Pinotage Top 10 2011 - Results

• Beyerskloof Reserve 2008
  • Stellenbosch - Anri and Beyers Truter
• Diemersdal Reserve 2010
  • Durbanville -Thys Louw with Marí van der Merwe
• Fairview Primo 2009
  • Coastal Region -Anthony de Jager
• Kanonkop Estate 2006
  • Simonsberg / Stellenbosch - Abrie Beeslaar
• KWV The Mentor’s 2009
  • Stellenbosch - Johan Fourie
• Laibach 2010
  • Stellenbosch - Francois van Zyl
• Rijk’s Private Cellar 2007
  • Tulbagh - Pierre Wahl
• Schalk Burger & Sons Meerkat 2009
  • Wellington - Jacques Wentzel
• Spier Naledi 2009
  • Stellenbosch - Johan Jordaan
• Windmeul Cellar Reserve 2010
  • Paarl - Francois van Niekerk

Congratulations to the winners of this years Pinotage Top 10 Competition, listed in alphabetical order. The 20 finalists were posted here.


It is the 9th time in the Top 10 for Kanonkop and the 6th time for both Beyerskloof and Rijks and by my reckoning, with 5 wins while at Kanonkop and 6 wins at Beyerskloof it means it is winemaker Beyers Truter' 10th time in the Top 10, the most wins by any winemaker!!


,

Neil Ellis on his 2009 Vineyard Selection Pinotage - Video

Veteran winemaker and accomplished Pinotage producer Neil Ellis takes us through his 2009 Vineyard Selection Pinotage, msourced from a single vineyard in the Jonkershoek Valley.



Video made by and courtesy of the good people at WineFilms South Africa

Paul Kemp of California's Loma Prieta. - Video

Paul Kemp, owner of Loma Prieta Winery in California, joined me for dinner earlier this month as he paused in London on his journey home from South Africa to San Francisco.





Paul has become enthused with Pinotage and believes he is now the largest Pinotage producer in the America’s, having bought in all the grapes he could find to add to his own increasing plantings.

While he was in the Cape the Pinotage Association had arranged a series of tastings during which he visited winemakers at Simonsig, Beyerskloof and Kanonkop Estate. He told me he was blown away with the breadth and quality of the wines he tasted. He had not been able to find many South African Pinotages back home.

He had shipped a case of his own Pinotages to the Cape for tasting and had saved two bottles for me.

We started with a sparkler I was certain Paul wouldn’t have previously encountered, the Ridgeview Estate Merret-Cavendish 2006 methode traditionelle, an excellent English estate sparkler.

Paul suggested we opened his 2008 Loma Prieta Pinotage and keep the 2009 for later. He wanted the wine decanted, but I poured the wine to see how it developed in the glass.

At first it reminded me of an Italian wine because of its acidity which made it ideal for food pairing. After about 15 minutes the wine softened and became more voluptuous with juicy berry flavours and after about 40 minutes it was showing underlying coffee flavours. The evolution was most interesting. I am not sure I would have identified this wine as Pinotage in a blind tasting although the later coffee aromas were a hint. It was an excellent wine rich in berry fruits and rewarding drinking.

Paul says that he can sell all he makes of his Pinotage and has customers who pre-book cases. In the USA many wineries operate ‘wine-clubs’ where subscribers receive regular shipments of wine and Paul has started a Pinotage only club which already has a thousand members committed to buying his Pinotage. That’s one of the reasons Paul is fast planting more Pinotage, a variety he thinks has a bright future in California.

We also opened Te Awa 2006 Pinotage from Hawkes Bay and L’Avenir Estate 2003, made by Francois Naude whom Paul had met in the Cape. Te Awa was most delightful, lean like a greyhound and L’Avenir was at its peak of elegant maturity.

I have since heard that Loma Prieta 2009 Pinotage won a double gold and best of class in the Indy International Wine Competition. Paul says "I am bottling next week so I will have both the second bottling of the 2009 and the new 2010. I think that the 2009 that will be bottled will be better than my 2009 that now has won 3 golds
and 1 double gold."

Congrats Paul!!

Pinotage Top 10 Shortlist

1. Altydgedacht 2010
2. Lyngrove Platinum 2009
3. Beyerskloof Reserve 2008
4. Diemersdal Reserve 2010
5. Fairview Primo 2009
6. Kanonkop 2006
7. Kanonkop 2009
8. KWV The Mentor’s 2009
9. KWV Cathedral Cellar 2009
10. Laibach 2010
11. L’Avenir 2009
12. Rijk’s 2007
13. Schalk Burger & Sons Meerkat 2009
14. Simonsig Redhill 2008
15. Spier Naledi 2009
16. Spier 21 Gables 2009
17. Spier Private Collection 2008
18. Wellington La Cave 2009
19. Windmeul Reserve 2010
20. Windmeul Reserve 2009

The final 10 will be selected from these 20, the names are in alphabetical order. The list was released a month early apparently because it had been widely leaked.

Interesting to see the inexpensive 'lifestyle' Meerkat in the final, and three from Spier, plus a number of familiar names.


source: wine.co.za

Proudly Pinotage at the New Forest Show

Pinotage will be poured during the three days of the New Forest & Hampshire County Show 26 - 28 July, 2011, held at the New Forest Show Ground near Brockenhurst.

UK importers Cape Wine Cellars in association with The Pinotage Association will be showing 11 wines – one rose, four ‘coffee’ style, three ‘easy drinking’ and three barrel matured Pinotages.

Cape Wine Cellars are also selling Pinotage taster case of the wines from their website at www.capewinecellars.co.uk at £99 with free deliver, a saving of £21.

The wines at the show will be

Beyerskloof Pinotage Rosé 2011
LIGHT AND FRUITY
Beyerskloof Pinotage 2010
Hill & Dale Pinotage 2009
Neethlingshof Pinotage 2007
COFFEE AND MOCHA
Ashton Kelder Pinotage 2011
Alvi’s Drift Pinotage 2010
Diemersfontein Coffee Pinotage 2010
Doolhof Dark Lady Pinotage 2010
CLASSIC AND ELEGANT
Hidden Valley Pinotage 2009
Knorhoek Pinotage 2008
Tukulu Pinotage 2008

Cape Wine Cellars and The Pinotage Association are promoting a Proudly Pinotage campaign in the UK supported by the website www.proudlypinotage.co.za which has a competition for South African wine and book hampers

2009 Vintage is the Best

Judging for the 2011 Top 10 Competition has been taking place this week. Neil Pendock is judging again and he blogs "In several years judging the ABSA competition, these 2009 wines are the best I’ve ever tasted."

He was less impressed with the previous days wines from 2006, 7, 8, 10 and 11 vintages.

The judges are photographed in what looks like an attic and there is no sign of the sophisticated desktop scoring computers introduced some years ago when I last judged.

I don't have much 2009 myself except for a case of the Fairview 2009 that was a Top 10 winner last year which I ordered from the winery.

Yngvild Steytler talks about Kaapzicht Pinotage - video

It is always a pleasure to meet the tireless and irrepressible Yngvild Steytler and taste her impressive Pinotages.

Gary Vaynerchuck's Pinotage

Gary Vaynerchuck likes Pinotage. In his latest video tasting he opens 2009 Diemersdal Pinotage and 2007 Chamonix Greywacke Pinotage, rating them 88+ and 89+ points.

Some interesting comments and individualistic tasting descriptors!

See Gary here

.

PINOTAGE book now in iBookstore

PINOTAGE: Behind the Legends of South Africa's Own Wine is now available from Apple's iBookstore as an iBook for the iPad and iPhone.

This joins the Kindle version and traditional original paperback in making the book available on a wide range of platforms.


Apple - http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pinotage/id442165834​

Kindle* at Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GXB3TO

Kindle* at Amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004GXB3TO

Paperback at Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/dp/0956152309

Paperback at Amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0956152309


For signed & dedicated copies buy directly from me using the links to the right.

