The Kidnapper Cliffs brand name refers to Cape Kidnappers at the southern end of Hawkes Bay which gained its name after a crewman was captured by Maoris during Captain Cook's maiden voyage to New Zealand in October of 1769.
The range of five wines includes a Pinotage. Kidnapper Cliffs say
“With careful vineyard management and conservative winemaking we intend to explore the full potential of this somewhat unfashionable variety. We expect such wines to have a distinctive personality and an enhanced cellaring potential. This Pinotage has a vibrant purple-red colour and a nose which speaks of an armful of roses, red skinned apples and baking spice. Layers of fine fruit tannin and savoury characters balance the flamboyant berry fruit and rose petal flavours. The underlying structural integrity of this wine suggests a good future in the cellar.”
I look forward to tasting it sometime...
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteWe are a Belgian couple who have lived for 9 months in South Africa near Cape Town. During this period we fell in love with the Pinotage wines and we tried to taste as much of Pinotage wines and visited many of the estates. I Bought your book "Pinotage ..." in South Africa and found it very interesting.
Today we are in New Zealand for a couple of months and I remembered that you wrote about a Pinotage wine in New Zealand.
Today we visited the Te Awa Estate and I begged to taste the Kidnapper Cliffs Pinotage ... and it was ... fantastic.
Of course I bought a bottle to take home.
Kindest regards
Hans and Veronique.
PS; Thanks for writing the awesome book about the Pinotage. It helps to resolve many of the discussions we had with friends about Pinotage and it has now a special place in my wine Library.
Hi Hans and Veronique
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comments: it is great to hear from readers of my book.
Enjoy NZ - there are superb wines there.
Look also for Pinotages from Marsden Estate, Kari Kari and Muddy Water