Adventure of buying Pinotage

"If you're a wine aficionado", writes Madeline Triffon in Detroit News (12 July 2007) , "smacking your lips at the thought of a unique 'something' that resists easy definition, how can you avoid the adventure of buying Pinotage? Spend a little money. Cellar some bottles for a time. Look to be entertained and surprised."

The "don't miss" wine that has inspired her enthusiasm is Fort Ross Pinotage 2003, from California. "An elegant American Pinotage with delicious red berry fruit, oak spice and length.

"You'll be hard-pressed to find commercial plantings of Pinotage outside of South Africa. Here's one that's a superlative ambassador for South Africa's signature red grape... grown in Sonoma! Both red and black fruits abound, dark cherry, red plum, strawberry. There's well-integrated vanillin oak. The wine's flavor is vaguely Rhine-esque, with spice, warmth and well-mannered dryness. It doesn't need food to sing, but will be flexible with a range of dishes. Balanced, medium-bodied and smooth, it speaks 'quality.'"

The full article is here.

Pinotage top at Pinot Noir Festival

Alder Yarrow of Vinography tasted and rated 193 wines at San Francisico's annual Pinot Days festival of Pinot Noir, held 29 June - 1 July 2007 .

He says "I braved the crowds for nearly five hours to taste through almost two hundred current release Pinot Noirs for our mutual education and enjoyment.

The Pinot Days festival is turning into one of San Francisco's signature wine events, and one of the best ways to experience the breadth of depth and quality in California's Pinot Noir, plus some nice wines from further afield."

Alone among the all those hundreds of Pinot Noirs from California and Burgundy was one Pinotage -- Fort Ross 2003.

And guess which wine appeared in his group of eight highest scoring wines?

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5
1998 Calera Wine Company "Selleck" Pinot Noir, Mt. Harlan. $60
1998 Calera Wine Company "Reed" Pinot Noir, Mt. Harlan . $50
2005 Chasseur Wines "Freestone Station" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast . $60
2005 Chasseur Wines "Sylvia’s" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast. $60
2003 Fort Ross Vineyard Pinotage, Sonoma Coast. $49
2005 Joseph Swan Vineyards "Trenton Estate" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast. $45
2005 Peay Vineyards "Scallop Shelf Estate" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast. $50
2005 ROAR "Garys’ Vineyard" Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands. $50


Is that amazing, or what?

Ashbourne -- Same Same?

Rarer than hens teeth, more tasted and talked about than drunk, 2007 sees a new vintage of Ashbourne released. The first was the 2001 vintage, now along comes 2004. Have I tasted it? Heck no -- none had arrived in the country in time for their recent UK agents tasting.

But South African food and wine writer JP Rossouw went to the Hamilton Russell Vineyards launch earlier this month. He writes in his blog "The 2004, to my palate, reminds me much more of pinotage, with more primary fruit. I would be surprised if this wine does as good a job of being the “fine wine without an obvious mother” that the 2001 was. Fuller fruit expression with more of pinotage’s ripe winegum notes open into a wine that is again very well-styled and age-worthy, but less mysterious. And perhaps this is a very good thing for the variety."

For JP, the 2001 " is a wine that you could secretly show in the company of Bordeaux blends – indeed few pick it as pinotage. This makes it something of a Pyrrhic victory for the variety. At once a wonderful wine and one that does not taste like any other pinotage, it presents little for the pinotage mainstream to cling to and is difficult to harness for the greater marketing of the grape."

Which again raises the question, what is Pinotage supposed to taste like? Far too many people first tasted Pinotage as an old fashioned nail-varnish and bitter monstrosity, and that is what they think the variety is. When you can get them to taste a decently made wine they say, well OK, but it doesn't taste like Pinotage.

Read the Dallas Post review of Fort Ross Pinotage and ask yourself if you'd guess the wine in question was Pinotage just by reading the review on its own. Why don't California and New Zealand Pinotages suffer from bitterness and nail varnish flavours?

Asbourne is a project by Anthony Hamilton Russell who firmly believes in Pinotage and the wine is unusual in that it doesn't name a grape variety. Anthony wants people to judge the wine on its merits.

JP remarks on a stylistic difference between the 2001 and 2004 Ashbournes, and I wonder if this old news item holds the answer. "An impressive flagship Ashbourne 2001 is made from 100% Pinotage from HRV’s Bastenburg vineyard. But grapes will be sourced from Southern Right’s site from the 2004 vintage." (Kim Maxwell writing on www.wine.co.za)

*and frequently Ashbourne is kept under the table and poured only for the great and good.

Fort Ross 2002 Pinotage

"Fort Ross 2002 Pinotage, one of only a handful produced in California, is a marvel. Deep inky purple, it gives off concentrated aromas of dark red fruit – dried strawberries, blackberries, black cherries – spiced with white pepper and infused with smoke. The fruit grows luscious, creamy and mouth-filling but not in a big-wine, jammy way. Rather, it's like dipping through layers of mousse, with dry tannins and nice acidity that roll to a chewy finish."

I have not tasted Fort Ross's Pinotage -- yet! (I must get back to California soon ), but don't you just want to drink that wine after reading Kim Pierce's review in Dallas News?

Kim tells us that Fort Ross's owners Lester and Linda Schwartz came from South Africa, and that they imported the vines from there and had to wait 5 years for them to clear quarantine. The wait was worth it.