly heaven on earth.’
Jean-Michel Valette MW , former Chairman of the Institute of Masters of Wine, former Chairman of Robert Mondavi Winery, and one of North America’s earliest Masters of Wine, visited the Ridge and distilled everything he experienced into five unforgettable words. We will let those words speak for themselves at the close of this letter.
Five voices among many. But one unanimous conclusion: this place speaks truth through its most transparent grape.
THE VIEW FROM BURGUNDY
Baptiste Quinard, Burgundy Wine, Art and Culture Expert
Our long-standing friend Baptiste Quinard, an authority on Burgundian wine, art and culture who has guided our family through the great domaines of Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, and Vosne-Romanée, offers a perspective on Pinot Noir that resonates deeply with what we experience on the Ridge:
‘Pinot Noir is both One and Many. Its finesse and balance stem from its proper nature, and its adaptability allows it to reveal different facets depending on where it grows. It is like light, diffracted by a prism, offering a multitude of colours. It seems to be an illustration of Plotinus’s philosophy, or a rainbow after the rain.’
From someone who knows Burgundy’s greatest vineyards intimately, this is perhaps the most beautiful articulation of why our Pinot Noir, grown on ancient Bokkeveld shale where the Atlantic breathes, could never be mistaken for anything other than what it is, a pure expression of the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge.
FIVE VINTAGES, FIVE STORIES
The Art of Pinot Noir 2021-2025
The journey of Creation’s Art of Pinot Noir over the past five vintages is a story of a wine finding its voice, and the world leaning in to listen. Few critics have followed that journey more closely than Tim Atkin MW, whose assessments across these vintages chart the wine’s growing stature on the world stage. Our growing season temperature on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge sits within just 0.3°C of Burgundy, and it is this cool maritime climate, combined with virus-free vines now over two decades old, that gives our Pinot Noir its distinctive transparency and depth.
2021, The Vintage That Rewarded Patience
A wet, cold winter provided ideal conditions for soil health and vine hibernation, and spring brought even budding across all cultivars. The dry, cool summer that followed gave exceptional hang time, the grapes ripening slowly, preserving acidity, building complexity. In the cellar, the focus was on whole-bunch fermentation and extended lees ageing, with the Art of Pinot Noir vinified with 80% whole bunch to build structural complexity, spice and textural depth. But 2021 was also an anomaly: rain cooled and delayed the picking schedule, pushing the harvest to the 8th of March, later than usual. Rather than rush, Creation waited. The rain was good for picking later, and the quality was everything. That patience was rewarded with a wine Greg Sherwood MW scored 96 points, praising its ‘mineral texture, fine-grained tannins and real whole bunch complexity’ and describing it as a serious long-term wine with Burgundy-style precision. Tim Atkin MW also awarded 96 points, calling it ‘the pinnacle of the Creation Pinot Noir output.’ Jamie Goode praised its layered spice and minerality. A showcase vintage for Creation’s identity: old-world structure with new-world purity.
2022, The Prince Ascends the World Stage
The Cape’s wettest and coldest winter in recent memory produced vigorous growth and a lush canopy through summer. A sudden, intense heat spike preceding harvest required careful management to prevent over-ripeness, but cool autumn conditions proved ideal for Pinot Noir, extending the harvest window and preserving the delicate balance between ripeness and acid retention. The whole-bunch fermentation approach was further refined, and the resulting Art of Pinot Noir was fruit-driven yet complex, approachable yet age-worthy. The world took notice. Anthony Mueller, writing for the Robert Parker Wine Advocate, scored it 95 points, the highest-rated South African Pinot Noir in a review of 501 wines. Greg Sherwood MW awarded 95 points. Anne Krebiehl MW, writing for Decanter as part of a panel of three Masters of Wine, awarded an Outstanding 95 points, praising its ‘fresh and expressive nose’ of potpourri, rose petals, red fruit and brown baking spices, and describing it as precise with beautiful structure. And the World’s Best Sommeliers, over thirty of the finest palates from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, selected it for their 2025 Selection, calling it wild but elegant, with perfect ripeness of fruit. A vintage that demonstrates Creation’s versatility.
2023, Resilience and Enchantment
A warm, dry winter prompted early bud break, and the growing season brought challenges that tested the team’s skill: December rains triggered high fungal pressure, a wet cool summer continued the challenge, and 195mm of rain fell over the full harvest period. The Pinot Noir crop came in 10% below 2022, with bunches compact and heavy. But Creation’s strategic approach, picking Pinot Noir and Chardonnay before the heaviest rains in a carefully timed two-weekend harvest, saved the early cultivars, and the wines showed higher natural acidities and lower alcohol levels that gave them remarkable freshness. Tim Atkin MW named the Art of Pinot Noir 2023 as one of his Wines of the Year in his 2024 South Africa Special Report, awarding 95 points and recognising its whole-bunch spice, savoury depth and refined intensity. We call this vintage “Prince Charming”, an enchanting wine of brilliant pomegranate-red hue and velvety complexity, distinguished by its silky finish and lingering perfume.
