Bon Cap Ruins Pinotage with owner Michelle du Preez (video)

Michelle du Preez, owner of Bon Cap Organic winery in Robertson, talks about her popular Ruins Pinotage.







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Diemersfontein 2009 Pinotage gains a fan....

Laurian Clemence blogs about the recent WineX show in Johannesburg:

Of course I pushed my way through the crowds at the Diemersfontein stall. ‘Step aside Junior, I’m going in.’ They served their latest Pinotage – the 2009 – not available on shelves yet – and I almost had a full on orgasm whilst taking the first sip.
They also served it with a Belgian chocolate. God they’re good.

Seems like she really liked it. Read the full entry here.

Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage with winemaker Anrie Truter (video)

Anrie Truter tells us about Beyerskloof's new flagship Diesel Pinotage, the inspiration for its name and how he decided to make the best Pinotage in South Africa.







The bottle Anrie is holding is the 2007 vintage with the new label that was a 2009 Top 10 winner. The initial vintage 2006 was a 2008 Top 10 winner.

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Riebeek Cellars with winemaker Eric Saayman (video)

Riebeek Cellars winemaker Eric Saayman talks about the versatility of Pinotage which enables him to produce three different styles of the cultivar





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Moreson 2008 Pinotage by winemaker Clayton Reabow (video)

Clayton Reabow, winemaker at Môreson winery in Franschhoek, discusses the 2008 vintage which disappointed. Here he explains how he tweaked his 2008 Pinotage and how it is now developing.




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Swallow's Tail Pinotage - by Harriet Tindal (video)

Harriet Tindal of Tindal Wine Merchants in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland talks about her new Swallow's Tail Riserva 2008 Pinotage and the inspiration behind its excellent label.





The wine is priced at €8.15 a bottle and is made by the Tindal family in conjunction with and by Major's Hill in Robertson. Tindal Wines also carries the Major's Hill range of wines.

Three Cape Ladies Cape Blend -- by Mike Ratcliffe (video)

I met Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick Estate at the South Africa Mega Tasting this month and asked him to tell me about his Three Cape Ladies Cape Blend.



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Pinotage triumphs at WineX

The public overwhelmingly voted for 'coffee and choc 'Pinotages at last months three day wine show, WineX, held in Cape Town.

Visitors are given a voting form on which to record the best wine of the show. This year the three top red wines were Diemersfontein Pinotage 2008, KWV Café Culture 2009 and Barista Coffee Pinotage 2009, and the Diemersfontein Pinotage was the most ordered wine at the show.

South African wine columnist Neil Pendock contrasted the popularity of this style of Pinotage with its lack of success in the Pinotage Top 10 competition winners and its lack of stars in the Platter Guide, which Pendock bizarrely blames on Platter tasting wines sighted although this style of Pinotage is unmistakeable when tasted blind.

As Christo Volschenk commenting on WineGoggle said "It’s the only industry I can think of where you are praised when you reproduce yesterday’s tastes (products) perfectly and ridiculed when you produce (apparently quite legally) new tastes (products)."

Interesting that Barista came last since that was the one made by Bertus Fourie who invented this style while at Diemersfontein and later created KWV’s version. Have his students surpassed the master, or is it that more people tasted the well known brands than the newly released Barista?

WineX will be held in Johannesburg 27 - 30 October 2009. Will Pinotage triumph again?


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