17 November 2012

Pinotage Club a Top 10 Blog


I am intrigued and surprised to be informed that this blog has been

“selected by Cision, a global media intelligence provider, to be included in this week’s Cision’s Top 10 Wine Blogs.

Every week, we carefully monitor a selected topical blogosphere in the UK and apply our in-house methodology to identify and rank these blogs accordingly.”

The list is

Wine Blogs – UK Top 10

Posted: November 15, 2012 at 12:13 pm

The Top 10 UK Wine blogs was last updated 15/11/2012.
1.        Spittoon

2.        jamie goode’s wine blog
3.        Wine Conversation
4.        Jim’s Loire
6.        THE WINESLEUTH
7.        Berrys’ Wine Blog
8.        The Pinotage Club
9.        Confessions of a Wino

 Surprised because not only is this blogging on a very niche subject, specialising in a non-mainstream cultivar, but few realise it originates from the UK as it is about a mostly South African wine on a blog hosted on a US server. It’s assumed by most to be a South African blog, yet not eligible to enter the South African wine blog competition.

Intrigued because I’ve not encountered Cision.com before, yet note they are offering “in-depth profiles for these Top 10 Wine Blogs, their authors...”

As far as I know they have no in-depth information about me — but I can’t read what they have because they charge for access to the info. I do not, so if you want to know about this blog or me, just ask. My contact email is (and  has always been) on this site – see under my photo at the top right.

Meanwhile I will bask in the glory of being place one point under the highly professional Berry Bros and Rudd blog and above the very readable Confessions of a Wino and the laid-back affable Wine Maestro himself, Brett Jones.    

11 November 2012

Pinotage at AWS Conference



This is the scene from the rear of the room where I am about to start my presentation on Pinotage to the annual conference of the American Wine Society in Portland, Oregon on the north western coast of America.

I have a limited time, just 75 minutes.

My two-fold aim is to give the facts and dispell the myths about Pinotage that are endlessly repeated on the web, and secondly to let people taste for themselves a selection of good Pinotages.

I am lucky that I am able to present some first rate examples, generously donated by wineries in South Africa (Silkbush, Fairview, Simonsig and Beyerskloof), California (Fort Ross and Loma Prieta) and Virginia (Lovingston).

Not only a geographical spread of wines, but also we can compare  unwooded and wooded versions, value wines and reserve barrel selections.

I received much enthusiastic feedback from attendees who said the wines had been a revelation.

01 November 2012

Fringe Wine Reviews Pinotage

Fringe Wine is a site that investigate the origins of grape varieties and tries to untangle the confusion of names and history. I find it fascinating and a real resource. Writer Rob Tebeau, based in Boston USA,  is a dilgent researcher with a inquiring mind and I like the way he backs up his conclusions by naming his sources.

When he wrote about Pinotage recently his main reference was my book, and he also gives the book a review. Have a look at http://fringewine.blogspot.com/2012/10/pinotage-stellenbosch-south-africa.html