Bertus Fourie leaves KWV for VdV

Bertus Fourie

Bertus Fourie leaves KWV today to take up the position of managing director at Val de Vie Wines from 1 May 2008. Bertus, who gained the nickname 'Starbucks' in appreciation of his pioneering the coffee and chocolate Pinotage when he was winemaker at Diemersfontein, joined KWV in 2005 as Senior Winemaker and launched KWV's Cafe Culture - a coffee and chocolate Pinotage - last year.

Bertus's younger brother, Martin Fourie, is winemaker at Val de Vie and the two are looking forward to working together.

Val de Vie is a lifestyle residential estate with a strong focus on wine and polo. Most of the existing vineyards have been replanted with Rhone varieties as these are considered best suited to the area. The cellar building dates from 1825 and houses a 100-ton cellar solely for the Rhone varieties. But plans for a bigger Pinotage-only cellar facility are underway.

Martin Venter, developer of Val de Vie Lifestyle Estate, said "We view the appointment of Bertus Fourie as managing director of Val de Vie Wines (Pty) Ltd as an important part of the implementation of our marketing and branding strategy for Val de Vie Wines that coincides with the lifestyle brand of Val de Vie Lifestyle Estate. Interestingly, it was the Coffee-style Pinotage that originally sparked our friendship. It is the friendliest wine that I have ever enjoyed, and all my friends and colleagues love it as well. Like Bertus said at several occasions: 'Selling wine is all about relationships', and what a better way to start any relationship than with this wine."

So will there be a Val de Vie mocha Pinotage? Wait and see......

The Pinotage Club met Bertus Fourie last month, click here for the report.

With the Mombergs of Middlevlei Estate

Middlevlei Estate are on the outskirts of Stellenbosch at the entrance to Devon Valley. You drive along a pleasant street in a housing estate of spacious gardens and mature trees and at the end of the road is the entrance to the farm. A short brick road leads through vineyards to the winery and tasting room.

The estate is owned by the Momberg family. I had an appointment with Jeanerette Momberg who is responsible for marketing. Her husband Ben manages the vineyards, and Ben's brother Tinnie (pictured), is the winemaker.

The tasting room has a projecting roof, so we sat outside in the shade and admired the view of vines on the hillside. Jeanerette poured me a glass of Hagelsberg 2007. This is an export label and means ‘Hail Mountain’, which was the name originally bestowed by Simon van der Stel in a storm when he first the hill now planted with Middlevlei’s vines. The same wine is as Brick Road when exported to Germany and Netherlands.

Hagelsberg Pinotage 2007
This is an unoaked Pinotage aimed at export markets (but labelled as Brick Road in Germany and Netherlands). It has bright berry flavours, with soft dusty fruits, gentle tannins and noticeable acidity on the finish. 13%abv

Middlevlei Pinotage Merlot 2006
Middlevlei were the first to blend Pinotage with Merlot, and it proved very successful. I recall buying lots of if some years ago when it was stocked by Sainsbury’s in the UK but I have not seen it for some years now. The blend is 50/50 of the two varieties. “We have reduced wooding,” Jeanerette told me. This is as attractive as I remember, soft with bright fruits, gently acids and some dry tannins on the finish; very drinkable. 14%abv

Middlevlei Pinotage 2006
“This is doing really well abroad,” Jeanerette told me, “we are making it in a more modern style.” Given we were sitting outside, with farm animals in the next field, and maybe the wind changed direction, but I got a farmyard smell from this wine. The fruit seemed light and tasted mostly of prunes with some red berries. This wine didn’t excite me, it seemed dull. 14% (re-reading this, I am wondering if this wine was affected by low-level cork taint)

Middlevlei Pinotage 2000
Tinnie joined us, bringing this bottle from their cellar with him. The wind was getting up; and odd gust blew over some empty glasses. This eight year old wine smelled older than it tasted. On the palate it was soft red berries, ripe mulberry flavours and that haunting Pinotage sweetness. Lots of life left in this really enjoyable old wine.

Middlevlei Momberg 2004
This was the first vintage of Middlevlei’s new Cape Blend. It is a blend of 37% Pinotage, 29% Shiraz, 17% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in all new wood then bottle aged for a further 18 months before release, and now all sold out. Much of it went to Austria and Germany where it was particularly popular, and no wonder since it is delightful. Its lively, with bright ripe red berry fruits a lick of sweetness wrapped in soft tannins. It is a summer pudding of a wine, delicious. 14%

Thanks to Jeanerette and Tinnie. I'll look out for the 2006 Pinno at the London International Wine Fair in May for a retaste.

