Rijks Pinotage – The Pope of Wines - Video

I noticed a new wine with an oak coloured label on Rijk's stand at this year’s London International Wine Fair: Rijk’s Touch of Oak Pinotage.

Winemaker Pierre Wahl was happy to tell us about this addition to Rijks range of Pinotage wines.




If found the wine pleasantly fruit forward with the oak well hidden and was surprised when Pierre said it had spent 14 months in oak, but old barrels. That’s how oak should be, supportive but not overt.

I think Touch of Oak Pinotage is a wine made for enjoying now but the standard Rijk’s Pinotage ages well. Checking my records I find I have been drinking Rijk’s 4 – 6 years after vintage and they have been perfect -- but I’ve none left now.

Pierre calls his Pinotage the Pope of wines, because it converts all who taste it :)

Pinotage Association Saves Trophy

The International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Trophy for Pinotage has been saved by the swift intervention of the Pinotage Association when KWV withdrew their 13 years sponsorship at short notice.

The Pinotage Association, with the backing of their sponsors ABSA, immediately stepped in to ensure that Pinotage continues as a Trophy category.

The Trophy has been renamed the Abraham Perold Trophy for Best Pinotage to give recognition to the father of Pinotage, Abraham Perold. KWV, who hold the rights to the Abraham Perold brand name, graciously consented to the re-naming of the Trophy. “We believe that this will enable a more collective drive in honouring the legacy of both Pinotage and Perold internationally”, said KWV CEO, Thys Loubser.

The IWSC is one of the world’s biggest and most authoritative wine competitions and South Africa’s own grape variety, Pinotage, was introduced as a category in this competition in 1995.

Frances Horder, IWSC Competition Director, said “with the sponsorship of this trophy now coming from South Africa’s Pinotage Association and their sponsor, Absa, it will for many years be an established and prestigious part of the Wine and Spirit Competition.”

This year the 2009 Abraham Perold Trophy was awarded to Rijk’s Private Cellar for their Pinotage Reserve 2006.


Photograph shows Dave Hughes, South African’s international wine expert and honorary member of the Pinotage Association (left) holding the new Trophy with Sir Ian Good, 2009 President of the IWSC. Photo courtesy of the Pinotage Association

Rijk’s Pinotage is Best SA Red

Congratulations to Rijks Private Cellar in Tulbagh in winning ‘Best South African Red’ for their Rijk’s Pinotage Reserve 2006 at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition.

The competition's four-day judging session, featuring an Asian judging panel (pictured), was held in the first week of November. With around 1300 entries the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong IWSC claims to be the largest pan-Asian wine competition.
Picture: Judging panel at work

Muddy Water and Rijks in Cork

That's correct. There's a cork in Rijk's Pinotage but Rijks and Muddy Water are also in Cork: the fine city of Cork, Ireland, at Curious Wines.

Curious Wines were so impressed with one of New Zealand's best Pinotages, the magnificent 2006 Muddy Water, that they have gone to the trouble of importing it themselves.

They say that the Rijk's and Muddy Water 2006 are the very best Pinotages they have ever tasted, and that Rijk's is "proof that South Africa is capable of truly world class wines."

With wines like these, "Pinotage may some day be as popular as Merlot."

Visit http://www.curiouswines.ie/ to order.

Rijk's wins Michelangelo Trophy

Four Pinotages were awarded the Grand d' Or - Michelangelo International Wine Awards top award - in the 2007 competion whose results were announced on 15 September. They are:-

• Bellevue Estate 'Morkel' 2005
• Groot Eiland 2005
• Rijk's Private Cellar 2003
• Stellenzicht 'Cellarmaster Release' 2005

with Rijks claiming the Pinotage Trophy.

Congrats to all!

Full results are here.

Spice Route 2003

Immediate impressions are of a soft approachable and fruit forward wine. But underneath the upfront juicy berry flavours is a grippy structure. There's a pleasing combination of sweet leather and soft oak tannins. This is a spicily enjoyable drink, both powerful and complex wine that shows more facets over time.