In South Africa the paperback is on sale in the Delheim winery giftshop, Kanonkop Estate's tasting room and Book Cottage in Hermanus.

*also readable on Android, BlackBerry, PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPad using the free Kindle App.

Escapades Pinotage - Video

Escapades is another label new to me. A partnership from Greece have bought a small farm in the Bottelary Hills and constructed a winery to make 70,000 bottles of four premium Estate grown varietal wines.

I met Stelios Samaras at the London International Wine Fair who told me that the Escapade winery had been set up by winemakers Evangelos Gerovassiliou and Vassilis Tsaktsarlis with marketeer Takis Soldatos, whose Mare Magnum company makes wine in Italy and six other countries.

Escapades has a striking bottle with its gold bands and this is the first Pinotage that I know that has been made by a Greek winemaker






Maceration and fermentation was in stainless steel tanks for 10 days at a relatively low temperature ranging from 20-25°C. After malolactic fermentation the wine was matured for 12 months in 100% new French Allier oak barrels before bottling and undergoing bottle aging.

The 2008 Escapades Pinotage is good example of the variety with some lush ripe fruits and it is pleasant drinking but I thought the pricing – not finalised but they expect it to retail northwards of £25 - to be rather ambitious for the first vintage from a new label.

.

Kanokop Kadette is 'Beautifully structured'

I think Kanonkop's Kadette 2009 Cape Blend is the best vintage they have ever made, and I have bought cases of it for my wine tasting and home consumption. I first tasted it at the winery in January and said very impressive ... this vintage is a step up, being much more serious. There’s less upfront obvious fruit and a classic linearity.

In today's Telegraph Victoria Moore picks it as one of her top summer wines.

Kanonkop Kadette 2009

There’s no mistaking the origin of this bold red: it’s a big, smoky South African blend of pinotage, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc, aged in old French oak. Beautifully structured, with notes of roasted coffee beans and leather. It would be brilliant with blackened barbecue meat – spare ribs and steaks.

'Beautifully structured' - yes, spot on!



.

Vino Con Brio Sold

Vino Con Brio winery in Lodi is closing on 5 June and the property has been sold on the retirement of the owners, Mike and Renae Matson.

Vino Con Brio has the largest Pinotage plantings in America. They make their own Pinotage, which I have tasted and its a good clean fruit forward modern wine, and they sell grapes to a number of other wineries who want to make Pinotage.

This follows the sudden sale in March of New Zealand’s Muddy Water winery to neighbouring Waipara producer, Greystone. Muddy Water made one of my favourite NZ Pinotages, a powerful ‘no prisoners’ taken statement wine. Winemaker Belinda Gould, Muddy Hill’s winemaker of eleven years lost her job.

New Zealand journalist Sue Courtney called the Muddy Water 2009 Pinotage “voluptuous” and that it was a wine that “totally seduces the senses in every way - a wine that lovers of full-bodied reds will find hard to resist.” Sue is doubtful that Greystone will continue with making Pinotage.

Sad news when two top non-South African Pinotage wineries close in few months of each other.

007 Drinks Three Cape Ladies Pinotage Blend

Carte Blanche, the new James Bond novel written by Jeffrey Deaver, has James Bond choosing Warwick’s ‘Three Cape Ladies’ Cape Blend to accompanyhis seduction of Felicity Willing.

“ ...vintage Three Cape Ladies, a red blend from Muldersvlei in the Cape. Bond knew its reputation. He took out the cork and poured. They sat on the sofa and sipped. “Wonderful” he said.”

Three Cape Ladies is a delicious Cape Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Merlot and Shiraz.

Picture courtesy of Mike Ratcliffe's blog at blog.warwickwine.com

Neal Martin is 'Excited by Delicious old Pinotage'

Some interesting comments about Pinotage from Neal Martin who was one of the international judges at this year’s Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. Neal Martin is a Bordeaux expert and one of Robert Parker’s team. This was his first visit to South Africa.

When asked about Pinotage Neal said

“South Africans love Pinotage like English love fish and chips and we know that fish and chips is never going to be the top sashimi in Japan but we still love it and we’re still proud of it and we’ll always keep eating it.

Just like Pinotage maybe it’s never going to be a Chateau Latour, but certainly there is a definite improvement which is good to see and it’s just a case of tackling the stigma that surrounds Pinotage and that is a case of going to the producer who aren’t making good Pinotage, giving them a slap on the wrist and telling them to sort it out.”

and

“I have to say when we had the ’61 Pinotage it completely blew me away. It was as exciting as any extremely expensive wine I’ve had because it completely changed my perception and opened my mind.

The month before I’d tasted half a dozen ’61 Bordeaux and it was just as enjoyable, if not more so than those. We had a half bottle of ’59 Zonnebloem.

One of the things that was interesting was that a couple of people said where did we lose our way. If we can make that in ’61 why are we getting such bad press now, which I thought was really interesting.

The winemakers were asking themselves how does that Pinotage age for 50 years and still taste so fresh. It was delicious.”

Results of the competition will be published on 1 June 2011

Source: Judges feedback published in Wine magazine online 25 May 2011


.

Koopmanskloof Koffeeklip Pinotage 2010 - Video

Koopmanskloof is a winery new to me. Anriënka (call me Anna) Vlok told me it is in the Bottellary Hills where the soil type is a shale known as Koffieklip which proved to be a convenient name for their new coffee toned Pinotage.

Anna shows us a piece of Koffieklip as she tells us about the Koopmanskloof Koffeeklip 2010 Pinotage
.

I thought the coffee tones were very muted in this tank sample and I wouldn't have identified this as a 'coffee style' Pinotage if it wasn't for the name. It's a pleasant modern berry fruited wine with - yes - maybe some coffee lurking in the background, but this is a sample and it will be interesting to taste the finished wine.

The bottle in the film has a temporary label but the actual - rather attractive - label is shown below.

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 :)

Aaldering Pinotage at LIWF

Hit of this years London International Wine Fair, which ended yesterday, was the new Wines of South Africa (WoSA) stand.

In a major break from previous years wines were available in a welcoming self-serve format. Instead of individual winery stands each with a pourer behind the counter, visitors were invited to ‘help themselves’ from a large number of themed circular pods.



Playing on WoSA’s long running slogan Variety is in our Nature was a stand invoking a sideshow tent at a travelling circus.

Colourful pods had headings including Cheerful Chenins, Wonderful Wellington, Splendid Swartland and Stars of Tomorrow. At the stand’s corners were towers of clean glasses topped by bottles of mineral water with an invitation to ‘help yourself’.

Bottles on pods nestled in individual holders and underneath each were containers of business card with wine and contact details.

I headed to the Popular Pinotage pod where I tasted the wines in turn. The first that made an impression was from Aaldering a name I had not previously encountered. It was a Stellenbosch WO from the 2007 vintage – the oldest wine on the stand -- and its red colour was getting a brownish tinge. There were mulberry fruits and a creamy almond nuttiness on the palate with a spicy finish.

By chance I met Janine Smink who is the Global Marketing & Sales Manager for the brand and she introduced me to owner Fons Aaldering, a Dutch business man who in 2004 bought the Devon Valley property previously owned by Hidden Valley winery.


Janine said that the Pinotage vines for their 2007 Pinotage were 15 years old and that Aaldering keep back their wines until they are mature before they are released. Currently sales are mostly to restaurants in Netherlands and they are looking for distribution in England and elsewhere.

...


For more about WoSA's stand at LIWF see
www.wine.co.za/news/news.aspx?NEWSID=17782


.

On the Pinotage bandwagon

My good friend Sue Courtney in New Zealand is

"on the pinotage bandwagon once again and the reason why is because it makes terrific wine. Proof is in two recent Wines of the Week – Kidnapper Cliffs Hawkes Bay Pinotage 2009 two weeks ago, and this week Karikari Estate Northland Pinotage 2008.

