Towns Wine Co. Pinot Noir Inkwell Overberg 2022 750ml

SOUTH AFRICA : WESTERN CAPE : OVERBERG

Pinot Noir

MED-BODIED, RED CHERRY, WILD STRAWBERRY, POMEGRANATE, EARTHY, OAK

Overberg sits roughly ninety miles east of Cape Town, where the Atlantic pushes cool air inland across shale-derived, clay-rich soils — conditions that produce Pinot Noir with more tension and less fruit-forward warmth than most South African examples. The result reads closer to a cool-climate Burgundy village wine than anything from Stellenbosch.

Towns Wine Co. is the project of Alicia Towns Franken, a former wine director at Grill 23 in Boston, named Wine Enthusiast Future 40 Tastemakers in 2023, who co-founded the label to invest in underrepresented voices in the wine industry. The wine is made by a woman vineyard manager and cellar assistant whose career was shaped at Hamilton Russell — South Africa's benchmark house for cool-climate Pinot.

Named for Inkwell Beach on Martha's Vineyard. Ten months in French oak — 10% new, 20% second-pass — a restrained hand that preserves site character over wood. Only 215 cases produced.

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