Oregon Joins the Club

Oregon has joined the family of Pinotage growers. Melrose Vineyards, located in the delightfully named Umpqua Valley, near the town of Roseburg in southern Oregon, planted Pinotage in 2004 on the banks on the South Umpqua River and currently they have one acre of Pinotage.

Melrose is owned by Wayne and Deedy Parker who started their vineyards in 1996. The Parker family decided to plant Pinotage for “the unique wine experience and for the challenge of growing a grape unknown in the Umpqua Valley.” Wayne Parker says “the vines are doing exceptionally well.”

Rachael Miller at Melrose says “customers are intrigued by the delightfully fragrant nose that almost seems to contradict the unusually rich berry flavours.” She adds that “Pinotage makes a great reduction for pork tenderloin and is very flexible when pairing with food.”

Melrose released their first varietal Pinotage, from the 2006 vintage, last November and so far it has won a bronze medal at the 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and a silver medal at the 2009 Oregon Seafood & Wine Festival.

Oregon joins fellow US states California and Virginia in growing and making commercially available varietal Pinotage along with Montana, New York and North Carolina which are growing Pinotage.

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Just Fancy That

From the Arniston Bay Blog, posted 21 September

A roast rack of Karoo lamb is just the right dish to prepare on Heritage Day.
This dish maybe time consuming to prepare but the result is an amazingly delicious dish which is well worth the effort.
To keep within the heritage theme, serve this meal with a uniquely South African Pinotage. The Arniston Bay Pinotage 2008 is a well balanced wine with vanilla tones and savoury flavours. This wine is a great match for the South African Karoo lamb.

From the Kumkani blog, posted 21 September

A roast rack of Karoo lamb is just the right dish to prepare on Heritage Day.
This dish maybe time consuming to prepare but the result is an amazingly delicious dish which is well worth the effort.
To keep within the heritage theme, serve this meal with a uniquely South African Pinotage. The Kumkani Pinotage 2006. This well balanced wine has a ripe berry fruit nose and French oak aromas adding vanilla and spice with a excellent finish.

Both blogs posted Sally Schneider's December 1969 recipe copied from a US site and although temperatures have been converted to Celcius from Fahrenheit the lamb pictured is not Karoo but "American lamb, because it is corn fed, is milder in flavor than Australian or New Zealand lamb, which is grass fed."

How come both Kumkani and Arniston Bay blogs happened to post the same thing on the same day? Seems that the brands have outsourced production of their blogs to the same PR Agency, Bivio Consulting.

Bivio Consulting also run the blogs of several other wine brands including Boschendal , Four Cousins ,Tall Horse and Versus . Content is mostly cut and paste items from other websites with minimal original content or news about the winery, it staff or its products.

No doubt Bivio managed to impress the wineries with the importance to a business of blogging, however Bivio themselves are not leading by example. Bivio's very own blog, hosted by the free Blogger service, has had only 3 items posted this year, the last one on 10 April declared "Our site is currently under construction".

I think these wineries are missing the point. Surely a blog is a way to communicate with their customers and to let us who cannot visit the winery to know what is going on throughout the seasons. It isn't rocket science and it needn't cost money. I can imagine the winery MD smugly boasting that 'Oh, yes, we have a blog' but I don't think that paying a PR agency to post content culled from the web that has no connection with the wine brand that owns the blog makes sense.

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Succesful Erections at Neethlinghof

Neethlingshof have now formally announced the renaming of their Lord Neethling Pinotage to Owl Post, as revealed here in May.

They say that the redesign emphasises elegance and rejuvenation. “The new-look labels, adopted across the range, have also created an opportunity to highlight the winery’s commitment to eco-sustainability, having recently become a member of the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI).”.

“the reserve tier, made exclusively from hand-picked grapes, has been named The Short Story Collection. Drawing attention to Neethlingshof’s rich and varied narratives, the three-limited edition wines in the collection each focus on a specific aspect of the estate’s philosophy or history.”

