Recent Wines

The following were enjoyed with dinner in the past week.


Remhoogte 2008
WO Stellenbosch

Subdued blackberry nose and sweet blueberry flavours. An elegant refined wine with a spicy flourish at the end.

Du Toitskloof 2007
WO Western Cape

A little coffee on the nose. Lively welcoming wine. Berry fruits just jump out of glass. There’s coffee and black-forest gateau on the palate. A really enjoyable wine.

Fairview 2007
WO Coastal
Ripe rich berries with vanilla and coffee on the finish, a lovely full bodied wine.

Cardouw 2002
WO Western Cape
Showing signs of age, fruit tasting stewed and fading in the glass. 2002 wasn’t the greatest vintage and if you have any of this wine I’d suggest drink it now.

Welbedacht 2006
WO Wellington
Full bodied, big wine. Galumphing backberry fruits, some grip, great drinking!



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Positive Pinotage -- Rolland Can Make It

Michel Rolland, the famous international winemaking consultant, showed some of his wines at a tasting in San Francisco attended by Laurie Daniel whose 12 September report appears in the San Jose Mercury News as follows

'"You can make cabernet sauvignon everywhere," Rolland said. "Merlot is not exactly the same, but almost." But pinotage is a grape variety that's special to South Africa, as carmenere is to Chile, he noted, and he thinks pinotage shows great potential as a blending grape. "I'm sure we can make it with positive character," he said.'

Two wines were shown that contained Pinotage, both from Remhoogte Estate. Daniel writes 'The 2004 Remhoogte ($40), a blend of mostly merlot and cabernet sauvignon with 20 percent pinotage, is one of the better South African wines I've tasted: It's rich and ripe, with dark fruit, a subtle herbal note, a hint of tar, good structure and a long finish. The 2003 Bonne Nouvelle ($81), a similar blend that's a selection of the best barrels from the Remhoogte Estate, is a little showier, with more obvious oak. (Considering the price difference, I'd opt for the former wine.)'

Daniel himself is not a fan of the variety, calling it an "odd cross" of which he's "tasted very few that I'd want to drink" .