Is Good Pinotage Atypical?

Joe Roberts at 1 Wine Dude puts out a call to 'Stop hating on pinotage already'. His 'plea against the undeserved hate' asks readers 'what bargain-basement version of any variety doesn’t have its fair share of sh*tty-tasting bottlings?'.

He goes on to enjoy a 2008 Kanonkop Pinotage that overachieves because it

'deftly captures the entire BBQ picnic in a single bottle; toast, smoked meats, red fruits, bananas, leather purses & all. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a great introduction to high-end Pinotage and actually delivers quality and complexity levels a bit above its price point.'

Pinotage hater and anorak about town Jamie Goode has found one he likes! Scali Pinotage 2006

'Now this was superb: it is a Pinotage that doesn’t have Pinotage character, which is a good thing. I guess with a few year’s bottle age like this it is closest in flavour profile to a top Chateauneuf, with rich, warmly spicy flavours and focused cherry and berry fruits.'

Is it my imagination that when Pinotage detractors find one they like it is always because it is atypical? In my book it's the badly made ones which are atypical.

That was the second 'atypical' Pinotage he's tasted this year, last week he found Stellar Organics Running Duck No Added Sulphur Pinotage 2011 to be

'Fruity, bright and lively with nice cherry and berry notes, showing admirable purity. No heaviness, and really drinkable. 86/100'.

Meanwhile I lunched with friends at Neetlingshof Estate yesterday. Cellar Master DeWet Viljoen was also there there having a business lunch with potential foreign clients but he found time to put a glass of pale red wine on our table. It was light bodied and tasted like a fine old claret, yet had lively sweet fruit. What could it be? DeWet then revealed the bottle - a 1984 Neethlingshof Pinotage. My, how this variety can age. Atypical? I don't think so.

.

Pinotage Impresses Press

Neil Pendock reports on a press trip to Pinotage Country organised last week by Pinotage Association sponsors ABSA bank.

Last week’s press tour ended at Meerendal, home to one of the oldest Pinotage vineyards in the Cape, the aptly named Heritage Block, with its tiny berry grapes, tiny yields and a uniquely perfumed flavour profile. Wines made from this block confirm the point made by Meerendal GM Guy Kedian that "there are as many styles of Pinotage as there are producers".

From the surprisingly Bordeaux-style Simonsig Frans Malan ’97 Cape blend to the surprisingly juvenile unwooded Simonsig ’95 to the 1.12 million bottles of Truter’s fruit driven Beyerskloof Pinotage ‘06, great value at R33.50 a bottle. From the seamlessly elegant Allée Bleue ’95 made from tiny high altitude bush vine grapes from the Piekenierskloof to the Devon Valley fruit bombs Zaine Pritchard sells to Russia and the exciting Simonsig MCC ’06 made from Pinotage and Pinot Meunier – a step up from two previous vintages snapped up by the UK Waitrose supermarket chain.

From Truter’s violet-infused Cape/Portugal blend of Touriga Naçional and Pinotage to Kaapzicht’s effortlessly elegant Steytler Vision Cape Blend presented by the effortlessly elegant Yngvild Steytler and the Pinotages De Wet Viljoen makes at Neethlingshof which confirm just how seriously Cape Legends takes sometimes pilloried Pinotage.

My standout wine of the pilgrimage was a 1991 Kanonkop Pinotage, remarkably fresh and free of blemishes for a 16 year old teenager. Primary fruit flavours were still evident and had been complimented by the evolution of mushroom and forest floor flavours from the Pinot Noir parent of the grape. Along with the still vibrant 1982 Meerendal, it confirms the remarkable longevity of Perold’s grape.

A vertical tasting of Kanonkop vintages from the early ‘90s side-by-side those of a decade later was revealing: the ‘90s wines all had 10% less alcohol for wines made from grapes harvested from the same vineyard at approximately the same harvest date. Kanonkop winemaker Abrie Beeslaar offered several explanations – from Global Warming to cleaning-up the vineyard for leaf-roll virus. As he commented "the worse a vineyard looks, the better the wine you can make from the grapes – totally contrary to what we were taught at University". Leaf-roll virus inhibits sugar accumulation and increases hang-time – leading Beeslaar to comment, "I don’t believe leaf-roll virus is 100% negative" – a point often made by Chardonnay champion Mike Dobrovic with his Mulderbosh barrel fermented wines made from grapes grown on virus-infected vines.

