31 March 2020

WoTM - Beyerskloof Winemakers Reserve 2016





My Wine of the Month for March is Beyerskloof Winemakers Reserve 2016. This wine isn’t listed on Beyerskloof’s website and it’s only on sale at the winery.


Red Leaf Bistro




I was in the Cape in March and an opportunity to have another Pinotage Burger in the Red Leaf Bistro was a must.



We ordered Winemakers Reserve to accompany the burger and took three bottles away with us.



Winemakers Reserve is positioned between Pinotage Reserve and Diesel. It is a blend of the best ten 225L barriques of the Pinotage Reserve, thus a there is a max of 3,000 75cl bottles. The 2017 vintage was a Pinotage Top 10 Winner in 2019, but that is not yet on sale.



Winemakers Reserve 2016 is dense, and akin to a bud about to open. One can taste greatness, berries and plums and a lick of tannin, but it will reward more time to blossom. 

The Pinotage Reserve 2017, though a year younger, is more approachable. Thus for bottles I opened, I gave them time in the glass before drinking and I’ll keep for a couple of years those I brought home.

Fermenting Pinotage at Beyerskloof. Planks for standing on when punching down cap, and stainless steel cooling pipes



Winemakers Reserve brings a new red Pinotage to Beyerskloof's portfolio, which goes like this


Name
Wine of Origin
Cost at Winery
Notes
Pinotage
Western Cape
40R
The enjoyable entry level screwcapped Pinotage with a white label, aged in tank with oak staves.
Reserve Selection
Western Cape
Not Available
Export label, blend of barrel and tank stave aged. In UK, bulk shipped and bottled in UK with screwcap.
Reserve
Stellenbosch
55R
Barrel aged, cork
Winemakers Reserve
Stellenbosch
250R
10 best barrels of Reserve, cork
Diesel
Stellenbosch
850R
Wide heavy bottle, selected old vineyard, cork








14 March 2020

Pinotage Tap Turned Off


Diemersfontein’s popular Pinotage on Tap (POT) festival will not take place this year. 

Winery owner David Sonnenberg says that the event is “on pause” and that in 2020 Diemersfontein will be “devoting ourselves to a series of smaller events in which we can bring the diversity of our range, to the glasses of our equally diverse wine lovers. We’d like to thank all the die-hard POT fans for their joyful, loyal and energetic participation over the last fifteen years!”  

Pinotage on Tap celebrated Diemersfontein’s cult ‘coffee’n’chocolate’ Pinotage, a style that they created 20 vintages ago. Each year's new vintage was available on tap from a barrel.

For next years 21st vintage  Diemersfontein promise  “some new, refreshed, events to be announced in 2021”.

Over the past 15 years POT has taken place in various locations throughout South Africa as well as the winery, and in 2012 David Sonnenberg took a barrel of ‘coffee’n’chocolate’ Pinotage to England and memorably pitched the POT marquee on the South Downs of coastal Sussex.

David Sonnenberg's POT announcement is here.