Don't like Pinotage? Wonder what I'm on about. Well, have you ever tasted Pinotage? Or if so, when did you last actually taste one without any preconceived notions in your mind? Because if you have preconceived notions you are living in the past? It's 2011, not 1967."

Read the rest of Sue's report on her always interesting Wine of the Week blog here.

Mochatage Pinotage 2009

Seems every month a new coffee ’n’ chocolate Pinotage is added to the pack. When supermarkets get their own label version then you know it is entering the mainstream.

Mochatage is Marks & Spencer’s take on the category and the front label leaves no room for doubt about its taste and how that is achieved.

And it’s pretty good, not overpowering although distinctly coffee-ish, but there’s also some silky ripe berry fruit flavours underneath. I could face a second glass of this and I think it’ll please shoppers pining for the loss of Diemersfontein’s original from Waitrose’s shelves.

The wine is made by Thys Loubser at KWV: is it their Café Culture under a different label? Anyway, £6.99 at M&S in a screwcap.

Good back label, too.

Bellingham 'Bernard Series' Pinotage 2009

The Bernard Series is named after Bellingham’s original winemaker Bernard Podlashuk who was one of the innovating pioneers of South African wine.

Dense purple colour, looking much younger than its 2005 vintage, In the mouth this is a ripe voluptuous black cherry flavoured wine, yet restrained like a Ruben’s beauty in an Agent Provocateur basque, full of promise but keeping some back.

Afterwards I read on the back label that the wine has been aged in oak barrels for 18 months and yet the wooding is not apparent – except maybe as that corset and from the sediment the wine is already throwing.

This is a beautiful clean modern wine, mouthfilling and rewarding and thoroughly recommended. From bush vines growing in Darling.


The website is www.bellinghamwines.com but it doesn't appear to have been updated since this time last year.

In UK this wine is available from Majestic at £14.99, currently reduced to a more reasonable £11.99. And while there, try a bottle of the excellent Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc.



.

Outstanding Pinotage from Bosman Family Vineyards (video)

I tasted some superb wines while in the Cape but the most memorable was Bosman Family Vineyards Pinotage 2009.

Bosman is the winemaking arm of the long established Lelienfontein vine nursery owned by eight generation Jannie Bosman. Their impressive property has terrific views over vineyards to surrounding mountains. Fields contain the bright green growth of new vines sticking out the ground pencil thin and a foot high, planted inches apart and destined to be plucked packed and despatched to the vineyard that ordered them 18 months in advance.


Petrus Bosman in a nursery vineyard



There are also established vineyards growing a range of varieties, some such as Primitivo (from Puglia) and Nero d'Avola (from Sicily) that are not found as varietals in South Africa, yet d’Avola grows well, says cellar master Petrus Bosman. Until recently grapes were sold on and vine rows leased to various wineries. Coloured tapes at the end of rows indicate ownership and there’s a monetary definition of terroir -- that rather nebulous concept of place. Here neighbouring rows can cost different rates to lease as one produces better grapes than another. Maybe it’s the position on the curve of a hill, one gets more sun another just below the brow is sheltered from wine. Terroir has a value set on it.

I was grateful to Petrus for showing me his foundation nursery where new vine varieties are produced. This is a large temperature controlled greenhouse entered via an airlock where foundation vines are grown hydroponically in sterile conditions. The vine grows up, supported by wires from the ceiling and is not pruned. Canes thrown out will be cut and in turn grown to produce virus free mother block vines. These will be planted in remote areas to in turn produce cuttings for vines for commercial use.


Foundation vines in the nursery greenhouse




Because wine drinkers are conservative, preferring to drink, in most cases, varieties grown for hundreds of years none in the greenhouse were meant for wine. Instead there were new varieties of table grapes, grapes destined for drying and American vines for rootstocks.

When the Bosman’s eventually grew tired of seeing other people win major prizes for wines made from Bosman’s grapes they decided to make some for themselves. They offered the position of winemaker to Corlea Fourie. Corlea took time out from her busy schedule to pour the following Pinotages for me:

2010: This was still in barrel, French oak, some 500 litre capacity. Soft and fruity with underlying coffee, it’s a work in progress and will have more oak aging to further refine it.

2009: This had been bottled but was not yet labelled, undergoing bottle aging before release. On the nose it had a hint of coffee and in the mouth it was a sensation being big, round full and galumphing offering sweet ripe bramble berry fruits and with a racy exciting finish. Corlea said 2009 had been a late vintage and Petrus added that he grows Pinotage on a west facing slope to get the afternoon sun. He says Wellington is a superb location for Pinotage. This wine was aged 14 months in 225litre barriques, 60% French and 40% American oak. I was absolutely knocked out by this fantastic wine.

2008: This was a more subdued version of the 2009, drier and more tannic with a slight underlying coffee flavour. An excellent wine, but the 2009 had taken all my superlatives.

Vintage was underway and Corlea was in her working clothes but I managed to persuade her to tell us her thoughts on video about the 2009 Pinotage.




Many thanks to Corlea and Petrus.

See Corlea talking about her 2008 Pinotage here

There are a handful of wineries making Zinfandel but although Zin and Primitivo are the same I think there are distinct clonal differences between them; they have different sized berries and ripen at different time. Bosman's vine material was sourced from Puglia, Italy, the home of Primitivo. Bosman's list a 2007 Primitivo wine on their website

First Vintage for The Perold Vineyard

The Perold Vineyard which was planted in October 2008 is now bearing its first crop due for harvest in the next week or two. The crop will be small owing to the youth of the 1,000 Pinotage vines but it is hoped that one barrel of wine will be produced.



I received news of the vineyard planting as I was finalising my book and it made an appropriate Epilogue because one of the books themes was the lack of public recognition Perold received.

I had not seen the vineyard myself however, something I put right aided with directions from the ever helpful Pierre Loubser who has now retired as manager of the Pinotage Association.

The vineyard occupies a triangular shaped piece of land at the junction of two roads in Stellenbosch, near the university, in thegrounds of a historical buidling called Mosterdrift.


The land is owned by the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study who are using the vineyard to research row positioning in relation to the sun. The vine rows are laid out like the ribs of a lady’s fan, radiating from a central point.


Inserting trellis poles and planting vines proved unexpectedly difficult as a considerable bed of large sandstone boulders were found just underneath the surface soil, and the photo’s show some that were uncovered. The vineyard is being farmed organically, indicated by the grass growing between rows.


The vineyard is clearly visible from the street, from where my photographs were taken through a fence, on the corner between Marais and Jonkershoek.

Freedom Hill

Freedom Hill is located south of Paarl on the R301 towards Franschhoek. I wanted to visit because I’d come across their name on the wrapper of Francois Naude’s 2009 Vin de Francois as supplying a barrel to that blend. Francois is a winemaker I greatly admire and he truly understands Pinotage and as he is making Pinotage for Freedom Hill then I really wanted to taste it.



Freedom Hill is on a hill with a building above mature vineyards that slope down to the road. Heavy bunches of tight small black berries hanging from vines lined the access road. Wine is not made on the premises; grapes are taken to Stellenbosch Hills winery for processing.



We were warmly greeted by Ryan Brendenkamp, co-owner of Freedom Hill restaurant, who showed us to the tasting room to another friendly welcome.


From the veranda you can look back over the road to the Drakenstein Prison complex whose green roofs show above the trees. It was from here, when it was named Victor Verster Prison, that Nelson Mandela was released and took his first free steps. And that event inspired the name on the labels.

It was a hot day, we’d waited 20 minutes at road works on the R301 so started our tasting with a crisp lively Sauvignon Blanc.

