Meet the Winemakers of Hemel-en-Aarde: Peter Finlayson from Bouchard Finlayson

1. How did you get started in the wine business?

I studied oenology at Stellenbosch University and managed a post grad year ( 1975) at Geisenheim wine school in the Rheingau, Germany.

2. What is your winemaking style?

More creative than technical, very much relied on my palate!

3. How do you KNOW when you have a particularly good vintage?

When great fruit arrives at the cellar.

4. What is one of your favorite varietals to work with and why?

Pinot Noir, it never delivers a dull vintage, and extends the boundaries of the norm and distorts the logical mind set!

5. In the world of wine, who do you most admire and why? Who influenced you?

The art of Ancient Winemaking, those great artists who managed to create beautiful wines without modern technology and scientific guidance

6. Do you have a favorite wine or vintage that you have made?

1997, 2001, 2005 and many more!

7. What is one of the hardest things about winemaking year in and year out?

The job is never completed, one is caught up in vintage by vintage pregnancy where the birth of the next one immediately follows the previous one.

8. What is your most memorable wine or wine tasting experience?

There have been many! Perhaps tasting a 1938 Pommard with Paul and Ursula Bouchard

9. Do you have a random talent or party trick?

Losing patience at a fondue dinner and eating the ingredients raw!

10. What has surprised you about being a winemaker?

The incredible diversity attached to one’s job and finally the excitement of the raw energy paradigm of concentration required in achieving ones goals.