They include the Owl Post, a single-vineyard Pinotage.


“The Owl Post recognises Neethlinghof’s integrated pest management system. Owls play an important role in keeping rodent infestations in check (and without the use of chemicals). To encourage the return of these nocturnal birds of prey to the estate, Neethlingshof successfully erected breeding-friendly owl posts in the vineyards.”

No mention how many posts were “successfully erected” or whether any owls have moved into the new accommodation.

Flat Roof Manor add Pink Pinotage to Portfolio

Flat Roof Manor have added a pink wine to their list. It’s called Pinot Rosé and is a 70-30 blend of Pinotage and Pinot Grigio.

No reason given for the inclusion of the Grigio but I guess it adds to the flavour profile and the fashionable Grigio name will help sales. Or is it they just didn’t have enough Grigio to make enough pink wine on its own?

The wine is made at Uitkyk winery by Estelle Lourens. On the property is an historic manor house which is one of only three 19th century Georgian flat roofed manors still standing in the Cape.

The brand’s label shows the flat roof with a cheeky cat that legend says preferred to stay on the roof long after its owners left the estate.

(Pinot Grigio – Pinot Gris in French – is a mutation of Pinot Noir whose skins vary in colour from grey to a dark pink. Usually used to make white wines, the recent international popularity of rosé wines coupled with the current popularity of Grigio have seen increasing numbers of pink Grigio’s.)

On the Couch with Guy Webber

Pinotage loving winemaker Guy Webber has ventured into the world of blogging.

On the Couch with Guy Webber started on 20 July and now has three posts.

Guy is winemaker for Stellenzicht and Hill and Dale and it is on the latter’s site he is musing – mostly about women it seems.

Head over there and say hello.

(I don't think that is Guy sitting on that sofa)

Pinotage News Snippets

Snippets

• Kanonkop 2005 Pinotage won the only Gold medal awarded to varietal Pinotage in the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards. Judges described it as “Violets, red fruit, subtle spice, a bit of oyster shell. Fresh and appealing palate, with lovely concentrated strawberry fruit and some pencil shavings, tomato paste and truffle. Balanced elegant tannin”. Beyerskloof Synergy 2005 Cape Blend (with 33% Pinotage) won a Gold medal. (As previously reported, a varietal Pinotage from Kaapzicht won the International Trophy for Red Single Varietal over £10 and Kaapzicht’s Vision Cape Blend won a Gold medal at the same competition.
  
  
• Wine Spectator gave 92 points to J Vineyards 2007 Russian River Valley (California) Pinotage.
  
  
• The successful Golden Kaan brand is now 100% owned by KWV after they bought out founding partners Racke.
  
  
• Café Culture Pinotage 2009 is about to be released. Richard Rowe, chief winemaker at KWV, says "The 2009 Café Culture Pinotage is one of the best Café Culture wines we have produced; in fact the cooler season and absence of any heat wave conditions resulted in ideal growing conditions for the grapes. Consequently the taste experience is richer and softer, and we have been able to release the wine a few months earlier than normal - a bonus for Café Culture fans."
  
  Rowe recommends cooling it before serving. “The 2009 has intense, fresh coffee and mocha flavours, which are more pronounced than other years. This is a stylish wine which can be enjoyed for all occasions," says Rowe. "I recommend chilling it slightly in summer as South Africa's room temperature can get fairly high. This will ensure that your Café Culture tastes just as delicious when sipped around the pool."
  
  
  
  
• Another coffee accented Pinotage has been launched: Cappucino by Boland Cellars
  
  
  
• Pinotage is being made in Oregon. Melrose Melrose Vineyards in Roseburg Oregon released their first vintage of 100% Pinotage last year and it a won Silver medal at the Oregon Seafood & Wine Festival 2009. Unfortunately I have not received a reply to my request for information.
  
