South African Winemakers Louis Nel and David Trafford “slated the country’s signature grape Pinotage” according to Harpers magazine (21/09).Harpers quotes David Trafford (de Trafford Wines - pictured right) saying “It’s a grape for wine anoraks – you have to go through a lot of bad Pinotages to find a good one. Even when you get a good Pinotage right, it goes through funny stages in the bottle and could look pretty dumb.”
Louis Nel ( (Warwick Estate - pictured left) weighs in with “Pinotage is a lot like Merlot – and there’s a lot of dodgy Merlots. Even boring Cabernet is good but there’s a lot of bad Pinotage.”Call me biased, but I reckon you could change the word Pinotage for Pinot Noir in David Trafford’s statement and it would be just as valid.
Harpers is a UK weekly trade magazine
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Couldnt agree with you more Pete.
ReplyDeleteI just can't agree that there is so much "bad" Pinotage out there. We get a fair bit at Vintages in Ontario, Canada, and in fact I would say that the ones that have been internationalized are the "worse" ones - no flavour, sweetish, purposely inoffensive. I think that many folks who have a say have a view of what is pleasant that doesn't always jibe with the kind of aromas that Pinotage can produce. As long as there is choice for all and a diversity of styles, then all should be well!
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