Showing posts with label Bruce Jack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce Jack. Show all posts

27 September 2012

£65 Pinotage is 'too perfect'


Bruce Jack of Flagstone Wines has made a new Pinotage exclusively for Direct Wines who operate various wine clubs in the UK, USA, Australia and Hong Kong.

The single vineyard 2010 Pinotage is called ‘Time Manner Place’; there are just 1,500 bottles and it will be priced at £65. (870 ZAR/105 USD)

Jack told The Drinks Business “My aim is to make the best wine in the world from Pinotage. This won’t be a wine we produce every year, only in years we deem good enough.”

The grapes are grown by Anton Roos, (pictured above)  at Silkbush Vineyards in the Breede River, from where Flagstone’s ‘The Writers Block’ Pinotage is also sourced.
This wine is, I understand, basically a barrel selection from Writers Block.

 UK journalist and Pinotage sceptic Jamie Goode tasted a sample and said (in part)


Wild, herby, meaty notes lurk in the background. This isn’t just about sweet fruit: there’s also a strongly savoury, mineral dimension here. A serious effort, but it will need considerable time to come round. 92-94/100.
 

It is one of a series of good Pinotages he’s recently tasted that has caused him to rethink the variety of which he writes “I’m now changing my mind about”.
 

But South African journalist Christian Eedes thought


It’s an extremely compelling vision of what Pinotage can be but I wonder if it isn’t a little too perfect.

We’ve come a long way in a short time for a Pinotage to be criticised for being ‘too perfect’.
Can't wait to taste it - though, according to Jamie, perhaps I should.
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28 July 2008

Quote of the Month - July



"Although I have never won a Pinotage Top 10 award, I am hoping I will eventually make a success of it. It's such a wild, noble, challenging grape. Like a race horse, it can smell fear on a winemaker at 20 paces." - Flagstone's Bruce Jack quoted in Wineland Magazine, May 2008.



(If you're wondering why this wasn't the QotM for May, it is because I have only just received the May issue here in England.)
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01 November 2006

Writer's Block on offer


Writer's Block label This delicious Pinotage from Flagstone is currently available from the winery discounted by 33%. The 2004 which usually costs 149 ZAR can be had for just 98 ZAR.

Owner/winemaker Jack Bruce says of this wine "This is classic Flagstone Writer's Block - more Pinot Noir than Pinotage. Redolent, vibrant red with purple edges.
Bruce Jack with Marilyn Merlot and the Naked Grape
Intense, concentrated aromas of wild blueberry and ripe cherry supported by a background frame of subtle oak aromas. On the palate the wine is ripe and generous with a core of black berry, preserved plum and youngberry. Match with Springbok Loin, Ostrich with Madagascan Pepper Sauce and Char Grilled Steak with Sweet Potato Chips."


And if you want the background on how Writer's Block got its name -- the story behind that label is in my book "Marilyn Merlot and the Naked Grape." -- pictured above right with Bruce Jack.