Cruising with Viljoensdrift

The view from the upper deck of Viljoensdrift's boat

The first time I went on a river cruise with Fred Viljoen the wind was so fierce that the boat couldn’t make headway, diners wine glasses and food were whipped off tables to delight the fishes and the trip had to be abandoned. But this year the weather was perfect. Fred has a spiffy new aluminium boat with two decks and more space, which is needed as these picnic trips along the Breede River have become very popular. There are now several trips a day but even so some people who have turned up without a booking are disappointed. But not too much because they can enjoy their picnic on the river bank.

The idea is that you arrive at the riverside forty minutes before departure and order your picnic choices of breads, meats, cheeses, nuts and olives from their delicatessen. Bread is baked to order and the picnic basket is assembled. Then there is the important task of ordering wine and you can hone your choices at a tasting counter. Then it is time to collect your picnic, wine, water, glasses and ice buckets and board.

The boat heads down the river until progress is impeded by a weir then back the other way, passing the boarding jetty, until it is time to turn again and head home. The river is peaceful, the scenery changes at each bend. Fish jump, there are birds in the trees, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and there is an ice bucket and chilled wine from Viljoensdrift to sip. It is an idyllic way to spend an hour.

Viljoensdrift ‘River Grandeur’ Pinotage 2004
There’s creamy cassis, plums and stone fruits in this well made attractive wine, and it has a really nice finish. This is a clean, modern fruit driven wine, and very reasonably priced. Lovely stuff.

When you visit the Viljoensdrift website at http://www.viljoensdrift.co.za/ don't miss the eye symbol with the word 'view' on their homepage. Click on that for a virtual tour of the winery and river, where youcan select your view point, including birds-eye views. Clever stuff.






Sign on Viljoensdrift riverside tasting room door

Visiting Simonsig

Peter May pours 1995 Simonsig Pinotage

You can find Simonsig wines in more than forty countries, including Russia and even France, as well as many US states. It takes more than just consistently making good wines for a family owned winery to get their products in world markets. Simonsig’s secret weapon is Pieter Malan, one of three brothers ,along with winemaker Johan and Managing Director and viticulturist Francois, who own and operate Simonsig Estate. Pieter is a gregarious man who is never short of an amusing tale or sample of wine to pour at the endless wine shows he travels the world to attend.

I met Pieter at Simonsig’s re-modelled tasting room. There are major works going on for a new deli-restaurant to be opened soon and I was pleased to see the new building was sympathetic to and fitted well with the existing architecture.

We started with a glass of Brut Rosé. Simonsig were the first in South Africa to make a methode champenoise sparkling wine which they called Kaapse Vonkel, meaning Cape Sparkle. “We didn’t trademark the name,” Pieter told me, “We thought it would become the generic name for a South African sparkling wine; after all, we couldn’t use the word Champagne since the crayfish agreement of 1935.” And he then tells me how South Africa signed a treaty where France would import Cape crayfish in return for South Africa agreeing not to use Champagne and other French terms and geographical names on Cape wines. “So that is why you’ll never hear us referring to it as Champagne,” Pieter exclaimed.

“But Pieter,” I replied, “When I arrived here and asked for you in your tasting room, the young woman behind the counter asked me if I’d like a glass of Champagne while I was waiting.” Pieter paused a moment, then, roaring with laugher exclaimed “then I’ll have to smack her bottom!” But no other wineries adopted the Kaapse Vonkel name, eventually Simonsig trademarked it, and Methode Cap Classique (MCC) was chosen as the legal definition.

Pieter Malan

Brut Rosé 2006
This is a vintage Methode Cap Classique made from 95% Pinotage and 5% Pinot Noir. It is very pale, the colour coming from skin contact,it’s is a really good looking enjoyable sparkler with the flavour of a bowl of wild strawberries, its pleasantly dry but not sharp. 12%abv

“For the 2007 vintage we’re changing the blend to the Three Pins,” said Pieter. “We’ll have 18% Pinot Meunier, 5% Pinot Noir and 77% Pinotage.”

Simonsig make two still red Pinotages, one completely unwooded, and the Redhill which is a wooded wine made from grapes grown on a hill of red soil behind the winery. “It is a greater challenge to make good red wine without using a barrel, than with,”says Pieter

2004 Pinotage
Very soft red berries on the front palate, stewed plums and some firm grape tannins, I think it’s a little unbalanced. “It is tuned to drink with food,” says Pieter, “the ’04 needs a little more bottle maturation to come to the fore.” 14%abv

2006 Redhill Pinotage
Purple rim, really soft and smooth, lots of fruit underpinned by gentle tannins and there is a really attractive spiciness to it. Malolactic fermentation was in barrel, and it spent 16 months maturation in new French and American oak barrels. 14.5% abv. Pieter told me that he’d completely sold out of the ’05 Redhill and when he needed some he’d had to buy them back from a customer.