Spice Route is part of Charles Back's Fairview family. The winery is located in Swartland and winemaker Charl du Plessis joined Spice Route from Rijk's in Tulbagh.

This 2003 wine was a Pinotage Top 10 winner in 2004 and was a second win for Charl in that competition since the wine he made two years previously in Tulbagh - the 2001 Rijk's ( reviewed here) - was also a winner.

Details
Producer: Spice Route Wine Company
Winemaker: Charl du Plessis
Variety: 100% Pinotage
Appellation: Swartland
Alcohol:15%
Cost: around 13GBP/26 USD / 80 ZAR

Wine Blogging Wednesday - Rijk's 2001 & Beyerskloof 2006

Wine Blogging Wednesday is a web institution in which people around the world blog on a theme. For the 37th WBW on 12 September, which is hosted by Dr Vino, the subject is “go native” with an indigenous grape variety.

Pinotage -- pronounced 'pinno-targe' -- is the local red variety of South Africa, having been developed there eighty years ago. It is a variety used to make wines in all styles, including sparkling, pink and fortified. But the best expression of the variety is in serious red wines. Since Pinotage is a fairly recent variety, and because there is no old world model to measure it against, wine makers have been interpreting the variety in several styles.

My take is that Pinotage’s taste profile should be found within the oenological region bounded by the southern Rhone, northern Italian red and Californian Zinfandel. There should be the rich spicinessof Zin and warm depth of Syrah with a twist of the gamey kick of Italian reds. Plus, a lush sweet mouthfeel that is uniquely Pinotage.

For WBW I am tasting two Pinotages. First is a mature wine from the 2001 vintage. This vintage is sold out now at the winery but you may still find it in a specialist shop. The second you should be able to find inexpensively almost anywhere.

Rijk's Pinotage 2001

The nose is closed, not offering much at all, and it feels quite firm on the front palate. But first impressions are deceptive because this wine soon opens in the glass to offer yummy blackberry fruit with a pleasing sweet uplift on the finish. There’s some acidity also, and integrated oak (40% new French oak barrels) is working its creamy magic behind the scenes. It has 14.5% abv but feels light and refreshing, making it an ideal food wine.

Rijk’s – pronounced ‘rakes’ – was created by the Dorrington family in the Tulbagh valley and named in honour of Rijk Tulbagh, governor of the Cape from 1751 to 1771, who gave his name to the town and valley. Rijk’s wines achieved almost instant success from their first bottling in 2000. Their very first Pinotage won Top 10 in 2001 and this Pinotage, from the 2001 vintage was a Top 10 winner in 2004.

Although it’s a bit of a drive from Cape Town, I like to visit Rijk’s to enjoy lunch in their open air restaurant shaded under vine leaves and overlooking a lake and vineyards. And, as usual in the Cape, I have a glass or two of cold Chenin Blanc with my food. Rijk’s make stunning Chenins which are not to be missed.

Although vines have been grown in Tulbagh for generations, the land bought by Neville Dorrington had never previously been cultivated. The Norringtons started planting vines in 1997 and three years later, when the winery had been built, they produced their first wines and now make about 11,000 cases annually from a variety of cultivars.

Details
Producer: Rijks Private Cellar
Winemaker: Charl du Plessis
Variety: 100% Pinotage
Appellation: Coastal
Alcohol:14.5%
Cost: around 18GBP/36 USD




Beyerskloof Pinotage 2006

Beyerskloof winery specialises in Pinotage - the red leaf label is the world's largest selling Pinotage brand - which is no surprise as its winemaking owner, Beyers Truter, championed the variety and is known as the Pinotage King.

Although made in huge quantities -- 1.5 million bottles of the 2006 were produced -- quality is maintained and all the grapes are grown only in the premium Stellenbosch region of South Africa.

I chilled this wine by putting it in the fridge for half an hour before opening -- which is how they serve it at Beyerskloof. On opening there is an strong fruity bouquet as if the wine can't wait to get into the glass. Well, let's pour it. It has a deep black core with a bright purple red rim, and a powerful fruity taste. This is a gutsy wine -- I often have it to accompany spicy Indian food with which it matches well.


