WoTM - Short Street Pinotage Barbera 2018

My Wine of the Month for September is Short Street Pinotage Barbera 2018

I’ve not seen this blend before, so had to try it and was glad I did.

The winery behind the wine is not mentioned on the label, but as Short Street is “the shortest street in Riebeek Valley” and the appellation is Swartland I guessed it was made by Riebeek Cellars, which was confirmed by its A-Code - A250.



Riebeek don’t have such a blend shown on their website, so perhaps it is a special  bottling for UK importers Off-Piste Wines. It has a UK specific back label.


The blend proportions aren’t available, but since Pinotage is listed first I assume Barbera is the junior partner. However, from the taste there’s more than a dash of it.


On the nose there’s cedar wood and berry fruits. The wine is a rich damson red colour and it has a creamy mouthfeel backed by tannins. Barbera’s bright fruitiness shines. I really enjoyed this wine which had lots of fruit and spice.


It’s bottled in the Cape and closed with a screwcap. It cost £9.99 from Majestic in the UK

No More Vin de Francois Auctions

For the past 11 years Le Vin de Francois has been launched with an auction where all the bottles were sold. The only way to get this wonderful wine was by bidding or from someone who had a winning bid.

Francois Naudé with his wine

Now Francois Naudé has decided that in future "I will dedicate my time to bringing Le Vin de Francois to many more people" he has written to auction attendees.

The wine will now be released "on a particular date", but details of when this will be, and how and where to buy the wine are yet to be announced.

Forbes Reviews 7 Pinotages

John Mariani, Senior Contributor at Forbes Magazine says ‘More Quality Wines from South Africa Enterthe Global Market’. By ‘global’ he means the US market, and in a two part article he reviews the following Pinotages, priced from $12 to $58.

Beeslaar Pinotage 2017

Southern Right Pinotage 2018

Ashbourne Pinotage 2016

Lievland Pinotage 2017

M.A.N. Family Wines Pinotage 2017

Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage 2018

Backsberg Pinotage Rosé 2018



He says “I find that so many are so well priced and that Pinotage is so critical to the country’s viniculture means that it is now expressive of individual vintners’ own style.”


Part 1

Part 2