2007 Redhill Pinotage (barrel sample)
This was a sample from a barrel but was drinking very well and showing great promise, being soft with ripe rich black berry fruits.

“Pinotage was the first red wine made by my father Frans at Simonsig in 1970,” Pieter told me. “Pinotage is an excellent wine for matching with grilled food, but we mustn’t assume the rest of the world braais as much as we do.”

The founder of Simonsig Estate is honoured with the Frans Malan Reserve, a Cape Blend of Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon. “Cape Blends are the rocket that fires South African red wine,” stated Pieter firmly.

Frans Malan 2004
A Cape Blend consisting of Pinotage (65%), Cabernet Sauvignon (31%) and Merlot (4%). A claret nose leading into more sweet fruits on the front palate than you’d get from Bordeaux. A rich experience in a wine that manages to seem restrained as the same time as offering grainy wood tannins and, blackberry fruits with an intriguing linearity and balance.

We then went for lunch at the nearby Olivello Restaurant with Pieter bringing two aged wines from Simonsig’s cellar.

Simonsig Pinotage 1992
This is a 16 year old unwooded Pinotage; it looks pale orange in the glass with a clear rim. It has a very delicate flavour, there is some fruit but it is fading; it reminds me of an old Burgundy. A wine to sip and appreciate.

Simonsig Pinotage 1995
Much deeper red colour and a matching more intense fruit, there’s lots of life left init, and it matches will with Olivellos Moroccan lamb tagine. It is pretty amazing for a 13 year old inexpensive unoaked wine.

Pieter checks the wines


As we drive back up Simonsig’s drive I notice a Union Flag flying outside the winery. “That is in your honour,” says Pieter with a smile. Pieter takes up the hill to see the Redhill vineyard, and with Johan we also admire Simonsig’s vine labyrinth and small exhibition vineyard showing many different grape varieties.

As usual there are a number of tour groups in the tasting room. Simonsig attracts overlanders who, after travelling across Africa in expedition lorries, celebrate the completion of their journey at Simonsig, watching in awe as their leader brings a sabre out from the tasting room and slices off the tops of bottles of Kaapse Vonkel to fill their glasses with foaming wine.



Johan Malan & Peter May at the labryrinth


Simonsig's Redhill Pinotage Vineyard

Thanks to Pieter and Johan and the Simonsig team. No bottoms were harmed during the makingof this article, or afterwards

Laibach Pinotage 2003

There’s a richness of soft sweet blueberries and a tangy spiciness in this fruity wine, with some underlying vanilla from 14 months spent in small French and American oak barrels.

When I last tasted this wine, in October 2006, I felt it was "going through a dumb stage where the prominence of the fruit has dipped from my earlier tastes". Well it's speaking now.

Laibach 2003 Pinotage , which is a 2004 Top 10 winner, is a delightful wine, from a winery that never disappoints.

It will keep, but it is lovely drinking now.


Details
Producer: Laibach
Vintage: 2003
Winemaker: Francois van Zyl
Variety: Pinotage
Appellation: Simonsberg-Stellenbosch
Alcohol:14.5%

Montana has its first Pinotage vineyard

No one guessed Montana in the United States as the location of this vineyard. And its not surprising as weather there can be extreme. Even the official Montana State website exclaims "Winters Like You Have Never Experienced".

These Pinotage vines are planted on Greg Olsen's Montana ranch. Greg is owner of Olsen Wines in Paarl, and in 2005 became only the third private citizen to go into space* where he stayed in the International Space Station. Greg took some

Greg says "we have had about 50 Pinotage plants in the ground for about two years now. In winter, we cover them with a mixture of hay and manure. They survived last winter, and if they come up again this summer, I think we will win! Just imagine: Montana Pinotage!!"

Can't wait, Greg!

* high flying and where in this world were clues

Where is this Pinotage Vineyard?

Here's a two year old Pinotage vineyard in a location that might surprise you. The high-flying owner owns a winery in South Africa, but the picture wasn't taken there. Can you guess where in this world it is?

Vote for The Pinotage Club in SA Blog Awards

This blog is a finalist in the 4th South African Blog Awards!

It would be great for Pinotage if we would be among the winners. Please vote by clicking on the following image




You'll be taken to a the voting page where, at the foot, they'll ask you to put your email address and enter an anti-spam code.