On the subject of alcohol levels, Beeslaar notes that Pinotage fermented in traditional open cement tanks (like those from Jacobsdal, Kanonkop and Allée Bleue) also can expect up to 1% lower alcohols as compared to those fermented in stainless steel tanks.

Meerendal's Guy Kedian summed up "to those who say that Pinotage is not the varietal we should pin our flag to, I totally disagree. We should ignore the pretentious folk trying to turn it into something it isn’t, for their own benefit. At the end of the day, it’s only wine – not some mystical thing".

Source -- www.wine.co.za. Reposted with thanks.

Lunch, Pinotages
- and More at Neethlingshof Estate

I am lazy; I don’t like to work but I quite like watching others doing so, thus lunch at Neethlingshof Estate was particularly enjoyable. Not only were a team of gardeners being industrious in the flowerbeds but every now and again a tractor towing a grape hopper passed the restaurant veranda under me (see picture right to be unloaded into the de-stemmer almost opposite.

On one side of the courtyard is the old manor house with the Lord Neethling restaurant (see picture below left) and facing it on the other side is the winery building and tasting room. And every now again during harvest visitors and tour groups are scattered by the need to tractor in freshly gathered grapes. The restaurant serves a good Escalope of Veal Milanese – a dish to which I am very partial and which just suited a bottle of Neethlingshof 2002 Pinotage (95 rand). I found this wine a little too tannic at first; it definitely needed food, though as time went on it opened up delivering some bright berry flavours.

I’d met Neethlingshof’s winemaker, De Wet Viljoen at a party a few days and when I said I was coming for lunch he insisted I ask for him when I arrived which I did, only to be told that no one of that name worked there. “But he is your winemaker!” I exclaimed. It was then I had some help on my slow and stumbling path to speaking Afrikaans and learned to say D’Vet Vill –Yo – en.

De Wet is one of the nicest people in the business and a good friend of Pinotage, and he offered to organise a tasting of Pinotage from the Cape Legends portfolio. Cape Legends markets fourteen brands from eleven wineries. Each winery operates as a separate company, some are part owned by Cape Legends' owner Distell, some are privately owned with only Plaisir de Merle being completely owned.

The Tasting

De Wet and Carlen Groenewald (Cape Legends European Business Manager) had lined up the following six wines:

Hill & Dale 2005 WO Stellenbosch

Soft ripe plum and berry fruits, immediately appealing, some very soft tannins and a tangy finish.

Hill & Dale (Hillandale was the name of a real farm) is made by Stellenzicht’s winemaker Guy Webber using fruit that didn’t end up in Neethlingshof and Stellenzicht.

Jacobsdal 2004 Estate WO Stellenbosch 14.5%abv

Good deep colour, firm bodied black cherry flavours, drying finish.

I noticed the label had a new logo on it saying ‘Naturally Fermented’. “Yes, they use only natural yeast fermentation at Jacobsdal” said Carlen. “It is a winery I have always wanted to visit”, I said, “but they are not open to the public.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” replied Carlen. And she did – but that is another story.

Neethlingshof 2002 Estate WO Stellenbosch 15%abv

This wine was fuller bodied and rounder with more fruit flavours than the one I had with lunch at the Neethlingshof restaurant. “It is cooler and has been open longer” explained DeWet. But it still dried the mouth with some firm tannins on the finish. Definitely needs food.

Stellenzicht Golden Triangle 2005 14.5%abv

Deep garnet colour, silky and spicy front palate with some wood underneath. Umm, this is quite complex; a moreish wine.


Tukulu 2004 WO Darling

Bright dark red colour, purple rim, looks quite young. Very sweet upfront strawberry and cherry flavours. Mouth filling, great structure and balanced tannins with a medium finish.


Neethlingshof Lord Neethling 2001 ‘Limited Release’ Estate WO Stellenbosch 14.5%abv

Bright dark red colour, wooded nose, there’s berry fruits and a sweet feel but a firm middle and a wooded finish.

Thanks to De Wet (pictured right) I was also able to taste, prior to release.

Neethlingshof Lord Neethling 2005 ‘Limited Release’ Estate WO Stellenbosch

Wow, wonderful deep fruit flavours and soft soft tannins, great depth and complexity, this is a super wine that just begs to be drunk.

Many thanks to Carlen and De Wet.