  
• “Like a lot of people, I started out with Yellowtail; however, I have moved on to other wines now. My regular drink now is a wine from South Africa called The Ruins Pinotage.” Dr Kelly Fletcher of the University Hospital of the West Indies Department of Anaesthesia, interviewed by Christopher Reckord in the Jamaica Observer 3 September
  

Pinotage Scoops Best Red Varietal Trophy

Kaapzicht Estate’s Steytler Pinotage 2006 has won the International Trophy for Red Single Varietal over £10 at the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards, it was announced this week.

The same wine had earlier won the Trophy for South African Red Single Varietal over £10 Trophy – watch Yngvild Steytlers reaction to that award here – and their Kaapzicht Steytler Vision 2006, a Cape Blend containing 35% Pinotage, won a Gold medal in the same competition.

Five years ago, at the 2004 International Wine and Spirits Competition in London, the 2001 vintage Vision won the Trophy for world’s best red blend, the first Cape blend to so recognised.

The fruit for the winning Pinotage and Cape Blends came from the same block of old bush vines. Danie Steytler, cellarmaster and co-owner of Kaapzicht Estate said “Bottelary Hills is a prime winegrowing terroir for red wine. The northwestern slopes have the perfect combination of direct sunlight and cool prevailing sea breezes from False Bay and Atlantic Ocean. The hills on our estate are situated only 20 km from the coast of False Bay. The medium potential soils and dry land vineyards produce low yields of 4 to 8 tons per hectare, thus creating small berries with concentrated flavours.

“Pinotage is a very versatile red wine variety and the Kaapzicht Steytler Pinotage from those vineyards is a shining example of the serious, well-oaked, full-bodied style to be enjoyed with food, especially venison, red meat, traditional South African dishes and cheeses.”


From left Danie jr Steytler (winemaker), George Steytler (owner and viticulturist) and Danie Steytler (owner and cellarmaster)


Decanter’s judges described the winning Pinotage as “Voluptuous, heady nose with very precise black fruits, plums, mocha and tar. Full-bodied and opulent in the mouth, ripe and supple fine-grained tannins with plenty of spice to enliven the finish.”

The Gold winning Vision 2006 had “Abundant blackberry fruit with pencil shaving, white pepper, cocoa and spiced oak aromas. Multi-layered ripe fruit, sleek tannins and linear progression from aroma to palate.”

Decanter World Wine Awards claim to be the world's biggest wine competition; this year there were 10,285 entries.

Congratulations to the Steytlers and the Kaapzicht team.

2009 Pinotage Top 10 Winners

Winning Wines Announced Today

• Altydgedacht 2008 (Durbanville)
  
• Beyerskloof Diesel 2007 (Stellenbosch)
  
• Cathedral Cellar 2006 (Coastal)
  
• Darling Cellars Onyx 2006 (Darling)
  
• Flagstone Writer’s Block 2007 (Worcester vineyards)
  
• Kanonkop Estate 2005 (Stellenbosch)
  
• Longridge 2007 (Stellenbosch)
  
• Lyngrove Platinum 2007 (Stellenbosch)
  
• Viljoensdrift River Grandeur 2008 (Robertson)
  
• Windmeul Reserve 2008 (Paarl)

Results of the 2009 Absa Pinotage Top 10 Competition were announced today 27 August at a ceremony following lunch at Val de Vie Wine and Polo Estate near Paarl.

Half the wineries represented are first time winners: Altydgedacht, Darling Cellars, Flagstone, Lyngrove, and Viljoensdrift.

Kanonkop wins for their eighth time and Beyerskloof for their fifth with the second vintage of Diesel which has also been awarded 5 Stars in the 2010 Platter Guide.

This year there were 139 wines competing, the 2nd highest number of entries, and these included three wines from New Zealand, the second year running the competition has attracted international interest.

This year’s judges were Duimpie Bayly (convener), Francois Naudé, Allan Cheesman, Neil Pendock, Wendy Burridge, Chris Roux and Gert Boerssen who over two days drew up a short list of 28 wines from which were selected the winners and 10 runners-up.