Thanks....


What's the prize for the winning blog? Two Thousand and Eight South African cents - i.e. 20.08 Rands, or $2.50 US or £1.25 UK Pounds. But it is not the money, its the honour that is important :)

Own a Stormhoek Vine -- Save a Job

Stormhoek, the brand that made its name through blogging, now has two blogs. The original at www.stormhoek.com is probably the one on your favourites list, but it hasn’t been updated for a month now – I reckon it belonged to the now demised Orbital . So switch to www.stormhoek.co.za which is being maintained by the winery in South Africa.

They’re concerned about their local suppliers being hit by non-payment in the wake of Orbitals collapse and are asking supporters to invest in owning a vine. And, of course, you can choose a Pinotage from their Guava block, pictured below.

“When the crunch came in December 2007, R6 million ($800 000) was owed to South African suppliers. The list of unpaids includes the Stormhoek vineyard, the Stormhoek home cellar and in particular, the whole out-sourcing network (label printers, transporters, too many to mention).

One thing about bankruptcies. The money is lost.

South Africa's wine industry is not rich. Household income, averaged out across every employee: boss, labourer, supervisor, receptionist, driver, manager, foreman, all of them, is less than R2500 per month.

None of these businesses can afford to lose R500 000.

As a result, all of the dozen or so businesses will have to decide about cutbacks: if, what, when and who.”

Stormhoek are asking for supporters to adopt a vine of their choice by investing R2000 (=$270/£130).

“You will get a certificate with a photograph of your vine and your name, plus a bottle of wine made from the crop of the vineyard block containing your vine. All of the money raised will go to repaying the Orbital debts to South African grape-growing, winemaking and support services.

From March 1, we at Stormhoek will contribute 5% of the production cost to a loan repayment fund, to repay your loan with interest. When the fund has reached the target, all loans will be repaid.”

Full details are on a PDF document here, and on the blog at www.stormhoek.co.za/own-a-vine-save-a-job/

“Own a vine, save a job” campaign logo courtesy of Robert the Bruce, at iscatterlings.com.

The Guava Block

Fleur du Cap 2005 Pinotage

This has a delightfully bright carmine red colour, giving the impression of a wine much younger than its 3 years, and there’s a bit of glass staining too.

Not much nose, but what a deceptively inviting wine. Very soft and fruity on the front palate with a creamy middle backed with soft tannins. It is tad hot on the finish – I should have chilled it more; the label claims 15%abv although the factsheet from the Pinotage Top 10 (yes, it won in 2007) shows 13.57%. I think 15% is correct.

I’m looking at the bottle as I type this and notice it has only about 2 centimetres left. How did the bottle empty so quickly? The wine is so incredibly more-ish. Oh, its all gone now…

Details
Producer: Fleur du Cap
Vintage: 2005
Winemaker: Justin Corrans
Variety: Pinotage
Appellation: Coastal
Alcohol:15%

Riebeek Cellars

Riebeek Cellars is a large volume winery in the Swartland near Malmesbury. Founded in 1941 as a co-operative cellar it is now a private company owned by 60 farmers. Much of the wine it makes ends up under other peoples brand names, but the winery releases a extensive range of Swartland wines under its own Riebeek Cellars label. These labels carry a sailing ship logo “Jan van Riebeeck sailing to the Cape is the first thing people think of when they see our name,” says cellar master Zakkie Bester.

Zakkie is proud of the Pinotage Rosé 2007. It is a pale salmon with an orange hue. It is just off-dry, (3.5gL RS) light clean and refreshing with strawberry and ice-cream flavours. (13%abv) Zakkie tells me they pick 20,000 tons of Pinotage and 35% goes to the increasingly popular Rosé.

The 2005 ‘Limited Release’ (red) Pinotage was the result of a experiment in barrel fermentation by winemaker Alecia Hamman (pictured below). To my taste this bottle was kept too warm in the tasting room and this accentuated its 14.5% alcohol making it taste ‘hot’ and that overshadowed the berry and spicy flavours present. But I had tasted this wine before with Zakkie in better conditions -- see here.

Zakkie calls the Riebeek Cellar Pinotage 2005 his ‘house blend’ in that it represents what Riebeek Cellars does best, which is making quality wine in large volumes. I found it restrained, rather Rhone like, with good fruit flavours and balance. It costs just R25 and is jolly good value. The grapes come from dry-land bush vineyards and 20% sees a little oak in the form of staves and chips.

