Three lovely Pinotages new to me

Bordeaux uses the term ‘petite chateaux’ to describe the many modest small wineries making good wine at reasonable prices.

There’s not really a term for similar in the Cape and Ken Forrester has taken Petit Pinotage as the brand for one of his wines. So I don’t know a collective noun to describe them but I’ve been impressed recently with wines from labels I’ve not encountered before.

First up is Arniston Bay — well, of course I’ve previously come across this heavily promoted brand and posted about their Pinotage Rose in its innovative pouch in October 2007, and I had a bottle or two of Savvy in Cape restaurants— but I haven’t drunk a bottle of their red Pinotage.

I was very pleasantly impressed with Arniston Bay ‘Bushvine Selection’ 2009 (WO Western Cape) which “comes from 20 year old bush vines” aged 16 months in French Oak barrels. The appellation is Western Cape, thus the grapes are sourced from various places so it unlikely that all the vines were exactly 20 years old, but that’s the sort of thing only a pedant like me would question. Good fruit and oak integration, a very posh wine that was a real pleasure to drink.

Aan de Doorns in Worcester was new to me. Its back label, on a pleasingly heavy bottle, says it was produced from ‘specially selected vineyards’, which I guess is true of every single wine everywhere. According to cellar master Johan Morkel in Platter, the cellars “most importent focus” is supplying leading UK brand FirstCape.

I wish them the best, but I think they could blow their own trumpet a little louder because this Aan de Doorns 2010 Pinotage (WO Worcester) was a real cracker that made me stop mid-meal and stare at my wine glass. Good depth of fruit, nicely rounded, complexity and superb drinkability. It was one of those wines that is finished before the meal and has you checking the punt to see if the wines has been leaking away.

Lutzville Vineyards is up the coast several hundred kilometres from Cape Town in the Oliphants River region, a place I have never been, yet intend visiting in the next couple of weeks.

Lutzville ‘Cape Diamond’ 2010 Pinotage (WO Lutzville Valley) was jucily fruity, with ripe mulberry and red plum flavours and was an enjoyable lip-smacking wine. No information on the label about age of vines or wood aging.

Three cracking good wines, all beautifully made and all offering real drinking pleasure, and all new to me. Even after so many Pinotages, I’m still learning.

So many wines, so little time....


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Bag a Trip to Arniston Bay

If you fancy sitting on Arniston Bay (pictured left*) and you live in the UK then don't delay.

The sands are powder white, the beach is backed with dunes and the sea is turquise. It is a beautiful small fishing village, and yet not too far from some of the new exciting Cape wine lands

The Arniston Bay wine company, pioneers of Pinotage Rose in a pouch (see here) are running a simple competition in conjunction with the Metro newspaper with a prize of a trip to South Africa staying in Arniston Bay and Stellenbosch.

The competition is free to enter and is running all this week, click here.


*picture courtesy of the Arniston Bay website

Innovative Arniston Bay

If you are still wrestling with the closure argument between cork and screwcap, do try to catch up as the debate has moved on to bottles versus other containers. Bag-in-box wines have been with us for decades, as have cans and Tetra-paks, and now ‘the company of wine people’ have a new packaging concept for their Arniston Bay brand that is really good looking.

It is effectively a ‘bag-in-a box’ – without the box. The 1.5 litre container – called an ‘e-pouch’ – have a comfortable carrying handle, weigh about a kilo less than the equivalent amount of wine in two 750ml glass bottles, and are cheaper too. There is a tap for pouring a glass when needed, and the wine should remain fresh in the container for a month after unsealing the tap. And when finished, it folds flat taking almost no space in rubbish.

What is really impressive is how the pouch, thanks to its clever design, stands easily upright on its own.

And they are about to release a 250ml serving bag, (pictured left) the equivalent of two normal glasses or one large pub-sized glass. This will be ideal for taking to events where glass is not allowed, walking, camping or other such activity where weight and breakages (and corkscrews) are a concern.

I was enthused by the packaging, but what about the contents? They are the same wines as currently available in glass bottles. The only Pinotage available for me to taste was the Rose 2007 which is semi-sweet (4-5grams residual sugar) with a boiled sweet flavour which suits the market it is aimed at .

I think this packaging is a real cracker – and initial reports from UK supermarket chain Morrisons, who are trialling it, show that sales are exceeding expectation. I’ll be purchasing some of those smart 250ml e-pouches when I see some red Pinotage in them.

The e-pouch ('e' for ethical and ecological) was developed in South Africa and is made from three multiple protective layers to contribute to the aesthetic qualities, strength and permeability. It is said to have an 80% lower carbon footprint than two glass bottles and make 90% less waste and less landfill than two glass bottles.