There's black fruits, cherry and plums, some blackcurrant leaf and a lick of leather on the back palate. Somewhere I'm also getting black olive tapenade. This wine is so yummy I keep drinking for the sheer pleasure rather than analyzing. No matter, lets pour another glass. What do you mean 'the bottle is empty'?

Owner winemaker Beyers Truter is a man with boundless energy. Now a young 50 year old, he was a rugby-player in his youth before being appointed winemaker at Kanonkop Estate where he championed and elevated the Pinotage variety, along the way being named International Winemaker of the year at the 1991 Wine & Spirit Competition held in London. He is the only winemaker ever to twice receive the Pichon Longueville Comtesse de la Lalande trophy for the best blended red wine at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London. That was in 1994 and 1999.

He founded his own Beyerskloof winery in 1998 on a property owned until 1895 by five generations of ancestors and so he became the sixth generation to farm this particular land.

Beyers Truter is active in the Church and in politics (he has stood for the ANC and founded a farmers political party) and his latest venture is the ‘Faith Fund’ charity focusing on Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. This year at Beyerskloof he extended the cellars and opened the instantly popular ‘Red Leaf’ restaurant featuring dishes cooked in and with Pinotage -- my favourite being the Pinotage Burger.




Details
Producer: Beyerskloof
Winemaker: Beyers Truter
Variety: 100% Pinotage
Appellation: Stellenbosch
Alcohol:14%
Cost: 5 GBP/10 USD/35ZAR

Best Red is Diemersfontein

Diemersfontein's Carpe Diem 2003 Pinotage won the 2005 International Wine Challange Trophy for South Africa's Best Red Wine.

At the evening ceremony at London's Grosvenor House, on Wednesday 7 September, Diemersfontein's Carpe Diem Pinotage 2003 was awarded South Africa's Red Wine Trophy for 2005.

David Sonnenberg, Diemersfontein's owner, who received the award on behalf of the estate, commented: "This is a thrilling award and it has been a great year for Diemersfontein. We know competitions are not everything, but it's good to be receiving recognition across the whole range of (winemaker) Bertus Fourie's wines. The fact that the award is for Pinotage is especially pleasing."

"South Africa's Pinotage has had a great showing at the IWC with our trophy, Rijk's gold, Swartland's silver and 17 bronzes", states Sonnenberg. It is understand that many visitors to the show this year were complimentary about Pinotage. Could it be too much to expect that South Africa's Pinotage sceptics show a touch of humility (just sometimes) and listen to the way our wine is appreciated outside our country?" concludes Sonnenberg.

South Africa gained six Gold medals at the show. Of those six, two of were for varietal Pinotage, Diemersfontein's Carpe Diem Pinotage 2003 and Rijk's Private Cellar Pinotage 2002.

A Pocket full of Pinotage

by
Graham Howe

Take three adjoining vineyards with award-winning Pinotage - and one winemaker with a hand in the making of all three wines. What have you got? A pocketful of Pinotage that is the origin of a spectrum of styles from single vineyards planted 300 hundred metres apart. The man with the winery in the middle is Pinotage guru Pierre Wahl, winemaker at Rijk's Cellar and consultant at both neighbouring Tecoma and Manley Private Cellars.

Is Tulbagh the new terroir for Pinotage? Two of the wines from adjacent vineyards made the top twenty finalists in the Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition 2004 - Rijk's Private Cellar Pinotage 2001 (a top ten winner for the third time) and Tecoma Unfiltered Pinotage 2002. Pierre Wahl gave us a lesson in Pinotage at the awards luncheon at the Mount Nelson, describing the different slope orientation of the vineyards and the different styles of wine produced by distinctions in micro-climate and cellar treatment.

Winner of double gold at Veritas 2001 and a trophy winner at the International Wine Challenge 2002, Rijk's Pinotage 2001 bears more medals than an American general. Made from low yields (1,4 tons per ha) from a single vineyard, the succulent, spicy Pinotage with hallmark plum and banana flavours was thoroughly pampered - night-harvested, handpicked and romanced in new French and American oak for 18 months. The result is a blockbuster - from a cellar which put Tulbagh reds on the map with Rijk's Pinotage 2000, winning Wine's Champion Pinotage 2002 and a Absa Top 10 place.

