£65 Pinotage is 'too perfect'

Bruce Jack of Flagstone Wines has made a new Pinotage exclusively for Direct Wines who operate various wine clubs in the UK, USA, Australia and Hong Kong.

The single vineyard 2010 Pinotage is called ‘Time Manner Place’; there are just 1,500 bottles and it will be priced at £65. (870 ZAR/105 USD)

Jack told The Drinks Business “My aim is to make the best wine in the world from Pinotage. This won’t be a wine we produce every year, only in years we deem good enough.”

The grapes are grown by Anton Roos, (pictured above)  at Silkbush Vineyards in the Breede River, from where Flagstone’s ‘The Writers Block’ Pinotage is also sourced.

This wine is, I understand, basically a barrel selection from Writers Block.

 UK journalist and Pinotage sceptic Jamie Goode tasted a sample and said (in part)

Wild, herby, meaty notes lurk in the background. This isn’t just about sweet fruit: there’s also a strongly savoury, mineral dimension here. A serious effort, but it will need considerable time to come round. 92-94/100.

 

It is one of a series of good Pinotages he’s recently tasted that has caused him to rethink the variety of which he writes “I’m now changing my mind about”.

 

But South African journalist Christian Eedes thought

It’s an extremely compelling vision of what Pinotage can be but I wonder if it isn’t a little too perfect.

We’ve come a long way in a short time for a Pinotage to be criticised for being ‘too perfect’.

Can't wait to taste it - though, according to Jamie, perhaps I should.

.