The vineyards below grow four red cultivars: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot (which they sell) and Pinotage. I’d come for the latter. There were two Cape Blends, (2006 Freedom Hill 35% CS, 34% Ptage, 31% Shz & 2008 Freedom Walk 42% CS, 29% Ptage, 29% Shz)on offer and which I was keen to taste since I am looking for a Cape Blend to present at a tasting when I return home in a few weeks, and one Pinotage.

Unfortunately all three reds were warm, tired, dull and lifeless. There were signs there once had been some rich fruit after one got past the flat beginning. Then I saw, after pouring, all three bottles being vigorously pumped with those so-called vacuum wine preservers (which have a reputation for flavour-scalping)and on asking learned that the bottles had been open for three days.

The tasting room manager then did offer to open a new bottle but I’d lost heart. I bought a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinotage which I opened the following evening after slightly chilling it.



It was a different wine from the corpse in the tasting room. There were fresh chunky fruits and it was big, rather rough around the edges and rustic in style. Enjoyable, but not the elegant sophisticated complex masterpiece that is Francois Naude’s trademark and which I’d hoped for. Then I noted this was the 2008 vintage, the previous vintage to the one Francois had use a barrel of for Vin de Francois 2009.

Gold for Loma Prieta Pinotage 09

Loma Prieta Winery, a boutique winery in California's Santa Cruz Mountains mountains email to share the news that their Loma Prieta 'Amorosa Vineyard' 2009 Pinotage, has won a Gold medal at the US International Winemaker Challenge competition.

Loma Prieta are sourcing fruit from Vino Con Brio's Amorosa Vineyard in Lodi while their own Pinotage plantings growto maturity.

Congrats to all!

Picnic at Warwick Estate

To Warwick Estate on the R44 north of Stellenbosch towards Paarl. This time last year they had builders constructing a new tasting facility and now it is complete. From the noise, dust and bulldozers then I had expected wholesale destruction and rebuilding, but that has not happened.

The old historic barrel cellar has been most sympathetically modified to include a delicatessen and much expanded tasting room displaying Warwick’s current and library wines for sale.

The wooden deck I remember from my first visit in 1996 is still there, overlooking the lake and there is a new open area shaded by trees under which tables and chairs are dotted.

Near the lake are shelters woven from branches in which you can picnic with foods from the delicatessen and fresh baked ciabiatta bread. A cleverly designed cardboard box contains a cold meal for two: open it to find small jars of chutney, dips, hummus, couscous, salmon smoked on the farm over wine barrels, charcouterie, cheeses and more and to finish off there’s incredible brownies and a bag of Maynards Wine Gums to take away.

But what about the wines? Warwick are known for their ‘Old Bush Vine’ Pinotage and the latest vintage release, 2009, is on track to be one of the best. Deep plummy yummy fruits on the front are followed by rather firm tannins on the finish. The wine spent 14 months in second and third fill 225L barriques and I think it needs a little more time in bottle for the fruit and tannins to meld.


To my surprise while I was in the tasting room a party from The Circle of Wine Writers arrived for an invited tour and tasting. Many were friends with whom I had visited other wine regions and they insisted I join them for a tour of the vineyards in Warwick’s safari truck and Managing Director and co-owner Mike Ratcliffe kindly invited me to picnic with them afterwards.

Mike's new intensely planted trellised Pinotage vineyard is now coming on stream and he remarks that the ‘Old Bush Vine’ labelling is now more of a brand name because grapes from trellised vines were also used. Production has increased to meet growing demand. Mike revealed that some Pinotage grapes had been partially dried and blended in to give added complexity and that this year he was experimenting with making an Amarone style Pinotage. But he said that he was always experimenting and admitted most didn’t work out the way he hoped.

I also tasted Warwick’s ‘Three Cape Ladies’ 2007 Cape Blend. I had enjoyed this a few days previously at a braai with friends. Originally a blend of three varieties, this vintage contains a fourth — a dash of Merlot. The other three are Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Shiraz. It is a popular and classy wine, like good Bordeaux with a richness and sweetness you don’t find in claret.

Mike mused if the name required him to use just three varieties or whether his mission was to make the best wine he could for that vintage and he felt that if a splash of Merlot (he thought maybe 5%) improved it, he should go ahead. Mike said he was going to increase the percentage of Pinotage from next year now that he had more producing vines.

Mike was in a philosophical mood. He posed a question about whether old vines produced better wines than young vines that started a long discussion among the wine writers. But he soon was back to business when viticulturist Ronald Spies, who’d walked us through the vineyards, arrived with bunches of Pinotage grapes. They tasted so ripe and sweet, but Mike detected unripe stalks and said he’d instruct that their imminent picking was delayed for another week.

Warwick are proud that their Bordeaux blend Trilogy has just been selected by The Wine Society for aging. Several thousand cases would be held back for some years until judged nicely mature for release; this was the first South African wine to be treated this way.

Cellar Door prices: Warwick ‘Old Bush Vine’ Pinotage 2009 costs 95R, Three Cape Ladies 2007 is 105R and Trilogy 2008 is 235R. Warwick Wine Family Club members get 20% discount.

Warwicks vineyards looking towards the Simonsberg mountains

Avoid Headaches, Drink Pinotage ?

Scotland’s Perthshire Advertiser is recommending readers to drink Pinotage at New Year celebrations to avoid getting a hangover.

“Each vineyard has its own method of fermenting their harvest, with producers introducing sulphates to the wine mix as a preservative. But sometimes levels can be too high, causing the dreaded hangover.

“Welgegund Pinotage from South Africa as an example of a wine that can help maintain a guilt-free diet, citing far fewer toxins in its content to pollute the human body than are contained in more commonly found brands.”

According to Russell Wallace of Excel Wines who markets Welgegund Pinotage, “mass producers need to add so much sulphate to their yield is because they use machinery to pick the fruit, and often rotten fruits slip through the quality control process. Additionally, sulphates rid the harvest of bacteria left behind from pests including wasps, lizards and birds.

“Smaller producers do all their harvesting by hand, so have a much better quality control procedure when it comes to picking only the best fruits, and do not require excessive amounts of sulphates to cleanse what’s going into the wine.”

I am all for people drinking Pinotage and I’m sure Welgegund make an excellent one, (which I have not yet encountered).

But the claims in the article are nonsense.

Most South Africa wines are made from handpicked grapes — especially Pinotage. There is an embarrassment of unemployed labour ready, able and willing to harvest grapes and many Pinotage vineyards are planted as bush-vines which can not be machine harvested.

There is no reason grapes that have been machine harvested to be inferior to hand harvested. In both cases it is the quality check on grapes arriving at the winery that matters. Increasingly farms are using sorting tables to hand select berries that go forward for wine making. A machine may pick rotten grapes, but then so may workers who are paid by the weight of the grapes they pick.

Good looking bunches of grapes are just as liable to have bacteria from insects lizards and birds.

But the real nonsense is equating sulphites with headaches. Many years of medical research has failed to find any link between the two.

The article alleges that large producers use more sulphites. However sulphite levels in wine are limited by law and few wines come close to them. The European Union limit for red wine is 160 mg/L. The largest producer of Pinotage is Beyerskloof who publish the scientific analysis of their wines on their website. Their standard, large volume Pinotage 2009 has just 41 mg/L Free SO2 and 87 mg/L Total SO2.

What gets you drunk and gives you a hangover is alcohol. Please enjoy Pinotage at New Year and anytime and avoid hangovers by drinking in moderation.

Hill & Dale, Blogging and Diam

The winelist at Gordons Bay Spur is not overlong but they seem to have upped the choice.

Usually I take grateful advantage of their no-cost corkage policy and take in bottles I have acquired in the wine-lands but Wednesday night we were late back from the SA Wine & Food Bloggers meeting in Cape Town where I sat next to Sarah Graham of ‘ A Foodie Lives Here’.