Duimpie Bayly said that the wines showed elegance and beautiful fruit, while sensible wood treatment created a fine balance of flavours. “There were very few bad wines and the 2007 vintage stood out with wines of supreme quality.”

Co-judge Neil Pendock said it was a hard task to select the top 10 from the final 28 wines. Allan Cheesman, former Director of Wine for UK Sainsbury’s supermarkets said that he'd been tasting wine for 37 years and this was a great experience with all the superb wines.

Runners up were: Bellingham Bernard Series Bush Vine 2007,
Cathedral Cellar 2007, DeWaal Top of the Hill 2007, Diemersfontein Carpe Diem 2007, Fort Simon 2006, Kanonkop Estate 2006, Simonsig Redhill 2007, Spier Lesebo 2007, Stellenzicht Cellarmaster's Release 2007 and Wildekrans Barrel Selection 2007

The winners of the 2009 Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition share with their award. Front from left are Anri Truter (Beyerskloof), Francois van Niekerk (Windmeul), James Slabbert (Managing Executive of Absa Corporate and Business Bank), Fred Viljoen (Viljoensdrift) and Danielle le Roux (Lyngrove). Behind from left are Abé Beukes (Darling Cellars/Onyx), Clinton Le Sueur (Longridge), Abrie Beeslaar (Kanonkop), Etienne Louw (Altydgedacht), Gerhard Swart (Flagstone) and Thys Loubser (KWV/Cathedral Cellar).

Photographer: Hannes Oosthuizen

5 Platter Stars for Beyerskloof's Diesel

Earlier than usual the Platter team have announced the wines awarded five stars in the forthcoming 2010 Platter Guide, due for publication end of November.

Beyerskloof's Diesel Pinotage 2007 is the sole varietal representative in the list.

The Platter Guide annually tastes and rates more than 6,000 South African awarding from zero to a maximum of 5 stars. Very few wines achieve the highest score which indicates a wine the tasters agreed was 'superlative, a Cape classic'.

For the 2010 Guide there just 43 five-star wines, which includes 7 fortified and dessert wines.

Congratulations to Beyers Truter (pictured right) and his team at Beyerskloof. The first vintage of this barrel selection wine, named after Beyers' recently deceased and much missed dog, the 2006 vintage was a Pinotage Top 10 winner last year.

The full list of five star wines:

White Wine of the Year

Sadie Family Palladius 2008
Red Wine of the Year

Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005
Sauvignon blanc

Fleur du Cap Sauvignon Blanc Unfiltered 2009

Lomond Pincushion Sauvignon Blanc 2009

Tokara Elgin Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Woolworths Cape Point Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Limited Release 2009

Cape Point Vineyards CWG Auction Reserve Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2008
White blends - Bordeaux style

Woolworths Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon Reserve 2009

Cape Point Vineyards Isliedh 2008

The Berrio Wines The Weathergirl 2008

Vergelegen White 2008
Chenin blanc

Beaumont Hope Marguerite Chenin Blanc 2008
White blends

Nederburg Ingenuity White 2008

Rall 2008

Sadie Family Palladius 2008

Woolworths Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards Spectrum White Limited Release 2008
Chardonnay

