Physical area · South Africa
Hemel-en-Aarde
A cool valley running inland from the Atlantic at Hermanus, and South Africa’s benchmark for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Pinot Noir that is medium-bodied, red-fruited and savoury with fine tannin and real freshness; Chardonnay that is citrussy and taut with a saline edge.
About Hemel-en-Aarde
The Hemel-en-Aarde — "heaven and earth" — runs inland from the coastal town of Hermanus, and it is cooled directly by the cold Benguela Current a few kilometres away.
Tim Hamilton Russell planted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay here in 1975 on the reasoning that it was the coolest site he could find in South Africa, and the valley has been the country’s reference for both ever since.
It divides into three official wards — Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge — which get progressively higher, cooler and later-ripening inland.
The clay-rich Bokkeveld shale soils are unusual in the Cape and allow dry farming through the summer.
No authority delimits this name or attaches rules to it. A landform, valley or informal grouping with no legal standing. Real, useful, and not something an authority has delimited. That does not make it less real or less useful — it means nothing legal follows from it, and you will not generally find it on a label as a controlled designation.
Grapes
Wines from here
Climate
- Temperature
- Cool
Wind. Persistent south-easterly off the cold Atlantic, which is what keeps the valley cool through the summer.
Three kilometres from the Atlantic at its mouth, and cooled by the cold Benguela Current. It is among the coolest viticultural sites in South Africa.
Hemel-en-Aarde has a cool climate with maritime influence. Wind: Persistent south-easterly off the cold Atlantic, which is what keeps the valley cool through the summer. Three kilometres from the Atlantic at its mouth, and cooled by the cold Benguela Current. It is among the coolest viticultural sites in South Africa.
Vintage variation
Vintage matters somewhat
A dependable climate with occasional difficult years. Most vintages are broadly similar; the exceptions are the ones worth knowing about.
- Maritime influence. Nearby water lengthens the growing season and brings cloud and rain with it. Ripening is slower and less certain, and the spread between years is wider.
- Growing-season temperature. Cool. There is little heat to spare, so a cloudy summer shows in the finished wine.
Derived from the climate above, not from anyone’s view of particular years. Why there are no vintage scores here.
These are influences on how a wine turns out, not determinants of it. Picking date, yield, vine age and every winemaking decision sit between the climate and the glass.
Soil and geology
- Underlying geology
- Bokkeveld shale, weathering to clay-rich soils
- Soils
- Clay-rich shale-derived soils, unusually water-retentive for the Cape
- Drainage
- Moderate
- Water holding
- High
What it does to the vine. The clay content is high by Cape standards and holds water well, which is what makes dry-farming possible in a region with a long rainless summer.
WineHQ describes soil in terms of what it demonstrably does — drainage, heat retention, water supply, rooting depth — and not in terms of flavours it is said to transmit. Vines take up ions, not aromas, and no mechanism has been demonstrated by which a mineral in the ground is tasted in the glass. See soil and drainage.
What to eat, and how to serve it
Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.
Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir
Serve at 14–16°C (cellar cool).
Try with fillet steak, grilled chicken or bloomy-rind cheese.
Where to go next
Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.
- Walker Bay — A cool coastal district near Hermanus, producing South Africa’s best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
- Elgin — A high plateau apple-growing district that turned to wine in the 1980s, and one of the coolest places in the Cape.
- Stellenbosch — South Africa’s best-known district, producing structured Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Chenin Blanc.
Approximate centroid: -34.40°, 19.23°. WineHQ stores coordinates only where it has them, and does not estimate boundaries it has not sourced.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Wines of South Africa — WOSA