Sarah tells me she has a contract with Random House to produce a cook book which is brilliant news, but not as brilliant as the news that she is also going to produce a baby. As to which will arrive first, I don’t know. But since babies don’t wait and publishers seem to take ages, I think baby will win!

So straight into Spur — which got a name check from our speaker, blogger 'The Squashed Tomato' herself Linda Harding, that implanted the thought of baked potato and New York strip in my partners subconscious — and I ordered Hill & Dale Pinotage 2009.



Now — two things. Note the origin, Stellenbosch, and the cork. Hill & Dale was introduced as a second label for Stellenzicht. If ‘mass market’ isn’t the right word, ‘large volume’ and ‘entry-level’ will do. Or even the new buzz word ‘life-style.’

But this doesn’t look like your usual large volume label. It is Stellenbosch Wine of Origin, a classic area for Pinotage and one where grape prices have increased to a level that some other producers can no longer get enough Stellenbosch Pinotage and have had to source elsewhere, changing their appellations to the catch-all and basically meaningless ‘Western Cape’.

Secondly: note the word DIAM on the cork. DIAM is what is known as a ‘technical’ cork. It is made from cork — it is not plastic — that has undergone a patented process in which cork is ground into granules which are cleansed by supercritical carbon dioxide before being reassembled into a cork closure. The closures are guaranteed to be free of TCA and they are not a cheap option.

They look similar to the cheap agglomerate closures which are corks made from the remainders of cork manufacture but differ in that the name DIAM is printed on them and when you smell them they are completely neutral—there is not a trace of that dirty smell you can get from cork and which transfers to wines. So DIAMs are, for most wine lovers, the preferred closure that is not a screwcap.

So, not your usual life style wine packaging. That Hill & Dale are serious about quality is obvious. But is the wine any good? No worries here. Big juicy soft clean fruity wine with underlying oak tannins that slips down very easily. It is an ideal wine for a steak house and reasonably priced at 69R.

Genial Guy Webber is the winemaker behind Hill & Dale and his monthly musings can be read on his blog On The Couch with Guy Webber.

(by coincidence, the following day I attended a tasting in the winelands at one of the Cape’s leading wineries. Seven wines were presented to a group visiting from the international Circle of Wine Writers. Two of the wines were closed with screw caps. Of the other five wines, three were corked — a 60% failure rate. We were at the winery, the owner was pouring and replacements were to hand. But how many bottles with bad corks had already gone out to consumers? Talk again to me about the ‘romance of cork’.)

Kanonkop 2009 - a bud ready to flower

Friday afternoon an hour before closing and Kanonkop’s normally sedate tasting room is busy. All seating is occupied and groups of people are standing swirling glasses, discussing wine and ticking order sheets. Counter staff are hard pushed to fill tasting glasses, answer questions and take orders on a till that is playing up.
“It has been like this all day,” says Anita Heyns who has run Kanonkop’s tasting room for as long as I can remember. She is trying to find the wooden case for a Methuselah (5 litre) bottle of Pinotage that has just been snapped up.

I wait for the purchases to be made and collected and the room starts to empty. Winemaker Abrie Beeslaar has brought to work his new baby daughter to show his colleagues and while they cuddle her he comes over for a chat and pours me a taste of Kadette 2010 Pinotage Rose which I’d tasted a tank sample of at the London Wine Fair in May. With some bottle time this dark pink wine was drinking well. “It had minimal skin contact,” said Abrie, “less than two hours. Just the time it took to fill the press — it has 55% free run juice. As soon as it was full we pressed it off the skins. Pinotage has this tremendous colour.” The wine is made dry; there is just 2 g/L residual sugar but the 14% abv “gives an impression of sweetness,” according to Abrie.

The red Kadette 2009 is very impressive. Made from a blend of 46% Pinotage, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc this vintage is a step up, being much more serious. There’s less upfront obvious fruit and a classic linearity. “We make it the same as the other wines,” Abrie told me. “The difference is that we use the young vines and older barrels.” 60,000 cases were produced and the UK Sainsbury supermarkets will be listing it.

To my surprise the tasting counter had open bottles of 2000 Pinotage. Abrie told me that for the past decade Kanonkop had been holding back supplies with the intention of being able to offer ten year old bottles. “Few people have the chance to taste aged Pinotage,” says Abrie, “and yet it is a variety with great aging potential so we wanted to be able to promote Pinotage by releasing some ten years old. Next year we will have the 2001 vintage available alongside the 2010 and so on.”

Kanonkop Estate Pinotage 2000 vintage was perhaps not an ideal example of the variety’s aging potential as the wine was pale, light bodied and had lost its primary fruit. All the same it offered rewards for aficionados of aged wine, with a delicate red berry flavours and a long aftertaste . “I think it is now showing its Pinot Noir heritage,” said Abrie. “2000 and 2002 were our toughest vintages. In 2000 we had bush fires and when the wine was young you could taste the smoke.”

Kanonkop had been hosting some trade tasting events elsewhere in the winery that Friday and when I mentioned that 1999 was my all time favourite vintage an opened leftover bottle was found.

Kanonkop Estate Pinotage 1999: In contrast to the 2000 this looked youthful with a dense deep black-red colour with a red rim and a soft warm sweet nose. I’d last tasted it in 2008 with Beyers Truter when my notes read “concentrated dense fruit, great complexity and it is just so drinkable” which is just as true now. Lovely wine, how I wish I had some.

I had come hoping that the 2009 Pinotage was released, and it was. Based on experience it won’t be available in the UK until next year: the 2008 had just appeared on the Wine Society Christmas list and I have a case at home. “It needs another year in bottle,” advises Abrie.

Kanonkop Estate Pinotage 2009: Dense impenetrable black, big and soft approachable tannins with fruit appearing in the mid-palate, a refreshing food friendly acidity and an after taste that just lingers. This is going to be a stunner. Abrie says that they used more fruit than usual from the older vineyards and that gives subtlety to the flavour and the long aftertaste.

I bought some bottles and opened one Saturday night with a Spur steak fillet and enjoyed it immensely even though too young. Spur doesn’t run to decanting, and the wine is young, but it is like a bud that will open and flower, and I reckon if (like me) you can’t wait then try opening it a few hours before drinking or decant it because by the end of my meal the wine in my glass was starting to open up.

The 2009 Pinotage is 185 Rand a bottle at the winery and the 2000 is a little more at 210 Rand. The Kadette Pinotage Rose is 52 Rand and Kadette Red is 65 Rand.
Another reason to visit Kanonkop, should you need an excuse, is that signed copies of my book Pinotage: Behind the Legends of South Africa's Own Wine are on sale in the tasting room.

Pinotage for Partridge

Anthony Rose in The Independent (UK) recommends Pinotage with game birds such as partridge, in particular

"the 2007 Signatures of Doolhof, Pinotage, Doolhof Estate, Wellington,£14.50, Berry Bros & Rudd (0800 280 2440), is in a different league from common or garden Cape pinotage, with a richness of plum and strawberry fruit concentration and a stylish vanilla oak veneer, a revelation for anyone who can't bring themselves to believe that pinotage is occasionally capable of making delicious red wine."

Ashbourne 2007 is released

The latest Ashbourne Red is now available for sale at 400 Rand a bottle from the farm. 2007 is the fourth release of Anthony Hamilton Russell's iconic and rare homage to Pinotage.

Anthony says: "It was always our aim to create something entirely new, based on a “redefined” expression of South Africa’s fascinating grape Pinotage. We wanted to create a benchmark that didn’t attempt to replicate the established benchmarks of other wine regions (See the attached background). If we are not excited by the wine, we do not release it and no 2002, 2003 or 2006 was released.


"True to the Ashbourne character, the 2007, although unquestionably “classically” styled, is very hard to place and is a highly individual wine. It is simply Ashbourne and should be enjoyed as great red wine without attempting to pigeonhole it.