Ataraxia Chardonnay 2008

Chamonix Chardonnay Reserve 2008

Paul Cluver Chardonnay 2008
Pinot noir

Newton Johnson Domaine Pinot Noir 2008

Catherine Marshall Pinot Noir 2008
Grenache

Neil Ellis Vineyard Selection Grenache 2007
Pinotage

Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage 2007
Red blends

Sadie Family Columella 2007

Spier Frans K. Smit 2005
Shiraz

Dunstone Shiraz 2008

Haskell Vineyards Pillars Shiraz 2007

Rustenberg Stellenbosch Syrah 2007

Saxenburg Shiraz Select Limited Release 2005
Red blends - Bordeaux style

De Trafford CWG Auction Reserve Perspective 2006

Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2006

Morgenster Estate Morgenster 2006

Stony Brook Ghost Gum 2006

Woolworths Jordan Cobblers Hill Classic 2005
Cabernet Sauvignon

Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005
Port

Boplaas Vintage Reserve Port 2007

De Krans Cape Tawny Port NV

Boplaas Family Vineyards Cape Tawny Port 1997
Unfortified dessert wine

Buitenverwachting 1769 2007

Fleur du Cap Noble Late Harvest 2008

Nederburg Winemaster's Reserve Noble Late Harvest 2008

Mullineux Family Straw Wine 2008

Congrats to all..

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Called to the Bar for Bertus's Latest Coffee Pinotage

Bertus Fourie is the winemaker who achieved fame, and some say notoriety, for launching the coffee’n’chocolate Pinotage style upon the world while he was working at Diemersfontein. Some purists object that it is not varietally correct, but there is no doubting that Diemersfontein’s Pinotage is hugely successful and has introduced many people to the delights of Pinotage.

Bertus, by now nicknamed Starbucks, moved on to KWV for whom he created their mocha toned Café Culture Pinotage.

Bertus told me “I love to make ‘coffee Pinotage’- it is such a consumer friendly wine and I have met thousands of people as a result “

One of the people he met was Martin Venter, developer of Val de Vie Lifestyle Polo Estate, who offered Bertus the position of managing director at associated Val de Vie Wines in 2004.

Val de Vie specialises in Rhône style wines, so when Bertus and Martin got the itch to create their own coffee Pinotage a new label was called for, and Barista is its name.

Barista Coffee Pinotage 2009 will be released soon, marketed by Vinimark in South Africa, and I hope to taste it soon and report back.

24 October is POT Day

POT -- Pinotage on Tap -- takes place on 24 October this year. The popular annual festival celebrates the release of the new vintage of Diemersfontein’s famous coffee’n’chocolate Pinotage.

They’ll be music from aKING, Haydn Gardner's Swing Band and Lonesome Dave Ferguson. Food includes Pinotage friendly canapés, an XX-large chocolate fountain and strawberries, snack-pack goodie bags and ‘some frolicsome Pinotage games’ are promised.

And, of course, barrels and barrels tapped and pouring 2009 Diemersfontein Pinotage.

Price stays the same as last year – see for full details and to book.


(The date this year is a month later than last year: if only they’d put it back an extra week I could have attended, grrrr!)

DeWaal Top of the Hill 2006

Has it really been that long? Last Top of the Hill I tasted was the 2004 vintage when I visited the winery in 2007. Then I found the 2004 an “older style Pinotage, with firm firm dry tannins, less approachable fruit, and crisp acidity.”

This 2006 is a different beast being very approachable and well balanced with tannins well restrained on opening and an ideal wine with enough body to match food. The wine opens up in the glass showing ripe cherry flavours. The Top of The Hill is made for aging, and I think I’ll put away my remaining bottle to see how it develops, as the few dregs of this bottle were showing intriguing spices and plums when I emptied them the following day.

A well deserved Top 10 winner in 2008.


I must admit though my total puzzlement at the labelling. The front label does not mention the grape variety. The rear label has a vague all purpose waffle about “the diversity of soil and vineyard sites on this Stellenbosch Kloof Estate enable judicious partnering of classic varietals with ideal terroir.”

What relevance does the diversity of vineyard sites on the farm have to with this specific wine? It is a single vineyard wine from a named vineyard which happens to be on the top of a hill, not in a ravine as kloof implies. Not only that, but the historic Top of the Hill vineyard is planted with the world’s oldest Pinotage vines. I’d have thought that was worthy of mention.

2009 is a good vintage at Wildekrans

Wildekran's winemaker, William Wilkinson, reports that

2009 is been a very good vintage. Our yields are up from the previous vintage and our red wines show clean fruit flavour with excellent soft tannins. Pinotage and Shiraz would be classed as our premium red cultivars.