We found winemaker Alecia Hamman by her experimental barrels tucked away among the massive stainless steel tanks that soar far overhead in row after row. Notice these new French oak barrels have a large hatch on top wide enough to take the berries directly after they’ve been crushed. They’ll be fermented on the skins in the barrel. Alecia tells me she loves working with Pinotage.

Many thanks to Zakkei and Alecia

Vintage Videos

At this time of year in the Cape winelands you cannot help notice it is vintage time.

Slow tractors haul hoppers laden with grapes along the side of roads, bright colours dot green hillside vineyards showing where teams of pickers are working. The air around wineries is heavy with the smell of fermenting grapes and winemakers carry a glazed look from sleepless nights and their clothes are stained purple with juice splashes.

It is a wonderful time, and I am glad to be here.

For those that cannot, Beyerskloof are putting videos of this years harvest on their website here - http://www.beyerskloof.co.za/story.php?mid=101&pid=60 , and so are Warwick Estate here
http://www.warwickwine.com/framework/VidGal.asp

Warwick's first shows their famous old bush vine Pinotage being checked for ripeness by viticulturist Ronald Spies.

Four Paws - A Balancing Act

Imagine a fastidious cat walking slowly along the top of a centimetre wide fence. Each paw is placed carefully and the cat’s tail is raised helping it to balance.

It is this fine balance that Anne Jakubiec (pictured left) was looking for when she launched Four Paws Wines. Anne changed careers eleven years ago from the medical profession to wine. She has achieved success in exporting wines in bulk to Europe, and sourcing ‘own label’ wines for customers such as Threshers in the UK.

But Anne hankered for her own wine label, so with the help of a few friends, Four Paws Wines came into being, producing just 2000 bottles in their first year.

“Our CEO is Felix,” (pictured right) she told me Felix is the fine cat that owns Anne, and the labels carry Felix’s signature in the form of his paw print. Four Paws 2006 Pinotage shot the label to fame by achieving a 2007 Pinotage Top 10 win on its first vintage.

Anne is lucky that one of her friends is Gerda Willers, winemaker at nearby Allée Blue, and Gerda acted as winemaking consultant. The grapes came from the same Piekenierskloof farm in Olifants River region that Allée Blue has had much success with, including two Top 10 wins.

Four Paws 2006 was night-harvested and hand sorted, fermented on its skins for five days before pressing then fermented dry in stainless steel for another ten days. Malolactic fermentation followed by 12 months maturation took place in 15% new oak barrels; 55% French, 20% American and 15% Bulgarian

My first impression of this wine is its delightful scented floral nose. In the mouth it tasted soft and creamy, offering strawberry and dark cherry flavours with a touch of black chocolate followed by a really spicy and citrus uplift in finish. This wine is nicely balanced and feels medium bodied, not showing its claimed 15.5% abv. A really enjoyable wine.

Anne warned me that the wine needed decanting, but I forgot to do so and the sommelier at the Gordon’s Bay Spur steakhouse didn’t offer the service. I’d just chilled it, confusing the waiter into thinking it was a white wine because “red wines are warm”.

Most enjoyable as this wine is, the alcohol level which is actually 15.75% abv, is a concern.

Producer: Four Paws Wines
Winemaker: Gerda Willers
Appellation: Piekenierskloof
ABV: 15.75%
Price: R70 (£5/$10)

Stars at Bon Cap

As a city dweller I rarely experience total darkness or total quiet, or see more than a handful of stars. But on this trip to the Cape I enjoyed all three at Bon Cap in Robertson.

Bon Cap is South Africa’s largest certified organic wine farm, and it is privately owned by the du Preeze family. Roelf du Preeze is the 6th generation to farm this land and he is never happier than when out in his beloved vineyards. Long concerned about misuse of the soil, Roelf converted to organic methods many years ago. Justification came when he saw the quality of the grapes he produced, and he then became increasingly unhappy to see his superior organic grapes going to the local co-operative where they were combined with all the rest.

So he built a small winery, withdrew from the co-operative and started making his own wine. It is one thing to produce wine, but it needs to be sold if you want to eat and put shoes on your children’s feet.

Luckily Roelf had had the good sense to marry Michelle, whose farming family roots go back as many generations. It was Michelle who packed her bags, bought an airline ticket and started travelling the world, attending shows and bending the ear of anyone who’d listen.



Roelf and Michelle Du Preeze

The orders rolled in. “In 2002,” Michelle told me, “our total production was just 5,000 cases. This year we are making 6,000 cases just of our Ruins Pinotage. We sell it in the UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany – oh, and we even ship 50 cases to Barbados. The growth on our Pinotage has been amazing. We cannot meet demand and so Roelf is planting more Pinotage vineyards.”