"The Ashbourne 2007 does not attempt impact and appeal through high alcohol and could be regarded as surprisingly low alcohol for a South African red at only 13.23%. The pH is also surprisingly low for a South African red at a very healthy 3.26. In 2007 the chosen blend was 82% Pinotage (a blend of three of Ashbourne’s most interesting Pinotage vineyards), 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Shiraz."

Available production is 9468 bottles

Pinotage is taking off

"Pinotage is taking off," says sommelier Brian Murphy.

"Now that the vines are older this wine [Koopmanskloof 'One World' 2008 organic,biodynamic and Fair Trade certified Pinotage] is getting better and stronger. When it's cold outside you want something stronger in a wine. Pinotage is great with barbecue or anything grilled. It would also be great with chili."



From article by Beverly Firme in Bethesda, Maryland's news site ChevyChasePatch.com January 11.


Not only Pinotage is taking off: I will be flying to the Cape later today for an extended trip.

Pinotage – from Reviled to Revered

Interesting article by industry expert Michael Fridjhon in the latest WINE magazine which starts "The turnaround on Pinotage – from reviled to revered – has been remarkably swift."

Fridjhon goes on to say that while Pinotage is a difficult grape from which to make wine "This is a little like blaming a fast car for handling badly. Brilliantly designed vehicles create the illusion that the driver knows what he’s doing, but there does come a point where the better driver does the better job."

The evidence for the turnaround is that " it garnered more gold medals this year at the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show than any other category" and the "number of stellar-premium Pinotage-based wines" now on the market that have continued to sell at high prices each year, showing that "the wines are living up to their pretensions."

Fridjhon finishes by asking that its time for thevariety "to be accorded a degree of respect."

The article is currently online at www.winemag.co.za/article/a-long-road-2011-01-03
unforgiving variety

Video - Jeremy Borg's Painted Wolf Pinotage Rose

PINOTAGE Book on Kindle

My book PINOTAGE: Behind the Legends of South Africa's Own Wine is now availabe as a Amazon Kindle eBook.

Click the icons below and you could be reading it in a minute.

USA and rest of world except UK	UK

Pinotage as Icon Wine

Decanter magazine commissioned Christian Eedes some months ago to write an article on Pinotage. Eedes has never been a great proponent of the variety and during his time as deputy editor of South Africa’s WINE magazine it dropped its annual Pinotage Champion trophy in favour of Shiraz.

Back then Eedes wrote “more than a few examples of this wine [Shiraz] are recognised as unquestionably great, and this confirms the grape's inherent worth. Unfortunately, the same can still not be said for Pinotage. Shiraz, always generous in flavour, is a friendly wine, whereas Pinotage very often isn't. It would seem the writing is on the wall for Pinotage.”

Four years later in 2008 he wrote “WINE magazine is not anti-Pinotage. We do wonder how many producers are truly capable of greatness.”

What a difference a couple of years makes. In Decanter this month Eedes says “South Africa doesn’t have a single ‘icon’ wine. One that is recognised and sought after the world over. At last not yet. But could its first icon wine be a Pinotage?”

Pinotage as an icon? There are several South Africa wines that I consider icons, starting with Klein Constantia’s ‘Vin de Constance’ whose price has tripled since I first bought it.

I think an icon wine has to have a track record and Kanonkop Estate currently is the only Pinotage with iconic status in my eyes. Kaapzicht Estate’s Steytler Pinotage has also achieved great success at international competitions but I don’t think it is a name widely known. Pinotage winemaker’s are ramping up prices with special bottlings (Kanonkop’s Black Label, Beyerskloof’s Diesel, Hamilton Russell’s Ashbourne, Chateau Naude’s Vin de Francois) in an attempt to signify iconic status. All are excellent but they are wines that, I think have been more cellared than drunk.


Since 1997 The Pinotage Club has been working to raise the profile of the variety and no-one would be happier than me to see Pinotage becoming South Africa’s iconic wine* and when a former sceptic like Christian Eedes starts talking about Pinotage being it, that day is coming closer.


*Though a a drawback for people who actually enjoy drinking wine as opposed to speculating with it is that iconic prices take ones favourite wines out of the everyday drinking budget.

In the Press

Irit Boxer-Shank is the youngest winemaker in Israel and one of only five women employed in Barkan Winery’s cellar. Dale Robertson , who interviewed her for the Houston Chronicle says, “at the moment, she's most passionate about Pinotage, a grape she believes has a superb future in the Israeli terroir.”



New Zealand’s Wanguini Chronicle says Kidnapper Cliffs Hawke's Bay Pinotage 2009, is “produced by the talented team at Te Awa, who have a long pedigree when it comes to making great Pinotage, this is a gorgeous, buxom red showing layers of sweet black tea, baking spices, plum and pepper. It has a delicious, warm, earthy character in the mouth and sensational persistence of flavour.”



Anthony Rose in The Independent (UK) includes Diemersfontein’s Pinotage in a list of wines he dislikes, saying its “its oak-derived flavours of coffee and chocolate” are “an aberration,” but he noted its great popularity. The recent appearance of Marks & Spencer’s Coffee Pinotage Mochatage and Tesco’s mocha-flavoured Choccochino Shiraz which are “as distasteful as the Diemersfontein Pinotage I so dislike. But I have no doubt that to those who like the taste of chocolate in their wine, they will be extremely popular.”

He say that this “goes to show that however objective we try to be about taste, beauty in the long run is in the eye – and nose – of the beholder.”


However Koos Kombuis at South Africa’s Mail & Guardian has made Pinotage the focus of his diet. The columnist writes “during the last few weeks, after eating mostly fat-free food and heaps of vegetables, aided by lots of Beyerskloof Pinotage wine (which, according to the manufacturers, contains a substance that actually enlarges blood vessels), my cholestrol count has miraculously dropped from 7,5 to 6,4, and I’ve lost an astonishing two-and-a-half kilogrammes”.



.

Old Pinotage in Cape Town

My chums at The Wine Cellar in Cape Town have just held a tasting of old wines sourced from a private collector. Among them were threee Pinotages:

- Zonnebloem Pinotage 1974
- Simonsig Pinotage 1974
- Lanzarac Pinotage 1966

I couldn't be there (coz, amongst other reasons, I was in Tampa, Florida) but fellow bloggers The Cru Master and Harry Reginald Haddon were. The Cru at thecru.co.za has an attractive sepia photo of the tasting cellar and says Special mention must be made of the aged Pinotage's - sensational stuff but Harry at wineandi.wordpress.com has detailed tasting notes.

Interesting reading.


While you are at Wine & I have a look at the menu tabs at the top. Harry is campaigning against the practise of restaurants charging fees to list wines and he's going further by naming (allegedly) guilty parties.

5 Stars for Beyerskloof Diesel 2008

The annual announcement of wines awarded Five Stars by the Platter tasting team has just been made.

Out of more than 6,000 wines from 800 producers and brands tasted and rated for the Platter's South African Wines 2011 guide, just 58 have achieved 5 Star rating.

The only Pinotage is Beyerskloof 'Diesel' 2008.

Diesel is a premium label, named after owner Beyers Truter's dearly loved dog, that was introduced in 2008 with the 2006 vintage.

