Doran Vineyards with Edwin Doran

I was pleased to be invited by owner Edwin Doran to visit him at the Intrepid wine show, so fortified by Bunny Chow I went to meet Edwin and taste his Doran Vineyards Pinotage.

Edwin Doran - Owner Doran Vineyards

Edwin, who was born in Ireland then lived 50 years in England had sold his travel business and gone into partnership with his long time friend South African Andre Badenhorst who’s been deeply involved in some of the Cape’s most iconic wine farms, and has passed on his knowledge to his son, Adi. 

Edwin and Andre bought Far Horizon’s vineyards, and built a modern winery to in which to install winemaker Martin Lamprecht.

The vineyards are in Voor Pardeberg nestling alongside the Swartland, between Wellington and Malmesbury.

I tasted Doran Pinotage 2013. There’s soft fruit on the front palate and gentle fruit flavours throughout. It’s deliciously fresh and delicate – repeat  delicate! - so imagine my amazement when I turned  the bottle to find 14% abv.

Edwin says there's no  pressed juice; that after fermentation wines are only racked and fined before bottling.

Edwin insisted I tried his pink Pinotage, Rosie D 2015, named after Edwin’s wife. 

This looks bright light red in its clear bottle, but is much paler in a glass. The juice was left on its skins for just two hours to get colour bright. I am not a big fan of pink wines but this was enjoyably  dry and refreshing and though dry there’s a welcome touch of the Pinotage variety sweetness on the finish. Its very pleasant and refreshing on a hot day. As Edwin says, “it’s wine, not diluted Calpol.”

Doran Vineyards is a  (yet another) name  new to me, and one whose Pinotage I’d like have more of, and especially to drink with dinner.

I must make an effort to visit during my next visit to the Cape in March.

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Absa Honours Beyers Truter

Absa, the financial institution who  generously sponsor  the Pinotage Top 10 competition, took the opportunity of the 20th Top 10 awards ceremony to make an extra presentation.
 

From left: David Hodnett, Chief Executive and Financial Director for Barclays Africa, Beyers Truter and Doug Walker, Absa’s Provincial Managing Executive in the Western Cape.

Presenting Beyers Truter, Chairman of the Pinotage Association, with an award for his contribution to the world of Pinotage, Doug Walker, Absa’s Provincial Managing Executive in the Western Cape, said that it was almost impossible to thank someone for his or her passion.

“However, it is my task to express Absa’s sincere gratitude towards Beyers for helping the Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition and this red wine cultivar reach an important milestone,” said Walker.

“Like everybody else I enjoyed watching the recent Olympic Games. I saw how Wayde van Niekerk was put into the outside lane number eight. Never before has any athlete won the Olympics 400m from the outside lane, never mind setting a world record.”

Walker said that this was the position where Pinotage found itself 20 years ago – in the outside lane of grape cultivars.

“And just see where Pinotage is now,” he enthused. “A wine of South Africa, a wine from Africa and a wine winning international medals and garnering critical acclaim the world over. Some of these Pinotage speak Afrikaans, some speak English and some speak other languages while the grapes and the wine are being worked in the cellar.”

But there is one voice commanding attention over all others.

“Beyers, thank you so very much that you have been the coach of Team Pinotage,” said Walker. “Thank you for getting our starting blocks right, for overseeing the guidance of our producers to ensure that the consumer has such as vast choice of winning Pinotage wines.

“For this and on behalf of Absa, I thank you and all the country’s Pinotage producers.”

Hear Hear!!


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Bowwood Pinotage at the WoSA Intrepid Tasting

To London, and Tobacco Dock for the Intrepid South Africa tasting. WoSA put on this years show in the transformed old warehouse on the banks of the Thames after  Chile and Argentina pulled out of the co-operation of previous years in combining tastings.

London was undergoing an unexpected heatwave with very high humidity and the hall’s air-conditioning struggled to cope with the mass of exhibitors and visitors. Wines at first were too warm but soon bags after bags of ice were brought in and wines both red and white cooled.

As well as 94 stands, many hosting two wineries were 9 themed tasting stands holding 18 bottles manned at different times by winemakers. These tables also included some non-SA wines “highlighting South Africa’s confidence in producing world class wines, while demonstrating that South Africa has honed its own style and identity.”

The Pinotage stand was hosted by Anthony Hamilton-Russell, an enthusiastic Pinotage advocate and owner of Pinotage producing Southern Right and Ashbourne, as well as Hamilton-Russell Vineyards.  Anthony was his usual very dapper self in an immaculate tweed jacket despite the heat. He was partnered by winemaker Danie Steyler Jr from the first rate Pinotage producing Kaapzicht estate.