Bon Cap make two red Pinotages, one under the Bon Cap name and a second label ‘The Ruins’. “A lot of this is sold by the glass,” says Michelle. It also appears under the ‘Greenhouse’ label for Superquinn stores in Ireland and Booths in the UK. There is also a 100% Ruins Pinotage Rosé. “We’ve had huge demand for this,” says Michelle, “in one year we’ve almost doubled production to 8000 cases. But we’re going to reduce the proportion of Pinotage in our rosé so we can use it in our red wine.” And Michelle is very proud that the UK Wine Society have selected Bon Cap to be their supplier of own-label Pinotage. Michelle travelled the length of UK with The Wine Society last year, hosting tastings and meeting customers.

New this year is a Bon Cap Cape Blend, consisting of Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. “We harvested the lower half of each grape bunch for this,” says Roelf, “to ensure we got only the ripest grapes.”

Also new this year is Marinus Potgieter (pictured right) who took over as winemaker in January. Marinus was previously three years at De Heuvel Estate in Tulbagh and is no stranger to Pinotage, winning four Young Wine Show trophies, including the CJ Petrow Trophy for the 2006 Champion Pinotage.

Ruins Rosé 2007
100% Pinotage – bright pink colour, light fruity red cherry
flavours, enjoyable quaffer.

Ruins Pinotage 2007
Bluish tinge, sweet
front with soft blueberry fruits.

Bon Cap Pinotage 2006
Good red
colour, soft mouth feel, ripe plums, dry tannins on finish

Bon Cap Cape
Blend 2005 (13%abv)
42% Pinotage, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Petit Verdot.
This is a real stunner, super mintiness, sweet uplift, savoury middle and lots
of complexity with a good structure and finish.

And about those stars? Not content with travelling the world marketing Bon Cap, managing the farm bistro, organising weddings in the farm chapel, doing the catering, and bringing up a young family, Michelle also manages guest cottages clustered around the farm lake.

And it was in the appropriately named ‘Pinotage’ cottage that I spent a couple of nights. Bon Cap is in a valley on the banks of the Breede River. The nearest main road is the R60 between Worcester and Robertson; the turn-off is a gravel track that winds over desert hills for seven kilometres before reaching the peaceful green oasis that is Bon Cap.

Night time at Bon Cap is quiet and dark – completely and utterly velvetly black. Looking out the window of our little cottage we could see no light at all. But step outside and it seems the heavens are pressing down on you, for they are packed with an infinite number of piercing bright stars sparkling like diamonds in a spotlight.

If you want to visit wineries in the Robertson area, or to get away from it all, or to just rest, relax, breathe fresh air, eat good home cooking, and drink great wines, then staying at Bon Cap won’t disappoint.







Bon Cap Winery

Stellenzicht - The Temple Dancer

Decades ago I went hill trekking in the Golden Triangle of northern Thailand, up along the Mehkong River by the border with Laos. I slept in tribal villages of various indigenous peoples; not Thai but Akah, Lisu, Hmong and more who have no states of their own nor recognition of national borders. The triangle is golden because thick jungle hide clearings planted with marijuana and poppies for heroin, protected by warlord ‘generals’ and their barefooted but uniformed and heavily armed soldiers.

Those memories return every time I place a bottle of Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Pinotage on my table — which unfortunately is not often enough because it is rather difficult to obtain.

Stellenzicht’s triangle is golden both because of the quality grapes grown in the valley, and because of Guy Webber. I would like to say that he is at his winemaking peak, but that would imply he can go no further and I don’t think he has any limits where winemaking is concerned.

Stellenzicht ‘Golden Triangle’ Pinotage 2006

There is the most beautiful fruity and floral perfume coming from this medium red coloured wine. I had to pause and enjoy it. The first taste gives sweet redcurrants followed by hints of coffee, lavender and maybe some elderflower.

I was surprised to see the label shows 15% abv because this wine doesn’t taste like a big alcohol bruiser. Rather it is as lithe and sinewy as a Thai temple dancer, perfectly balancing rich fruit flavours with acids and tannins. This wine is just so moreishly drinkable – and all too soon - it was drunk.

As posted a while ago, Guy Webber said the ’06 Pinotage is quite different from its predecessor: “It’s quite lean, more in the classic Old World style. I didn’t change my recipe though, besides using a little less new wood, I simply let the wine express itself.”

Expressed wonderfully, Guy!

Meeting Juno’s Liberty

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed several comments posted by the mysterious ‘Liberty’ of Juno Wines (left). When I said I was coming to the Cape, Liberty commented that I must visit and taste their Pinotage Rosé.

