I've enjoyed several Pinotage this month that were candidates for Wine of the Month, most notably a stunning Spier 21 Gables 2016, but a three nights before the end of the month I was in the midst of moving wine to its new location and decided it was time to open a 1990 Kanonkop rather than store it away again as the maturation chart on the back label showed it reaching its peak in 2002.
Thus my Wine of the Month for February is - Kanonkop Estate Pinotage 1990 (Stellenbosch).
The cork was spongy and a chunk of it dropped off the bottom and fell into the wine which was gorgeous. Yes, it was aged and the big fruit flavours had gone but it offered delicate fruits and gentle Pinotage sweetness. Usually Mrs M doesn’t go for aged wines and I was prepared to open a more recent wine, but she loved this. And so did I.
And while drinking it I was thinking that 32 years ago its grapes were probably fermenting in Kanonkop's Kuipes.
Note: It’s W.O. Stellenbosch only because it was made before the Simonsberg-Stellenbosch ward - which the estate vineyards are in - hadn’t been created at that time.
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