Diemersfontein is the People's Pinotage

South Africa's Sunday Times has been running a competition over the past months asking readers to write a tasting note for their favourite Pinotage; the prize is a presentation case of the ABSA Top 10 Competition winners donated by the Pinotage Association.

This Sunday they announced that the winner was Lynne Maddock who wrote "I have been a Pinotage fan since returning to SA in 1986, after a 23-year absence. In Canada, it had only been Roodeberg, Roodeberg or Roodeberg. An unusual recent discovery was Diemersfontein’s 2005 Pinotage, which has quite an arresting coffee/chocolate nose. Forget blackberry, grass clippings, hint of boomslang bladder, whiffs of fig — wafting from this Pinotage is a deep fragrance so novel and rich, I wanted to breathe it forever. Following on, the wine itself was packed with fruit and full-bodied, intense at first sip, then mellowing. Savoured to the last drop and a new favourite."

And Diemersfontein was chosen by so many entrants that the Sunday Times said "If Lady Di was the People’s Princess, then Diemersfontein is the People’s Pinotage. After a month of readers’ recommendations featuring this home-grown varietal, Diemersfontein was the overwhelming favourite."

The ten runners up chose

1. Diemersfontein 2006
2. Nederburg 2005
3. Diemersfontein 2006 (Woolworth's Limited Edition)
4. Diemersfontein 2003 (Carpe Diem)
5. Kanonkop Estate 1991
6. Longridge
7. L’Avenir
8. Cloof 1998
9. Botha Kelder 2002 (Dassie’s Reserve)
10. Thelema 2004

Congratulations to Lynne Maddock and Diemersfontein.

The full article with all the tasting notes is here.

And for the background on how Diemersfontein winemaker Francois Roode (pictured at top left) makes the People's Pinotage see There is no Secret.

Spex Selex - Warwick

Wine Spectator Online really has got the taste for Pinotage, selecting Warwick's Pinotage as Wine editors Daily Pick for today, 17 March, the third time this month Pinotage has been picked - joining previous picks Kanonkop 04 and Simonsig 04 .

James Molesworth says of Warwick's 2005 'Old Bush Vine' Pinotage "Ripe and creamy, with mocha, blackberry, plum and spice flavors that run through the medium-weight, fleshy finish. A very modern style. Drink now. 2,500 cases made. (88 points, $23)

Spex Selex - Kanonkop

Wine Spectator Online seems to have got the taste for Pinotage, selecting Kanonkop's Pinotage as Wine editors Daily Pick for today, 9 March just four days after Simonsigs 04 Pinotage was selected.

James Molesworth says of Kanonkop's 2004 Pinotage "Juicy and focused, with boysenberry and raspberry fruit held together by mocha, graphite and black tea flavors. The long, smoky finish has a nice minerality underneath. Impressive. Drink now through 2008. 800 cases imported. (90 points, $33)

Spex Selex Simonsig

Simonsig Redhill Pinotage 2004 was chosen as Wine Spectator Online editors Daily Pick for today, 5 March.

James Molesworth says "Dark, ripe and fleshy, showing lots of plum, currant and blackberry fruit, layered with cocoa powder and tar flavors. The finish is long and muscular, but this also has a sense of polish. Drink now through 2008. 1,000 cases made. (89 points, $30)"

No Weedy Wines Here!

2001 Hidden Valley Pinotage is one of the Pinotages that are stocked by the Ontario monopoly LCBO and thus available to Gordon Stimmel of the Toronto Daily Star who finds Pinotage 'weedy', see here

I opened my only bottle of this wine and found it had a dense garnet colour, with a little smokiness on the nose and front palate, but with a core of concentrated dense red fruits - black cherry and mulberry , a there is a little spice and tobacco and some soft drying tannins on the finish. Lovely stuff.

Hidden Valley's vineyards are in Devon Valley, access to which is along a no-through road that terminates at JC le Roux Sparkling Wine Cellars. Along that road is the sign shown here on the left. It always amuses me that there is such a large sign for a hidden valley. But the name comes from the owner of the vineyard and winery owner, Dave Hidden.

Some other Pinotages I've had recently were

2005 Southern Right Pinotage - Little staining of glass, light bodied and a tangy finish. This is an almost delicate wine with purity of fruit, certainly no block buster and seems like Burgundy is the inspiration.