So on one baking hot day last week, I did.

Juno’s office is in a 1793 building situated on Main Street, Paarl. Juno wines are noted for their attractive labels featuring juno-esque women painted by Tertia du Toit. Many wines have artistic labels, but I’ll bet Juno are the only one with the artist in residence, with her studio and art gallery sharing the same space.

The outside temperature was 37˚C, so I was doubly pleased to enter the cool building and to be offered a chilled glass of Juno 2007 Pinotage Rosé by Liberty herself.

The wine is an attractive pale salmon pink colour and tastes dry, although it said to be off-dry with 7.5g/L of residual sugar. I found it light bodied, with very gentle strawberry flavours and a hint of spice. Liberty says it reminds her of strawberries which have had black pepper ground over them, a dish popular in the Cape.

It comes from 15 year old vines grown in the Robertson area, is made by Néwald Marias, has a friendly 12.24% abv and costs and even more friendly R25 (£2/$4).

And what about a red Pinotage? Liberty says Juno will be adding more wines to their range and that it was a possibility.

There was one more thing to do, and that was to have a picture with the lovely Liberty and, since she was wearing an apron with Tertia du Toit’s painting of Liberty, I too donned an appropriate Juno apron adorned with the picture that appears on Juno’s Pinotage Rosé.

Juno wines, artistic aprons and Tertia du Toit’s wonderful prints and paintings are all available at 191 Main Street Paarl, or via the website at http://www.junowines.com/.

And read Liberty’s blog – there’s a link on the right.

Making an Ultra-Premium Priced Boutique Pinotage

There is a new boutique winery in Paarl specialising in very low volume Pinotage. The winery is fitted out with the latest equipment, including small stainless steel fermenting tanks and a vibrating sorting belt. The location of this winery may surprise because it is owned by KWV and situated in their Paarl complex. But it operates a separate experimental research winery and it is the domain of Bertus Fourie. (pictured right)
Bertus has an affinity with Pinotage and is probably best known for the popular ‘coffee and chocolate’ interpretation that he pioneered when working at Diemersfontein, and KWV’s award winning ‘Café Culture’ mocha Pinotage released in September 2007.

I was lucky enough to be present when the 2008 Pinotage harvest was being processed by Bertus assisted by Anneka Du Plessis. After picking, the grape bunches had been transported to the winery where they’d been placed in a reefer (a refrigerated steel container seen on trucks and container ships) outside the winery door. They’d been cooled down to 10˚C which firmed up the grape berries. Then a conveyer belt lifted the whole bunches to a vibrating sorting bench where an operator removed any bunches with rotten or unripe grapes. At the end of the belt the bunches drop into a destemmer. Stems are ejected into a waste bin and the individual berries roll out onto another sorting bench. Here a team or workers picked out any remaining stalks (pictured below). “It makes a hell of a difference in avoiding unripe flavours”, Bertus told me. “From three tons of grapes the sorting team will take out maybe 15Kg of green stalks.”

Another conveyor belt lifts the hand selected berries up above a fermenting tank where they slide down a chute and between a pair of rollers placed over the tank hatch (pictured below). . “We leave it the last possible moment,” said Bertus. “We can adjust the rollers so can decide whether we want the entire berries to go through, or by how much they should be crushed.”

“This was a tricky year for Pinotage,” says Bertus. “It was quite a cool spring and early summer and sugars and phenolics were developing evenly, then the temperature just shot up which caused sugars to increase much faster than the phenolics. But these grapes are nice. They’re very small, giving a high extract: 27 sugar, 3.6pH and 6 acid. Magic!”

Bertus is using natural yeast fermentation, “Among other advantages, it seems to finish with an alcohol level about one degree lower than if we’d used a cultivated yeast. So we’re getting a complex Pinotage, but at 13.5% alcohol.”


It has been decided that the best barrels produced by this experimental boutique winery will be bottled separately and made available to the public under a new Mentor’s Selection label. The first vintage will be the 2006 Pinotage, and although the price has not been finalised, it will be at what KWV call ‘the top end of the ultra-premium prince point’ , in other words it is likely to cost much more than most other South African wines.

I tasted samples from two barrels of the 2007 vintage. These are works in progress and a long way from being ready, but the first was very exciting: smooth, lots of complex layers, good balance of subtle wooding and acids. “I want to emphasise the Pinot Noir characteristics,” says Bertus. I’m using 228 litre Latour Burgundy barrels. The second sample had brighter fruit and more forward acids, but didn’t seem as together as the first.