Our Pinotage Barrel Selection could be described as a multilayered complex full-bodied wine which was matured in first fill French American 225 litre barriques. Being a rather cool climate area our Pinotage lean more to fresher style that brings out strawberry, raspberry, cherry aromas well balanced with integrated bouquet of vanilla butterscotch and cherry tobacco. Ageing potential of about 10 years and recently rewarded with 2009 Silver Decanter Medal.

I'm looking forward to tasting it :)


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Anura 2007 Pinotage

Anura is not a winery I’m familiar with.

They bottled their first wine in 2001 and in 2008 won Pinotage Top 10 with this, their 2007 vintage. I opened my first bottle of Anura last night and heartily concur with the Top 10 judges. This is a very good wine.

Packaging is not quite there. The bottle is a classy heavy one and the front label is good, but the rear label has a blurb printed in tiny dull gold against black that is difficult to read and is confusing. Resorting to the Anura’s informative website all becomes clear. Anura means frog, which explains the image on the front, and is taken from the name of a hill on their farm. We used to find frogs in our garden when we had a small pond but that is now filled in and planted with courgettes and beans that get eaten by unseen predators the moment they emerge from their flowers. However a benefit is that we no longer find mutilated frogs after mowing our lawn.

I was expecting a DIAM technical cork at the end of my waiters’ friend but found a smoothed natural cork which was stained with wine along its length and top. So I was concerned for a while about the seal.

The first sip was rewarding with an intriguing spiciness which became less apparent as time progressed. The wine was smooth as an ivory boat with silk sails on a mill pond and twice as enjoyable. This was not one of your exuberant braai Pinotages with big flavours that leap out the glass but a quietly elegant one you could take to a Michelin starred restaurant knowing it wouldn’t embarrass. That’s not to say there wasn’t any fruit: layers of flavour yielded plums and raspberry restrained by tannins that were there if you were paying attention, but again they didn’t shout about it. This is one of those wines where you pour another glass while saying “I can’t believe how good this is – oh, we’ve finished it.”

Although some of Anura wines are available from Anura's fullfilment partner in Europe, the 2007 Pinotage isn't one of them, and I can't find any stockists in Europe or the USA, but Grapeland in England list the 2005 vintage Pinotage.


Anura Pinotage 2007
WO Paarl
14.5% abv (actually 14.63%)
60 ZAR

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.

Wine Spectator - "If you like Pinot but have never experienced a Pinotage, you owe it to yourself to try one"

Wine Spectator's James Laube recently blind tasted a flight of 2007 Sonoma Pinot Noirs and found one

"that stood out, and that I really liked. It was dark in color, notably spicy and peppery, with pretty floral scents and ripe, vivid black and wild berry fruit. Tight in structure, dense and concentrated, even a tad rustic, ending with a complex array of fruit, herb and anise, with firm tannins.

My first reaction: Is this a Syrah? Had I missed the change in varietals in the lineup? Did we shift from Pinot to Rhône reds? The wine certainly fit the critique some people have of some California Pinots--that is, they’re too big and almost Syrah-like in their structure, strength and flavor profile.

When the bags came off, the wine made sense. It was a 2007 Pinotage ($38) from J Vineyards and Winery. I liked the new J Pinots, too, but the Pinotage caught my fancy that day, and later that night as I tried it after it had had eight hours of aeration. It was still going strong the next day.

It’s a wonderful wine. If you like Pinot but have never experienced a Pinotage, you owe it to yourself to try one and taste the crossroad of Pinot and Cinsault, or the point where red Burgundy meets the Southern Rhône."

Read the full review at http://jvineyards.blogspot.com/2009/07/james-laube-of-wine-spectator-on-j.html



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Pinotage Judges Struggle

Judges at the 2009 ABSA Top 10 Pinotage Competition found it particularly difficult to select just 10 winning wines from the 139 entries.