Diesel 2007 was awarded Five Stars in last year's 2010 guide. See winemaker Anrie Truter talk about the vision behind the wine and how it got its name here

The full list is

Cabernet Sauvignon
•Boekenhoutskloof 2008
•Delaire Graff Reserve 2008
•Kanonkop 2007
•Klein Constantia 2008
•Kleine Zalze Family Reserve 2007
•Le Riche CWG Auction Reserve 2007

Grenache
•Neil Ellis Vineyard Selections 2008

Pinot Noir
•Meerlust 2008
•Newton Johnson Domaine 2009

Pinotage
•Beyerskloof Diesel 2008

Shiraz
•Boschendal Cecil John Reserve 2008
•De Trafford 2008 (Red Wine of the Year)
•Eagles’ Nest 2008
•Haskell Pillars 2008
•Rijk’s Private Cellar 2005
•Saxenburg Select Limited Release 2006

Merlot
•Shannon Mount Bullet 2008

Red Blends
•Ernie Els Signature 2007
•Graham Beck Ad Honorem 2007
•Hartenberg The Mackenzie Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot 2007
•Nederburg Ingenuity Red 2007
•Reyneke Reserve Red 2008
•Spier Frans K. Smit 2006
•Vergelegen Red 2005

Chardonnay
•Groot Constantia Gouverneurs 2009
•Julien Schaal 2009
•Mulderbosch 2008
•Rustenberg Five Soldiers 2008

Chenin Blanc
•Botanica 2009
•StellenRust ‘45’ Barrel Fermented 2009

Grenache Blanc
•The Foundry 2009

Sauvignon Blanc
•Graham Beck Pheasants’ Run 2010
•Klein Constantia Perdeblokke 2009
•Kleine Zalze Family Reserve 2009
•The Berrio 2009
•Zevenwacht 360° 2009

White Blends
•Cape Point Isliedh 2009
•Hermanuspietersfontein Die Bartho 2009
•Lammershoek Roulette Blanc 2009
•Nederburg Ingenuity White 2009
•Nederburg Sauvignon Blanc-Chardonnay Private Bin D253 2009
•Rall White 2009
•Sadie Family Palladius 2009
•Steenberg Magna Carta 2009
•Steenberg CWG Auction Reserve The Magus 2009
•Strandveld Adamastor 2009
•Tokara Director’s Reserve White 2009

Méthode Cap Classique
•Topiary Blanc de Blancs Brut 2008
•Villiera Monro Brut 2005

Dessert Wine, Unfortified
•Fairview La Beryl Blanc 2009
•Fleur du Cap Bergkelder Selection Noble Late Harvest 2009 (White Wine of the Year)
•Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2006
•Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve Noble Late Harvest 2009
•Nederburg Private Bin Edelkeur 2009

Port
•Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2008
•De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve 2008
•De Krans Cape Tawny NV
•JP Bredell Cape Vintage Reserve 2007

Video - Alex Milner- Boer and Brit Pinotage and Petit Verdot

Alex Milner is the Brit half (with Stefan Gerber) of an exciting -- and very attractively designed -- winemaking team with a new label Boer and Brit.

I enjoyed his Pinotage which is blended with 15% Petite Verdot. This wine is under their second label Suiker Boisse which means “Sugarbush, I want you so”. (I'm not so keen about that design though.)

The wine is tremendous, and so are their other reds. I got the feeling that Alex (who reminds me a bit of the new Dr Who) isn't that keen on Pinotage but I hope his success with this one will encourage him to make it a regular.

I think we'll be hearing a lot more from Boer & Brit. They're young, have some good ideas -- the red wine in a crown cap beer bottle and modern designed sparkling wine bottle are just two -- and make some good wines.

Video - Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick Estate - Pinotage in China

Mike Ratcliffe talks about Warwick's Old Vine Pinotage in China, how it matches with spicy Chinese food and the benefits of chilling.

Mike is MD of Warwick Estate

Video- Norma Ratcliffe of Warwick Estate

It was good to renew acquaintence with Norma Ratcliffe owner of, and first winemaker at, Warwick Estate.

MD son Mike usually travels the world on his own promoting Warwick but Norma joined him on this trip. They had just returned from a couple of weeks in China where they got involved in matching Chinese cuisine with Warwick wines. Norma said the Chinese were very enthusiastic about the wine with Pinotage especially successful matching dishes.

Here Norma talks about Warwick's Three Cape Ladies 2007 Cape Blend comprising 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Pinotage, 27% Shiraz, 4% Merlot

Video - Zakkie Bester of Riebeek Cellars

Zakkie is spending more and more time on the road spreading the word about Riebeek Cellars. I have been drinking his wines for many years and their quality wines are excellent for a bargain price.

I tasted two delicious Chenin Blanc, one wooded , one not. I preferred the unwooded 2010 which has a lively racy acidity while the wooded version, Reserve 2009 was creamier with more body.

The rose Pinotage 2010 was clean fresh and refreshing but I prefer my Pinotage to be red and was taken with the Riebeek 2009 Pinotage.

I asked Zakkie to say a few words about this wine and talk about the 2009 and 2010 vintages.

Pinotage is "an easy sell" in the USA

An interesting response by Ezanne Gouws, Ernst & Co marketing manager, to Neil Pendock's question about marketing SAf wine in the USA

I get the "what makes your wine industry unique?" question a lot, and Pinotage is right up there with boerewors, Nelson Mandela and World Cup Rugby champions. That's why Argentinian malbec does so well in America, because it is an Argentinian calling card. My American customers know South Africa produces a wide variety of quality wines, but so do many other countries. But what makes us unique is Pinotage.

I actually start off by offering my customers a chance to taste a good red wine without telling them what it is. After I have identified it for them and told them the Pinotage stories, it's an easy sell. It's not brain surgery, but it works every time.

Read the full article in in SAf's Sunday Times here

Virginia Cape Blend

At a wine fair in Renton, Virginia, last week I met Susan Prokop and Jim Turpin (pictured) who own Democracy Vineyards in Lovingston. They started in April 2009 with the aim of having 12 acres of their farm planted to vines.

So far they haven’t planted Pinotage but Jim told me they were thinking of doing so in their upper field vineyard. In the meantime, while waiting for their vines to mature, they are buying grapes.

For Democracy Vineyards ‘Forum’ 2009, which is a 50/50 blend of Pinotage and Cabernet Franc, they sourced Pinotage from nearby Lovingston Winery. Riaan Rossouw, who is winemaker at Lovingston, crafted this wine for them.

“We wanted to make a lighter styled wine,” said Susan. I found the wine to very easy drinking, being soft and very fruity with ripe cherry tones, and good value at $10. The Cab Franc, which has not seen any oak, makes a good partner.

Jim’s background in politics inspired the venture’s name and his large collection of historic campaign material is destined to decorate their tasting room.

Welbedacht's Wellington Win

Welbedacht’s confidence in their Wellington terroir was confirmed when their very first Estate labelled wine -- 2008 Welbedacht Estate Pinotage – won in the 2010 Top 10 Pinotage competition. Owner Schalk Burger said

“it is our first wine under our new Estate label, launched this month, that has achieved an accolade and all kudos go to our wonderful terroir and our cellar master Jacques Wentzel.”

Grapes for the 2008 Welbedacht Estate Pinotage were hand selected from a 21 year old Bush Vine block growing on decomposed granite soils.

Marketing and Sales Manager Tiaan Burger said

“these grapes were specially selected and hand harvested with plenty of hands-on devotion during the vinification process. The Estate boasts some impressively senescent soils and this is prevalent in the intensity and multi-faceted character the 2008 Pinotage.

What makes this wine ever so more special is the divine coincidence that the fruit was harvested on Valentine’s Day, 14 February 2008. We can truly lay claim to the fact that it was made with love!!”

New Super Premium NZ Pinotage launched

Kidnapper Cliffs, a new super premium wine label, has been launched by two New Zealand wineries located on the North Island; Te Awa in Hawkes Bay and Dry River in Martinborough.

The Kidnapper Cliffs brand name refers to Cape Kidnappers at the southern end of Hawkes Bay which gained its name after a crewman was captured by Maoris during Captain Cook's maiden voyage to New Zealand in October of 1769.