Then I tasted the 2006 Pinotage, which is now in bottle. This had spent 18 months in oak. It had good fruit, but the acids seemed a bit aggressive and wood tannins were strong on the finish. “We are not making a wine that should be drunk on release,” Bertus told me. “People who buy this will need to understand that it is a wine that needs to be cellared for a few years, at least, before it is ready to drink.” By now the bottle had been opened a short while, so I poured another measure and also gave a vigorous swirl to aerate it. On second taste it was less aggressive and, now with the explanation that it was a wine for the long haul, not immediate gratification, I could see the underlying potential. The wine is currently undergoing bottle maturation and is likely be released after another six months ageing.

I was impressed by KWV’s commitment to taking Pinotage to the highest levels, by hiring Pinotage expert Bertus Fourie and using labour intensive small scale winemaking. Was I seeing the birth of South Africa’s equivalent to Australia’s iconic Penfolds’ ‘Grange’?

Only time will tell, but an ultra-premium priced Pinotage can only enhance the overall status of the variety.

All in the Family

Pinotage is, as any fule kno, the result of an arranged marriage between noble, shy, delicate Pinot Noir and a rough diamond called Cinsaut.

Some 80 years after its conception, winemaker Conrad Vlok has claimed a world first by putting both parents and offspring together in one bottle.

Family Tree 2004 is a blend of 38% Pinot Noir, 34% Cinsaut and 28% Pinotage.

They say Pinotage overwhelms a blend and I’d expected fragile Pinot Noir to be lost, but this wine smells of it – “is this Burgundy?” my partner asked me when I poured her a glass. Unlikely when we’re here in the Cape wine-lands for me to taste primarily Pinotage, but I had told her I was giving her one night off my favourite variety.

So what did we get? A good clear bright red colour, a burgundian nose, a bit green and vegetal. Light bodied and austere with some strawberry flavours but a sour finish. I’m not sure if it is supposed to be like this, or has passed its best (it’s now four years old), but my bell remained un-rung. I would have appreciated some of that Pinotage sweetness.

But we did enjoy the poetic back label.

I know nothing about Family Tree, and find no mention of it in Platter but I did meet Conrad Vlok once some years ago when he was winemaker at Delheim and I know he has a skill with Pinotage. He is now at Strandvlei Vineyards in Elim, responsible for the First Sighting range, whose knockout Sauvignon Blancs are in my local Morrisons, and maybe this is a personal venture.

Last year Beyers Truter announced he was going to produce a blend of these same three varieties. I don’t think he’ll need any encouragement, but don’t stint on the Pinotage, Beyers.

Note: My partner suggests that any fule might not kno that the misspellings in the first sentence are deliberate and that I should therefore mention they are a quotation from an incredibly famous book.*

*that she has never heard of.

Producer: Family Tree
Vintage: 2004
Varieties: 38% Pinot Noir, 34% Cinsaut, 28% Pinotage
Winemaker: Conrad Vlok
Appellation: Stellenbosch
ABV: 13%
Price: R51 (£3.65/$6.95)

Longridge 2004

My initial impression of Longridge's 2004 Pinotage is of ripe red plums, but underneath the immediately attractive fruit is a serious wine with a good structure and some wood tannins.

The back label suggests enjoying this wine from 2011 till 2016. Call me impetuous, but I couldn’t wait and I enjoyed it last night with a sirloin steak. Drink it cool now or keep aging it; the choice is yours.

I've had several very nice Longridge's, but for some reason this is a winery under my radar, probably because I don't see it in my local wine stores. But if you do see it, don't pass by.

Producer: Longridge
Vintage: 2004
Appellation: Stellenbosch
ABV: 14.5%

Bon Courage 2006

Remarkably sweet nose and initial sweet taste. Lots and lots of ripe mulberry fruits with soft vanilla (American Oak??) creaminess in the middle and black olives on the finish.

This is a delightful crowd pleaser which we couldn’t resist drinking on its own as we waited for our steaks to arrive. There’s enough body, but as the bottle nears its end some doubts set in.

I can see why it so charmed the judges of the 2007 Top 10 because the first glass is a stunner of sheer upfront approachability.

But I found it became tiring to drink. By the third glass the sweetness palls. I found it too jammy and too soft for continued pleasurable drinking with food. The American term ‘fruit bomb’ seems appropriate.

But, boy, I did so enjoy that first glass.

Producer: Bon Courage
Variety: Pinotage
Vintage: 2006
Appellation: Estate WO Robertson
ABV: 14%
Made by: André and Jacques Bruwer