2005 Groot Constantia Pinotage - There's a European feel to this wine, quite restrained with a good balance of red plum fruits and tannins and a very long finish.

2001 Bellevue Estate Pinotage - Black dense cherry and blackberry fruit flavours, tobacco underneath, hint of eucalyptus and with a very long finish. A very enjoyable serious wine made from 58 year old bush vine grown on sandy soil, aged 10 months in 50% new 300l American oak barrels. 13.5% abv. ABSA Pinotage Top 10 winner in 2002.

Weedy Pinotage?

I have heard all sorts of criticism of Pinotage, but I have never before heard it described as 'weedy'. However, Gordon Stimmel writing in the Toronto Daily Star says "And shiraz is becoming a hallmark high-quality red, which will, I hope, replace the still too weedy Pinotage (a crossing of pinot noir and cinsaut grape vines) that has for too long been the dominant signature red grape of South Africa."

But he does find one expression of the variety he likes - "Delheim 2006 Pinotage Rosé ($12.95, 87) with its gentle rose petals, lime peel, cranapple and strawberry stylings."

Mike Tipping, in The Press (York, England) admits that "South Africa's pinotage grape is not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. Beyerskloof Pinotage 2005 (Sainsbury's £5.99, 18/20) is astonishingly good for the price. It's spiky stuff, with smoky oak, brambles, chocolate and aniseed."

No weediness there, nor in this match for haggis as the anonymous 'Wine Seller' in Scotlands Daily Record reports: "The Bay Pinotage 2003 (South Africa) £5.99 - Coop. This is from Hamilton Russell Estate, one of South Africa's best wineries. It's big with dark, spicy, smoky fruit and sweet oak notes to balance. This needs food and is a perfect match for haggis."

I am off now to open a 2001 Hidden Valley Pinotage. It is one of the Pinotages stocked in the Ontario Monopoly store LCBO where it costs what looks like a very reasonable $22.95 (£9.85) - I recall Hidden Valley costing £16.95 in Sainsbury's several years ago. Not that I have seen it anywhere on the shelves recently.

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.

Pinotage Esthetics

We all know a glass of Pinotage can make us feel better, but it seems that Pinotage can also make us look better. Got wrinkles around your eyes? Rub Pinotage in and voila! And at just $26 a tube of South African, Pinotage-enriched hydrating eye gel saves you having to open a prized bottle.

The New York Observer reports that Manhattan's first vinotherapy salon -- Delluva Vinotherapy Day Spa has just opened. Spa owner Diane Sydney Hanson is a licensed esthetician.

I didn't know that one needed to be licensed to practice esthetics, but apparently in the USA esthetics means "the non-medical care of the skin." And according to this site "The esthetician’s fingers convey strength, trust, and knowledge. When an esthetician is touching someone, there is a bonding, a caring, expressed that is missing in so many lives today."

If it is all the same to you, I think I'll just take my Pinotage orally......

Meerkat Pinotage

I wondered how long it would be before the popular Meerkat would appear on a winelabel. Now Welbedacht winery has introduced Meerkat Chenin Blanc and Pinotage. Neil Pendock said of the maiden vintage 2005 " This juicy Pinotage offers you the sensual extravaganza of mocca chocolate, sweet plums and soft vanilla."

I am indebted to Werner Rix of Wine Routes of South Africa www.wineroutes-sa.co.za for news of these wines in his regular newsletter, which also contains the titbit that Domein Doornkraal have produced a sweet blend of Pinotage and Tinta Barocca which they named Pinta.

Good name - but I can foresee amusing confusions with visitors from Britain where Pinta means a pint of milk.

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 .

Fairview Pinotage - Washington Post's Wine of the Week

The Washington Post picked Fairview's Pinotage as its wine of the week on 11 October 2005. Paul Lukacs said "This young pinotage constitutes a fine, reasonably priced introduction to the grape and wine. Its dark plum and blackberry flavors are appealing by themselves, but the wine becomes really interesting once its deep, earthy aftertaste comes to the fore. Medium-bodied, with relatively soft tannins, it nonetheless tastes rich and concentrated." and he suggests decanting it an hour before drinking. See