Meeting Juno’s Liberty

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed several comments posted by the mysterious ‘Liberty’ of Juno Wines (left). When I said I was coming to the Cape, Liberty commented that I must visit and taste their Pinotage Rosé.

So on one baking hot day last week, I did.

Juno’s office is in a 1793 building situated on Main Street, Paarl. Juno wines are noted for their attractive labels featuring juno-esque women painted by Tertia du Toit. Many wines have artistic labels, but I’ll bet Juno are the only one with the artist in residence, with her studio and art gallery sharing the same space.

The outside temperature was 37˚C, so I was doubly pleased to enter the cool building and to be offered a chilled glass of Juno 2007 Pinotage Rosé by Liberty herself.

The wine is an attractive pale salmon pink colour and tastes dry, although it said to be off-dry with 7.5g/L of residual sugar. I found it light bodied, with very gentle strawberry flavours and a hint of spice. Liberty says it reminds her of strawberries which have had black pepper ground over them, a dish popular in the Cape.

It comes from 15 year old vines grown in the Robertson area, is made by Néwald Marias, has a friendly 12.24% abv and costs and even more friendly R25 (£2/$4).

And what about a red Pinotage? Liberty says Juno will be adding more wines to their range and that it was a possibility.

There was one more thing to do, and that was to have a picture with the lovely Liberty and, since she was wearing an apron with Tertia du Toit’s painting of Liberty, I too donned an appropriate Juno apron adorned with the picture that appears on Juno’s Pinotage Rosé.

Juno wines, artistic aprons and Tertia du Toit’s wonderful prints and paintings are all available at 191 Main Street Paarl, or via the website at http://www.junowines.com/.

And read Liberty’s blog – there’s a link on the right.