10 September 2007

Café Culture Coffee Pinotage Launched

KWV today launched a new Pinotage under the brand Café Culture – and the name suggests they are aiming at the market for coffee-toned Pinotages pioneered by Diemersfontein with its cult ‘coffee & chocolate’ Pinotage. Not that KWV is using the ‘c’ word – oh dear me no – please note that it is ‘mocha’.

KWV say “Café Culture is a new Pinotage wine, produced in an innovative style and presented in a trendy packaging that mirrors its vibrant target market perfectly. Café Culture is a brand that has been specially created for trendy, upmarket enjoyment. It has an air of the avant-garde and bohemian. It is associated with debate and banter. It is the Café Culture - a lively, vibey social spirit with a sense of adventure and exclusivity...even decadence. The modern, understated label emphasises the social nature of the wine, and recalls the smart café society of the Twenties and Thirties.”

The wine was crafted by winemaker Bertus Fourie who says the wine “is the most controversial style of Pinotage wine in the world. Most people crave it. It does not speak of 'terroir' as oak plays the dominant role. This accounts for its mocha and chocolate flavours – the richness of coffee beans, the smoothness of creamy chocolate and the freshness of ripe fruit. ”

Prior to taking up his post of Senior Winemaker at KWV, Bertus Fourie was the winemaker at Diemersfontein responsible for creating their innovative popular coffee'n'chocolate Pinotage. In a prescient item for South African magazine ‘Grape’, diarist ‘The Widow’ wrote in November 2005 that KWV were looking for ways of “making their red wines taste of coffee. 'Go out and hire Bertus ‘Starbucks’ Fourie at any price' was the directorial demand!”

The 2007 vintage wine (although the bottle image on the KWV site says 2006 – I wonder what happened to that wine) was harvested and underwent wood maturation (where it presumably picked up its coffee mocha flavours from the toasted oak) for 3 months before being blended and bottled July 2007. It has a hefty 14% abv and is recommended for drinking on its own or as an accompaniment to meat and pasta dishes as well as chocolate and berry desserts.


I like to think of myself as ‘trendy’ and ‘upmarket’ (I’m not so certain about ‘vibrant’ but ‘decadent’ probably fits) and so I look forward to tasting it…..

13 comments:

  1. Any idea where one can get this wine in the uk?

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  2. AFAIK, it is not yet available in the UK. Bertus's original coffee'n'choc wine, Diemersfontein's Pinotage is available at Waitrose for £7.99

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  3. Anonymous19:17

    Is this wine available in the United States? We had it in Antigua and it was really a great wine!

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  4. Winesearcher.com doesn't show Cafe Culture in the USA -- you could email coffeeculture@kwv.co.za and ask

    website http://www.cafeculturewines.com/

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  5. Anonymous20:22

    Is this wine available in Switzerland? the two bottles we took home from Kapetown are empty now!

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  6. AFAIK it is not available in Switzerland but
    you could email coffeeculture@kwv.co.za and ask

    website http://www.cafeculturewines.com/

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  7. Anonymous16:39

    You can buy it in the US from For Love of Wine. www.forloveofwine.org

    They ship all over!

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. This was my favourite wine for Saturday lunch with roast pork belly in Singapore. Does anyone know if it is still available. Used to be in Cold Storage.

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  10. Hi
    Winer Searcher doesn't show any stockist in Singapore> However its shows three stocking Diemersfonteins Coffee Chocolate Pinotage (see above)-Springbok Bazaarm, PerfectPalate.com.sg, Standish, and you could contact the winery and ask about distribution in Singapore -- see http://www.cafeculturewines.com/contact-us.html

    Best of luck

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  11. Hi Peter, many thanks for your response. I will try the Diemersfonteins on the weekend and post back results. Cheers, Alex

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    1. Hi Peter, finally, I ordered the Diemersfonteins Pinotage 2013 (chocolate one) and their Carp Diem Reserve 2012. Both superb! Perfect Palate delivered no charge to my home on a Saturday afternoon so I could enjoy. Xavier Lim from Perfect Palate provides great service. Cheers, Alex.

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  12. Thats great news, Alex. Many thansk for letting me know. Carpe Diem is a superb Pinotage.

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