Allan Cheesman, former Director of Wine for Sainsbury's supermarkets in the UK and now a consultant to several wine businesses, said "I have been tasting wine for 37 years and this was a great experience, with all the superb wines, breathtaking Cape winelands and the sincerity of the Pinotage people. More than ten years ago Pinotage was like shepherd's pie, every granny made it differently. Today the Pinotage red wine from South Africa is a benchmark in the global world of wine as a top quality international variety. Pinotage and Chenin blanc are South Africa's icon red and white wines, you own them. It was almost impossible to select the top ten wines and I also would have had a tough time ranking the top thirty."

South African wine writer Neil Pendock said "it was a very hard task to select the top ten. More than 100 of the 139 wines which we tasted are of top quality, hardly any of those wines were disappointing. At least thirty wines deserve to be winners. The 2007 vintage produced most of the great wines."

Duimpie Bayly, Cape Wine Master and convener of the panel agreed. "The wines showed elegance and beautiful fruit, while sensible wood treatment created a fine balance of flavours. There were very few bad wines and the 2007 vintage stood out with wines of supreme quality. The competition was very strong and even choosing the top thirty wines would not have been easy."In the first two days all the entries were tasted and on the last day the final 28 wines, followed by the final 20 wines and out of those the 2009 Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition winners were chosen. Each of the twenty finalist wines will be tested for micro-biological activity by an accredited laboratory to ensure it has a long shelve life with natural Pinotage characteristics.

The results will be announced on 27 August at the Val de Vie Wine and Polo Estate near Paarl.

The judges of the 2009 Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition, pictured above are, from left: Duimpie Bayly, Francois Naudé, Allan Cheesman, Neil Pendock, Wendy Burridge, Chris Roux and Gert Boerssen.

Coffee & Chocolate Comes to California

A frequent query from America asks where to purchase Diemersfontein’s cult ‘coffee’n’chocolate’ Pinotage and up to now the reply was that it wasn’t available in the USA.

But now it is.

Cape Ardor in San Francisco, California, now stocks the original Diemersfontein Pinotage 2008.

Owner Eric Matkovich tells me “we can ship direct, and have been already, to about 33 states. This unique style of Pinotage is a perfect accompaniment to salmon, roast venison and even chocolate mouse, and seems to be a wonderful introduction for Americans to the world of Pinotage.”

Cape Ardor also lists other Diemersfontein wines, including their premium Pinotage, Carpe Diem 2006.

For more information contact Cape Ardor; details at http://www.cape-ardor.com/

Excellence Award for Stone Boat 2007 Pinotage

Stoneboat Vineyards 2007 Pinotage was a winner in this years Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in British Columbia Wines.

The annual award winning wines are chosen by an expert panel who taste the wines blind and are tasked with choosing no more than 12 winners. 2009 saw 248 entries and a record maximum 12 awards were made.

The official web-site hasn't yet been updated with this years results and I am indebted to wine writer John Schreiner, who was one of the judges, for posting on his blog.

For more about Stoneboat see here.


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Easy drinking Golden Kaan Pinotage 2006

Golden Kaan is a brand that has not yet reached the UK so I was pleased to be able to taste this bottle given to me at the London Wine fair. The question I forgot to ask is what ‘Kaan’ means. Google says it is Hindi for ‘ear’ and I suppose the map of Africa looks a little like an ear, but why a wine intended for the German market should use a Hindi name is beyond me.

Golden Kaan was set up five years ago as a partnership between the German Racke company and Paarl based wine giant KWV. The range, with its distinctive label design, was immediately successful in its target market and then expanded into the USA where it soon became a top seller in California -- as reported here.

This wine comes from the excellent 2006 vintage and was a hit with my dining partner who loved it for being ‘smooth and fruity with subdued tannins’. I found it a clean fresh modern style wine quite light bodied and fruit forward which slipped down very easily, though it didn't show overly much Pinotage characteristics.

Sealed with a plastic closure, presumably because of lack of US market acceptance of screwcaps.

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