My Wine of the Month for August is Leeuwenkuil Family Vineyards ‘Definition’ Pinotage 2018.
Definition is a label of Majestic Wine Warehouse in the UK. They say ‘Definition sets out to capture the quintessential qualities of the world's greatest wine styles. If you want to meet the most famous and revered styles, regions and grape varieties then this is the place to start.’
Pinotage is a tricky variety for to claim you’ve captured the ‘most famous and revered style’, as there are many interpretations and the variety is young enough that one style has yet to be accepted as standard. Of course, that’s what makes Pinotage exciting.
The advantage for a retailer of an own label is that they can put marketing effort into their brand while changing supplier, and some Definition wines don’t reveal who actually produces the wine behind the label.
But this wine, the first time that Pinotage has appeared under the Definition label is clearly shown as being produced and bottled by Leeuwenkuil Family Vineyards. It is Wine of Origin Voor-Paardeberg and has the Wine & Spirit Board seal on its neck.
It’s a screw capped bottle and on opening gave juicy blueberry nose. It was warm and inviting, with a lovely deep colour and depth of fruit flavours underpinned by a hint of dark chocolate. This is a well made wine that just slips down, and just 13.5% abv.
Majestic’s website says this wine had extra skin contact, and the back label says the fruit came from old bush vines, but what – if any – wood treatment it had we don’t know. It doesn’t appear in Platter and Leeuwenkuil’s website is ‘under construction’.
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