The wines on show on ‘Driven by History’ Pinotage stand were

• Tormentino Bush Vine 2014
• Spionkop 1900 2014
• David & Nadia 2015
• Bellingham Bernard Series 2014
• Lyngrove Platinum 2014
• Ashbourne 2009
• Southern Right 2015
• Spier 21 Gables 2013
• Bowwood 2014
• Beaumont 2013
• Flagstone Writers Block 2013
• Simonsig Redhill 2013
• Kaapzicht Steytler 2012
• Neethingof Owl Post 2014
• Diemersdal Reserve 2015 

The non SA, non-Pinotage, wines were

• Clos Saron Blue Cheer Cinsaut/Carignan 2014 (USA)
• Niepoort Vertente 2013, (Douro, Portugal)
• La Crema Pinot Noir 2013 (Sonoma, USA)

Bowwood is a name new to me. It was produced at Vondeling by its winemaker Matthew Copeland with the assistance, for this maiden vintage, of Pinotage perfectionist Bruce Jack. 

 

Matthew Copeland, Bowwood Winemaker

Matthew (above) was also at the stand and he told me that just the wine hasn’t yet been released and this bottle he'd carried from the Cape in his baggage

Bowwood 2004 has a fruity nose redolent of blackberries. It is soft on the front palate developing a really lip smacking spiciness on the finish with a refreshing little lift of acidity. Very tasty wine, definitly worth looking out for it - yet only 5 barrels were made so you'd better be fast!

Outside three food stands offered a choice of barbecued boerewors or a healthy mixed salad but I settled on a Cape Malay mutton and banana curry served as bunny chow in a hollowed out bun, accompanied by a bush mint and Table Mountain lemon yoghurt.

The essential accompanying glass of Pinotage came from the tasting room.

Then back into the fray……

WoTM - Beyerskloof Diesel 2007

My Wine of the Month for August 2016 is Beyerskloof ‘Diesel’ 2007.

Diesel, named in memory of owner Beyers Truter’s faithful hound, is Beyerskloof’s premier Pinotage. It’s a selection of the best barrels of bush vine Reserve Pinotage.

The 2007  spent four days in open fermenters with the cap  being punched down by hand. Fermentation temperature was between 26 and 28°C. After malolactic fermentation in stainless steel the wine was matured in 100% new French oak barrels for 23 months.

The winery says it will reach perfection ‘in 15 – 20 years’. But I couldn’t wait, and thankfully it’s hard to believe it could get any better because this was Pinotage perfection at nine years.

I’ve enjoyed several Diesels over the years, mostly in South Africa and much younger since the large heavy bottle is difficult to carry home. It’s a big wine when young. 

This 2007 had soft tannins under sophisticated subtle silky Pinotage fruit with depths. Age had turned it into a ballerina, dancing on the tongue as it revealed more and more layers of flavours. And all too soon it was an empty bottle…….

Wine of Origin Stellenbosch

Total Acidity:         6.1 g/l

Alcohol:                 14.50%

pH:                        3.64

Total SO2              141 mg/l

Residual Sugar:     3.2 g/l

Age of Vines:        15 - 20 years old

    

Pinotage was a Decision of the Heart

“Our Pinotage was a decision of the heart," says Jennifer Molgat, (left) owner of The View winery in British Columbia, Canada, in an interview with Brandi Parnell in Mint Magazine. 

Jennifer says “My father had close friends in South Africa. He traveled there and fell in love with the wine. I think people thought he was crazy when he returned home with a decision to grow Pinotage; in hindsight, it was the right decision because it is an early ripening red – perfect for our region”

The View was the first winery in Canada to make a Pinotage rosé and this year they released a  blanc de noir White Pinotage 2015.

Read the full story, with some great photos by Sharla Pike  here

Read about my own visit to The View with a video see here


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2016 Winners- Pinotage Top 10 Competition

The 10 winners of the 2016 Absa Pinotage Top 10 Competition are

• 2015 Diemersdal Pinotage Reserve
• 2014 Flagstone Writers Block Pinotage
• 2014 Fleur du Cap Pinotage Unfiltered
• 2010 Kanonkop Estate Pinotage
• 2015 Knorhoek Two Cubs Pinotage
• 2013 KWV The Mentors Pinotage
• 2014 L’Avenir Single Block Pinotage
• 2014 Perdeberg The Dry Land Collection Pinotage
• 2013 Rijk’s Reserve Pinotage
• 2015 Rooiberg Winery Reserve Pinotage

It's the 11th win for both Kanonkop and Rijks!

