WOTM Delheim Bush Vine Barrel Selection 2007 Pinotage

My Wine of the Month for July is my last bottle of Delheim Bush Vine Barrel Selection Pinotage 2007.

 Just four 225 litre barrels (new French oak, aged for 13 months) were selected for this special bottling, so that’s no more than 1,200 bottles or 100 cases produced. I don’t know if this was available anywhere else than the winery where it cost 120 Rand in 2009, about twice the cost of the standard bottling.

 

I accounted for case of it myself when I was in the Cape in 2009 and also brought a few bottles home of which this was the last. We drank most of them in Delheim’s glorious garden restaurant with friends.

 One was American author Tom Mullen who later wrote about lunching at Delheim in his book Wine and Work - People Loving Life

“There weaver birds live in a huge oak tree on acres of land coated by pine trees and fynbos vegetation. We sit on a porch overlooking lush greenery with a view of distant Table Mountain. While drinking a glass of Pinotage I eat ostrich meatballs with organic cabbage, then follow that with a dessert of Pinotage ice cream – the color of blue berries.”

 

I remember how lush the wine was then, how exciting and vibrant with rich plum and berry fruit flavours and a spiciness that made your mouth water in anticipation of the next sip. This wine is now starting to show signs of aging, with the upfront fruit receding uncovering more complexity, and it’d be interesting to see how it would develop, but I’ve no regrets because I have so loved drinking this wine.