2024, Leading the Quality Charge
A Level 9 weather warning in late September 2023 brought storm winds during flowering that devastated the Chardonnay crop, though Pinot Noir proved more resilient, yields came in at 4.7 tons per hectare, 13% below average, producing a small but intensely concentrated crop. A dry summer followed, with just 69mm of rainfall during harvest compared to 195mm the year before, perfect ripening conditions. In the cellar, Gerhard Smith described the vintage as very fine and elegant, with good acidity, moderate alcohol, and the concentration that only a small crop delivers. The 50% whole cluster fermentation added savoury structure and aromatic lift. Greg Sherwood MW awarded 96 points once more, declaring Creation ‘leading the quality charge’ with its premium Pinot Noirs and noting that these wines no longer need to be described as ‘good for South Africa’ but can stand confidently in any international lineup. Tim Atkin MW awarded 95 points, describing the Art of Pinot Noir as ‘structured, serious and intense, a wine made by a man who has drunk a lot of Burgundy in his life: savoury, layered and black fruited, with a thread of acidity and clove spice from 50% whole clusters.’ And in Club Oenologique’s inaugural review of South African wines, Victoria Mason MW awarded 95 points, calling it one of her highlights in a superb lineup. She described it as wonderfully perfumed with rose petals and potpourri, orange zest and pink grapefruit, fine-boned, medium-bodied and supremely elegant, with such brightness and clarity of red fruit and enlivening acidity. A mini-vertical of six vintages illustrated what fantastic terroir this is, and while five- to six-year-old vintages show a savoury, sous-bois character with bottle age, the 2024 is all about pure, precise primary fruit, with subtly integrated new oak bringing a sprinkling of sweet spice and luxuriant texture. Creation’s Hemel-en-Aarde wines, she concluded, ‘invite easy comparison with grand cru Burgundy.’ A vintage of luminous fruit, vivid cherry and cranberry, and a distinct mineral line anchored firmly to the Ridge.
2025, ‘Some of the Best Ever’
A very wet winter was followed by even budding and a short harvest blessed with virtually no rain during picking, the most favourable conditions in years. Exceptional grape quality across every cultivar, zero disease pressure, and Cellar Master Jean-Claude Martin’s verdict: ‘Just perfect.’ Pinot Noir yields ranged from 4.9 to 6 tons per hectare harvested across the estate, up slightly from 2024, reflecting the healthy equilibrium of vines now entering full maturity. As viticulturist Gerhard Bruwer surveys the Ridge, his conviction is unequivocal: ‘I believe the 2025 vintage wines will be some of the best ever.’ The vines are over twenty years old, still virus-free, still gaining in depth and complexity with each passing season. A landmark vintage for Creation.
THE VOICE OF THE VINE
A Generational Story
When JC Martin planted his maiden Pinot Noir vines on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge in 2003, he selected a southeast-facing slope where the estate’s ancient decomposed Bokkeveld shale over clay-loam soils were ideally suited to this most demanding of grapes. He chose clone 115 and 777 on R110 rootstocks. He insisted on virus-free planting material, the first in South Africa post-1994. And he brought with him the wisdom of a Swiss winemaking heritage where, as Jamie Goode observed, every vineyard, almost every grape, is tended as and by an individual.
Twenty-four years later, those vines are among the oldest Pinot Noir plantings in South Africa. These virus-free vineyards provide healthy planting material to vine nurseries across the country, contributing to the future security of the South African wine industry. And they produce wines that the world’s most respected critics and sommeliers recognise as belonging among the finest expressions of Pinot Noir on the planet.
Now Glenn Martin, fourth-generation winemaker and viticulturist, has joined the Creation team, bringing fresh energy and international perspective to a legacy built on patience, precision and an unwavering respect for nature. As JC and Carolyn have always believed: fine wine is made by fine people, and each decision made in harmony with nature is reflected in the glass.
EXPERIENCE THE STORY
Pinot Noir is a wine that asks to be experienced, not merely tasted. To understand what makes Creation’s Pinot Noir extraordinary, we invite you to join us on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, to walk through the vineyards where these grapes are grown, to feel the Atlantic breeze that cools the vines, to see the fynbos-covered mountainsides and the ancient soils that shape every vintage. Pair a glass with our seasonally inspired cuisine, and discover why Masters of Wine from around the world, standing where you will stand, each concluded that this place speaks truth through its most transparent grape.
A PERSONAL NOTE
Glenn Martin, Fourth-Generation Winemaker
On behalf of my parents Carolyn and JC, my sister Emma, myself and the entire Creation family, I would like to thank each and every one of you who has supported us over the years. We sometimes get caught up in the day-to-day demands of harvest, cellar and vineyard to see the bigger picture. But this is our 24th year at Creation, and our 20th vintage, and although that may be short in wine terms, it represents an enormous journey for our family.
It is deeply rewarding to see what Creation has become. There is always room for improvement, and we will never stop striving, but looking back we have been extraordinarily fortunate. We are not only excited for what the 2026 vintage will become in the glass, but for what the next twenty years hold, for this land, for these vines, and for the community of people who share this story with us.
‘The Oldest World, Newest Spirit’
— Jean-Michel Valette MW
With warmth and gratitude,
Carolyn, Jean-Claude, Glenn & Emma Martin
and the Creation Wines Family
7th World’s Best Vineyards · 2nd in Africa
Vinexposium V d’Or Best Brand Experience 2024 · Global Top 50 since 2019
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‘At Creation, nature leads and innovation follows.’