WoTM - Alvi's Drift '221' Pinotage 2022

 

My Wine of The Month for March is Alvi's Drift '221' Pinotage 2022, WO Scherpenheuval. 

It came about because I was wanting to buy a cook's apron. On Amazon the one I purchased had a series of pictures of the apron, and a video of it in action*. 

Among the wearers was a waiter loading a tray with glasses and a bottle of Alvi's Drift Pinotage (above). Which reminded me that I'd not had Alvi's Drift for more years than I can remember. So I looked online for a stockist  and found it stocked by a nearby independent merchant. And what a good buy.

The name '221' refers to  Alvi von der Merwe who was the 221st player to be  selected to play for the South African national rugby team, 'The Springboks'. The wine is made by his grandchildren at the family farm. 

It's Alvi's picture (I assume) that is imprinted on the wine's cork.

The wine is big and soft, redolent with fruit balanced with gentle tannins. A well made, delightful velvety and very moreish wine.

*Link to video - https://amzn.eu/d/35QBtia

WoTM - Doran Vineyards Family Reserve Pinotage 2023

 My Wine of The Month for February is Doran Vineyards Family Reserve Pinotage 2023, WO Voor-Paardeberg.

It was in September 2016 that I had my first and, though I didn't then  know it, last Doran Vineyards wine when I met owner Edwin Doran at a wine show. (see here)

So I was pleased to see this wine in an independent wine shop, all being at more than three times the cost it is in South Africa.

In the intervening years the wine has acquired a smart modern front label and a well-designed informative rear label. But what  about the contents? 

This is so drinkable, light red berry fruits to the fore. It lightly wears its 16 months stay in older oak casks; it doesn't taste oaked. I remember wine industry guru Duimpie Bayley saying that oak aging should be like a dance floor, offering support without its presence being noticed.

The bottle had emptied before we noticed.

Ukraine Joins the Pinotage Family

 Beykush Winery in Ukraine has Pinotage. It's currently a component on its Artahia blend.

According to Wineland magazine, 2,470 vines were planted in 2012, sourced from Voor Goenberg Nurseries in Wellington, because Beykush were looking for early ripening varieties.

Beykush Winery is about 35 minutes drive south of Odesa on the Black Sea.

WoTM - Heron’s Nest 2020

 

My Wine of The Month for January is a Cape Blend, Heron’s Nest Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinotage 2020, WO Western Cape.

The label is coy; it doesn’t name the producer or the component proportions. But the A Number belongs to S A Pritchard who is the owner of Clos Malverne in Devon Valley. Clos Malverne’s flagship wine is Auret which is a Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinotage blend, but as that is more expensive in the Cape than I paid for Heron’s Nest in the UK I don’t think they are the same wine, but it’s one made in a similar way from bought in grapes. 

It’s a very enjoyable wine; the Cabernet calms down Pinotage’s exuberance and the Pinotage gives fruit and sweetness to the Cabernet. Thoughtful winemaking shows – there were no shortcuts as they used the basket presses  beloved by Clos Malverne and aged in French Oak barrels. I’d buy more, unfortunately for me they quickly sold out. 

100 Years of Pinotage

 

2025 is the 100th anniversary of the planting of the first Pinotage.

In South Africa’s autumn, at the beginning of 1925, Professor Abraham Izak Perold picked grapes from a Cinsaut vine whose female flowers he’d fertilised with Pinot Noir pollen the previous spring.

He planted seeds from those grapes in the spring of 2025. While all the subsequent vines had the same parents they were not identical. Most were unsuitable for use as commercial grape vines, but one was, and it was named Pinotage after its parents, Hermitage being the South African name for Cinsaut at that time.

It took time for grape farmers to plant the new variety, but early growers started winning wine-show awards with their Pinotages.

However the public had to wait until 1961 for the first commercially available Pinotage, a 1959 vintage released by Stellenbosch Farmers Winery under their Lanzerac label.

WoTY - Beyerskloof Pinotage 2021

 

My Wine of The Year 2024 has to be the one I’ve drunk most, which is Beyerskloof Pinotage 2021. 

It’s bulk shipped and bottled in the UK and as it’s stocked in Sainsbury’s supermarket and frequently discounted it’s easy and inexpensive to buy. This year the 2021 vintage is still being sold in the UK, but in South Africa in November we were drinking winery bottled 2022 vintage.

 

Beyersklooof Pinotage is our go-to when we have a curry, and our eldest son is a huge fan. Unfortunately we can no longer find the Reserve or Synergy Cape Blend, so white label it is. The wine is an easy drinker and  true to the variety, with good balance and bags of fruity flavours.

In total I’ve opened 77 varietal Pinotages this year and 11 Cape Blends.

(The British label says it’s made by Beyers Truter and his team, but the winery bottled 2021 (below) makes it clear on the front label that Beyer’s son, Anri, is now the winemaker.) 

WoTM - Stettyn Pinotage 2023

My Wine of the Month for November is Stettyn Pinotage 2023 (WO Stettyn). I was alerted to this wine by Dan who’d had it with lunch at My Couzens Family Restaurant in Gordon’s Bay during our all too short stay in the Cape in November.

 

I thought I knew all the Wine of Origin appellations, but I’d never heard of Stettyn or the winery of the same name. A few days later I saw Stettyn Pinotage on a shelf at Houw Hoek Farm Stall near Bot Rivier and had to buy. We consumed it the following night with a steak at Spur, and jolly enjoyable it was too.

 

There were plummy tones together with some blackberry flavours bound together with soft tannins. A quaffer that went perfectly with our steaks and the only disappointment was that I didn’t buy more bottles. This was a very young wine and I wonder what it’d be like with a bit more ageing.

 

We planned to visit the winery but ran out of time. It’s located on the R43 between Villiersdorp and Worcester. Next time.