28 February 2012
Wine Enthusiast Prefers Pinotage Blends
A correspondent with a mathematical bent has analysed scores from Wine Enthusiast magazine and suggests that submitting varietal Pinotage's to the magazine for review is a mistake.
Over a period of 13 vintages (1996 to 2009), Wine Enthusiast magazine has reviewed 289 Pinotages.
During that period, they have only awarded 22 (7.6%) scores of 90 or higher. The highest scores they have given are 92 twice, both to Remhoogte blends from vintage 2003 where Pinotage played a very minor role (perhaps 20% to 30%). Of the 20 others scoring 90 or 91, 5 (25%) were red blends as well with Pinotage in a minor role.
What is therefore perhaps fair to conclude:
1. The highest score a Pinotage will ever receive from this publication is 92. (We also note one of the finest Pinotages ever produced, the Beyerskloof 2007 Diesel Pinotage (Stellenbosch) only received a score of 90!)
2. In general, if a producer wants his Pinotage to score 90 or greater, we suggest using Pinotage as a minor blending component.
3. Given the buying public’s infatuation with scores of 90 or greater, we suggest they not submit their Pinotage to Wine Enthusiast but rather to other publications.
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Over a period of 13 vintages (1996 to 2009), Wine Enthusiast magazine has reviewed 289 Pinotages.
During that period, they have only awarded 22 (7.6%) scores of 90 or higher. The highest scores they have given are 92 twice, both to Remhoogte blends from vintage 2003 where Pinotage played a very minor role (perhaps 20% to 30%). Of the 20 others scoring 90 or 91, 5 (25%) were red blends as well with Pinotage in a minor role.
What is therefore perhaps fair to conclude:
1. The highest score a Pinotage will ever receive from this publication is 92. (We also note one of the finest Pinotages ever produced, the Beyerskloof 2007 Diesel Pinotage (Stellenbosch) only received a score of 90!)
2. In general, if a producer wants his Pinotage to score 90 or greater, we suggest using Pinotage as a minor blending component.
3. Given the buying public’s infatuation with scores of 90 or greater, we suggest they not submit their Pinotage to Wine Enthusiast but rather to other publications.
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You may be pleased to see how we [International Wine Review] evaluated Pinotage in our just-released report available at: http://iwinereview.com/sawines.php This is the most comprehensive US report on South African wine ever, and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Pinotage we tasted.
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