Pinotage is big business in these hills. On a walk through the vineyards, Pierre Wahl pointed out the highly-prized patch of Pinotage in a picturesque landscape of mountain peaks and rolling vineyards. Rijk's cellar also makes and sells Tecoma's Pinotage (winner of Veritas 2004 gold) from the fruit farm next-door - an elegant wine with a rich complex nose, intense purple colour and spicy berry, plum and coffee flavours with ripe tannins.

On the other side of Rijk's, we strolled through the tiny patch of vineyards of Manley Private Cellar located at Hunter's Retreat guest-house. David Jordan has won acclaim for its maiden wines, with a big individualistic Pinotage 2002 matured in all new oak in the micro-cellar with ripe berry flavours. Jordan says, "I tore out a pear orchard to plant wines. Winemaking is my passion now. We've disproved the notion that you can't grow reds in Tulbagh. I'm just a mechanic really - I do the simple things like designing a tumble drier as a destemmer to gently handle the berries!"

While Stellenbosch continued to dominate the Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition 2004, taking the lion's share of the awards, Raka winery made history by winning a place with the first certified wine of origin from the new Kleinrivier ward near Stanford, Hermanus. Made by woman winemaker Teresa Fourie, the Raka Pinotage 2003 was made from a single vineyard and matured in a combination of first, second and third fill French oak. Other areas performing consistently on the show include Wellington and Franschhoek.

(Courtesy of http://www.wine.co.za/)

London Pinotage Tasting

The Pinotage Club tasted the 2003 Pinotage Top 10 on 9 November 2004. We were glad to welcome as co-host David Brice from Cape Town's Wine Cellar who came laden with wines he'd hand carried from South Africa. The event was fully booked with a waiting list.

As a bonus we started with a tank sample of a new wine from Fairview, a Pinotage fermented with about 4.5% of Viognier. Small amounts of white Viognier have traditionally been fermented with red grapes in the Rhone but science has only recently discovered what French vignerons instinctively knew; a reaction occurs that results in better flavour and colour extraction.

Fairview Pinotage/Viognier 2003 - A very approachable wine with a delightful
palate packed with sweet fruits, redcurrants, rounded and a good finish. This was a tank sample, the wine has not yet been released, but look out for it.

We tasted the 2003 Top 10 in alphabetical order and marked out of 7, my marks are given followed by the group average.

Allee Bleue 2002 - Opaque dense colour, fruity nose, full body, some high acids, good tannins & grip (4 - 4.5)

Bellevue Estate 2002 - Dark fruits, firm tannins and crisp acids, hint of banana (5 - 4.2)

DeWaal 2002 - Sweet berry nose, beautiful purple glass staining colour, dry and tastes duty in the middle palate. (4 - 4.3)

Graham Beck Old Road 2002 - Quite dry on front palate but opens out to reveal nice plummy fuits (4 - 4.3)

Wamakersvallei La Cave 2002 - Oh dear, oh dear. I had so much hopes for this wine which is not available in the UK and which I often enjoyed while in the Cape. But it was stinky corked. (no marks - corked)

L'Avenir Estate 2002 - Delicious ripe fruits, good depth, underpinned with soft tannins (6 - 5.2)

Rijks Private Cellar 2002 - Wonderful sweet fruits on front palate, a bit closed in the middle. (5 - 4.9)

Slaley Hunting Family 2002 - Bright clear, lovely fruits of the forest flavours and spices, long finish (5 - 4.3)

Rooiberg Reserve 2001 - Tangy crisp fruits, interesting, dollops of fruits, spicy. (6 - 4.5)

Stellenzicht Golden Triangle 2001 - Big fruity nose with spices & acids, bit dusty in middle. (5 - 5)

It's difficult to host a discussion while writing notes, hence the bevity of the notes.