The range of five wines includes a Pinotage. Kidnapper Cliffs say

“With careful vineyard management and conservative winemaking we intend to explore the full potential of this somewhat unfashionable variety. We expect such wines to have a distinctive personality and an enhanced cellaring potential. This Pinotage has a vibrant purple-red colour and a nose which speaks of an armful of roses, red skinned apples and baking spice. Layers of fine fruit tannin and savoury characters balance the flamboyant berry fruit and rose petal flavours. The underlying structural integrity of this wine suggests a good future in the cellar.”

I look forward to tasting it sometime...

Top Ten Pinotages - 2010

The Top Ten Pinotages 2010 are, in alphabetical order:

• Altydgedacht Pinotage 2009 (Durbanville)
• Anura Reserve Pinotage 2008 (Paarl)
• Fairvew Pinotage 2009 (Coastal)
• Flagstone Writer’s Block Pinotage 2008 (Worcester vineyards)
• Kaapzicht Steytler Pinotage 2007 (Stellenbosch)
• Lyngrove Platinum Pinotage 2008 (Stellenbosch)
• Rijk’s Reserve Pinotage 2006 (Tulbagh)
• Welbedacht Estate Pinotage 2008 (Wellington)
• Die Laan Pinotage 2008 (Stellenbosch) from the Welgevallen Kelder
• Wildekrans Barrel Selection 2008 (Botrivier)

I find it regreshing to see so many new names in the winners list but of course they take the place of some well loved familiar names.

Neil Pendock called it Changing the Guards at Pinotage Palace noting that the Pinotage's traditional terroir this time only supplied two of Top 10.

Interestingly the Die Laan is made by students studying winemaking at the Stellenbosch University in the small cellar adjoining the house that Abraham Perold lived in while serving as the University's first Professor of Viniculture and Oenology.

Does the influx of new names mean that the mystery of making great wines from the challenging Pinotage variety is no secret any more? If so, the Pinotage Association must be congratulated on their work in research and disseminating their findings.

Wamakersvallei 'La Cave' 2004 Pinotage

Six years old and it's just perfect. Starting to lose some of its bright colour and beginning to brown. Beautiful smooth dusky damson fruit flavours with a long lingering finish. Like a good claret but with lots of sweet fruit.

'La Cave' is Wamakersvallei's premium label and they really have nailed making consistently fine classic Pinotage.

It is named after La Cave, the winery's arched brick cellar in Wellington.

Pinotage "takes pinot to a new level"

Laura Ness at The Salinas Californian asks

"Have you tried pinotage yet? This attention-getting cross of pinot and cinsault was created for South Africa: it takes pinot to a new level. Pinotage puts a gun to your head and holds you hostage. It's as relentless as a 13-year-old bent on a tattoo in a questionable location.

There is nothing subtle or delicate about this wine. It is the big sister of pinot noir, the one who can change her own flat tire, the one who would never expect to have the door held open for her. No, this is a big strapping girl who would not hesitate to thumb a ride from a complete stranger or fling her sturdy legs over the back of a motorcycle and head on down the road of life.


The 2008 J Vineyards pinotage delivers a relentless onslaught of flavors that begin with ancho chili, basil and cedar aromas; then it takes your palate on a crazy, wild ride with sensual flavors of crisp red plums, bright red currants, exotic guava and green banana, sun-dried tomatoes, red licorice and green olives. Truly an amusement park ride for your mouth: great for celebrating the return of summer. Order some; they'll be happy to send some J your way."

Lammershoek and Barista in Canada

Canadian wine lovers suffering under the dead hand of government monopoly supply look forward to the regular updates to the ‘Vintages’ list of limited supply wines.

The latest release features Lammershoek Pinotage 07 (though I recall Lammershoek have been available for some years) and Barista 09.

Here are what the local bloggers had to say about the Lammershoek Pinotage 07:
Billy Munnelly at www.billysbestbottles.com

Lammershoek does for Pinotage what Henry of Pelham does for Baco. It puts a charming spin on a rustic grape variety. This combine the lush richness of a Rhone with the earthy feeling of a Portuguese red. Sexy with a light roughness

Michael Pinkus at grapeguyvintages.blogspot.com

not a wine that’s popular with everyone but this version just might change a few minds: Full of flavour with coffee and mocha notes, cherry, plum and smooth tannins, I was rightfully impressed here

David at daveswinedomaine.blogspot.com

Now, who doesn’t like Pinotage? Oh yeah? Well, check out what you're missing. Handpicked and hand-sorted. Fermentation in open concrete tanks, then Malolactic fermentation. Aged in French oak barrels (20% new) for 12 months. Unfiltered.

And Alan Kerr at blogs.gangofpour.com was won over by Barista

Without wanting to sound like I am not a fan of this varietal, which incidentally, I do struggle with, this is one tasty Pinotage. One needs however, to be a fan of coffee as the Mocha note is somewhat overwhelming, but behind it lays sweet blackberry fruit, dark silky chocolate and a note of clove. The palate bears pure clean dark fruit, a note of espresso, a hint of molasses and crisp clean acidity. The finish is long and well balanced. Not to be missed I should add.

Update on 28 August
Gord Stimmell asks in The Toronto Star how come "Two bottles of the same wine taste totally different"? and it is Lammershoek Pinotage 2007 he is referring to:

"Tasted in the LCBO laboratory, it merely rated an 88/100, which is good for any pinotage, in my book. But it showed hints of tar and asphalt and rustiness among the sturdy fruit. Then I got a hold of another bottle and what a difference. All of a sudden, it rose to first class, with rich smoky coffee bean, blackberry and summer plums wrapped in a totally silky texture. This rates 90.

I frankly do not know which batch will be hitting shelves. If it is the silky seductive one, it is definitely worth a serious detour as this summer’s quintessential barbecue red. If it is the rougher-edged, more rustic pinotage, then it’s slightly overpriced"

Gord puts it down to batch variation.

"Wineries assemble final wines from different tanks and casks, and sometimes absolute consistency of aromas and flavours falls by the wayside between the various bottlings."

(Note: LCBO is Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the state wine monopoly)

Pinotage and Petite Sirah?

Interesting article by Gerald D Boyd highlighting similarities between Pinotage and Petite Sirah over at
bubblesonwine.wordpress.com.

Gerald Boyd writes:

"I was thinking about 'six degrees of separation' ....... my muse whispered, “Why not a relationship between Petite Sirah and Pinotage?” On the surface the idea sounded implausible, but these two seemingly different grapes do share some things, and maybe at one of those six levels Petite Sirah and Pinotage are related"

It looks to me as if the article is incomplete but the meat of the historical links are there.

Talking of Petite Sirah: it is a variety I greatly enjoy and have long thought would be ideal for the Capes sunny climate. Fairview released South Africa's first varietal Petite Sirah which I have drunk twice and it confirmed I was right; it was an excellent wine.

And there is a real connection between Pinotage and Petite Sirah. A parent of Petite Sirah is Syrah, and a parent of Pinotage is Pinot Noir. Pinot is an ancester of Syrah, thus Pinotage and Petite Sirah are related.


.

Pinotage Party this Weekend at Loma Prieta

'Come visit Loma Prieta Winery on August 7-8, and fall in love with Pinotage!' says the invite.



Loma Prieta Winery in Los Gatos, California, (pictured above) are celebrating the release this weekend of the second bottling of their award-winning 2008 Pinotage from the Amorosa Vineyard in Lodi. The first bottling of the 2008 Pinotage quickly sold out.

Visitors will be able to enjoy light appetizers all weekend as well as the beautiful jewelry designs of Elizabeth Lynn Moon and there will also be live music on Saturday afternoon.

The initial bottling of the 2008 Pinotage, released in October 2009, won three Gold medals and was written about in the Mercury News and the Los Gatos Observer.

Loma Prieta are the first winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains to plant Pinotage for production and are looking forward to their first crop of Estate Pinotage in 2011.


Loma Prieta Winery
26985 Loma Prieta Way
Los Gatos, California 9503