Pinotage News Snippets

Snippets

• Kanonkop 2005 Pinotage won the only Gold medal awarded to varietal Pinotage in the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards. Judges described it as “Violets, red fruit, subtle spice, a bit of oyster shell. Fresh and appealing palate, with lovely concentrated strawberry fruit and some pencil shavings, tomato paste and truffle. Balanced elegant tannin”. Beyerskloof Synergy 2005 Cape Blend (with 33% Pinotage) won a Gold medal. (As previously reported, a varietal Pinotage from Kaapzicht won the International Trophy for Red Single Varietal over £10 and Kaapzicht’s Vision Cape Blend won a Gold medal at the same competition.
  
  
• Wine Spectator gave 92 points to J Vineyards 2007 Russian River Valley (California) Pinotage.
  
  
• The successful Golden Kaan brand is now 100% owned by KWV after they bought out founding partners Racke.
  
  
• Café Culture Pinotage 2009 is about to be released. Richard Rowe, chief winemaker at KWV, says "The 2009 Café Culture Pinotage is one of the best Café Culture wines we have produced; in fact the cooler season and absence of any heat wave conditions resulted in ideal growing conditions for the grapes. Consequently the taste experience is richer and softer, and we have been able to release the wine a few months earlier than normal - a bonus for Café Culture fans."
  
  Rowe recommends cooling it before serving. “The 2009 has intense, fresh coffee and mocha flavours, which are more pronounced than other years. This is a stylish wine which can be enjoyed for all occasions," says Rowe. "I recommend chilling it slightly in summer as South Africa's room temperature can get fairly high. This will ensure that your Café Culture tastes just as delicious when sipped around the pool."
  
  
  
  
• Another coffee accented Pinotage has been launched: Cappucino by Boland Cellars
  
  
  
• Pinotage is being made in Oregon. Melrose Melrose Vineyards in Roseburg Oregon released their first vintage of 100% Pinotage last year and it a won Silver medal at the Oregon Seafood & Wine Festival 2009. Unfortunately I have not received a reply to my request for information.
  
  
• “Like a lot of people, I started out with Yellowtail; however, I have moved on to other wines now. My regular drink now is a wine from South Africa called The Ruins Pinotage.” Dr Kelly Fletcher of the University Hospital of the West Indies Department of Anaesthesia, interviewed by Christopher Reckord in the Jamaica Observer 3 September
  

Pinotage in the Blogs....

Andrew Barrow of Spittoon has posted a report of his recent visit to Beyerskloof. He says

While age worthy it is the younger Pinotage single varietals that impressed during the cellar tasting. With ripe, sweetish upfront fruit, good structure and length they have structure and drinkability with the Beyerskloof Reserve Pinotage being singularly impressive.

He also enjoyed the Pinotage Burger! See his report here

Peas on Toast doesn't seem to have heard of the worldwide airport ban on liquids in hand baggage and had two bottles of Diemersfontein Pinotage confiscated, an act that

was nothing short of the most sacrilegous sacrilege on the planet.

Her friends in Istanbul will be disappointed but at least the airport security team had something decent to drink with their dinner.

Diemersfontain Pinotage was the secret ingredient that helped the Cherryflava team in South Africa win first place in their annual potjiekos competition.

We made our famous lamb and mushroom pot, laced with a bottle of DiemersfontainPinotage and fresh organic ingredients.

Mike Rosenberg at Naked Vine released his inner Shatner trying the Golden Kaan range. He paired the Pinotage 2006 and Shiraz 2007 with a spiced lamb dish and found that

the Pinotage was much more interesting. I thought it stood up to the spices in the marinade and the sauce, and the flavors in the wine itself stood out.

And Yoav Shapira was pleasantly surprised by Souther Right's 2007 Pinotage The 2007.

I expected it to be more blunt, since it's so young. But it was very smooth.
Almost too smooth.

Pinotage is Golden in California

Pinotage is the favourite South Africa wine with California consumers.

Nielsen figures show that Golden Kaan’s Pinotage is the top selling South Africa wine in Northern California grocery outlets*.

“When we first came into this market, people told us that selling South African wine would be near impossible, that Californians are too loyal to California wine,” says Erik Ran, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing. “After watching our sales numbers grow each month and seeing the Nielsen data with my own eyes, I’m proud to say we’ve proved those naysayers wrong.”


Golden Kaan was formed in 2003 and is a joint venture between Racke International, who market and sell the wine internationally, and South Africa’s KWV International, who produce the wine in Paarl.


Other Golden Kaan wines include Pinotage Rosé, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, all retailing around $10.


*Source: ACNielsen, Northern California Food, 26 weeks ending 12 Jan 08


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Tell me about Pinotage

That's the question posed by a reader of the Monterey Herald. The answer, from George Edwards (owner and operator of WineMarket wine store) is:

"This is a red wine associated almost exclusively with South Africa, where, in 1925, Cinsault, a simple red grape of the Rhone Valley of France, was crossed with Pinot Noir to create Pinotage. Generally speaking, it is a rather simple and rustic red but I have also sampled wines that show more of the Pinot round texture and, in fact, my first experience back in the early 1990s was with Kanonkop, which paired up pretty well with swordfish, of all things.

More recently I found enough textural finesse in the Golden Kahn bottling, which got along just fine with pork. I've probably been exposed to less than a dozen takes on Pinotage but clearly my favorite to date, one that delivers more depth and flesh and makes a delicious blueberry and sweet oak statement, is the Simonsig Stellenbosch Red Hill 2003 ($28)."

I'd agree with him on Simonsig Redhill, and also Pinotage matching well with swordfish. I recall myself how well Wamakersvallei 'La Cave' worked with fish in Stellenbosch's Fish Market restaurant.

As for Golden Kaan -- this is a succesful brand co-owned by KWV and a German company designed for the German market. And I have to say that I don't recall if I have ever tasted it :)

Read George's full article here .