The awards function was held last night,26 August at the Cavalli Estate outside Stellenbosch. 144 wines entered this years competition, the 20th.

for the event, which was the 20th time South Africa’s leading cultivar-focussed wine competition was held.

Beyers Truter, chairman of the Pinotage Association, said that two features stood out from this year’s competition: the milestones reached by Kanonkop and Rijk’s and the performance of wines made from the 2014 vintage which produced four winners. “The vintage was late and cool, with a very wet pre-season and produced a relatively light crop,”  said Beyers. “However, the wines from that year are now showing the quality and refined elegance to take Top 10 trophies, showing us how exceptional the vintage actually was. Consumers can definitely tick off 2014 as a must-have year for red wine."

“When the Pinotage Association founded the Absa Top 10 Competition in 1997, we had a vision of not only honouring Pinotage wines but also to create legends,” said Truter. “By winning Top 10 awards eleven times, Kanonkop and Rijk’s have now undoubtedly established themselves not only as legendary producers of Pinotage, but icons in the South African wine industry, too.”

“As a producer myself I know how high the demands of the judging panel are, and to show the kind of consistency Kanonkop and Rijk’s have done throughout the years is an affirmation of the winemaker’s understanding of his terroir, the unique traits of the Pinotage grape and tremendous winemaking skill.”

This year’s judges were Neil Ellis (convenor), Johann Fourie (winemaker for KWV), Stephan Joubert (DGB viticulturist), Francois Rautenbach (Singita wine and beverage director)  and  Samarie Smith (wine writer). Two winemaking students joined the panel as protégés. Kayleigh Hattingh and Tim Whitfield from Stellenbosch University and the Elsenburg Agricultural College respectively participated in the full tasting, but their scores were not counted.

Neil Ellis said that the panel was not restricted to awarding a certain style of Pinotage. “My brief to the judges was to be objective in acknowledging diversity in styles found within the range of Pinotages entered and they really took this to heart. This year we saw many more examples where winemakers are not simply trying to follow the tried-and-tested methods used by icon wines from one or two specific regions. More Pinotages are made in styles that best suits the unique characteristics the winemakers are getting from grapes in their own areas.

“This progression is welcomed, but expected as Pinotage producers count among South Africa’s leading and most visionary winemakers today. Overall there appears to be a better understanding of the grape. Extraction is well-managed, leading to brighter fruit expression and more balanced wines.”

Speaking on behalf of the sponsors, Doug Walker, Absa’s Provincial Managing Executive in the Western Cape, says:  “On behalf of Absa, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to this year’s outstanding finalists and winners in the Absa Top 10 Pinotage competition, especially Kanonkop and Rijk’s Cellars for once again re-writing the history books. We wish all the trophy winners and finalists great success on their winemaking journey and hope they continue to prosper in local and international wine markets.”

“At Absa we are proud of our partnership with the Pinotage Association, now in its 20th consecutive year, as we continue to promote uniquely South African wines made from Pinotage grapes. The Absa Top 10 Pinotage competition has become an important platform for the recognition of excellence in the wine-making industry.”

Congratulations to all.

2016 Pinotage Top 10 Finalists

The 20 finalists for the 2016 Absa Pinotage Top 10 Competition are:-

• Delheim Vera Cruz Estate Pinotage 2014
• Diemersdal Pinotage Reserve 2015
• Flagstone Writers Block Pinotage 2014
• Fleur du Cap Pinotage Unfiltered 2014
• Frater Family Wines Oupa Bull Pinotage Reserve 2015
• Kanonkop Pinotage 2010
• Kanonkop Pinotage 2013
• Knorhoek Two Cubs Pinotage 2015
• KWV The Mentors Pinotage 2013
• Landskroon Pinotage 2014
• L’Avenir Single Block Pinotage 2014
• Lyngrove Platinum Pinotage 2014
• Maastricht Pinotage 2015
• Manley Pinotage 2014
• Perdeberg The Dry Land Collection Pinotage 2014
• Rickety Bridge Pinotage 2015
• Rijk’s Reserve Pinotage 2013
• Rooiberg Winery Reserve Pinotage 2015
• Simonsig Pinotage Redhill 2014
• Springfontein Wine Estate Jonathan’s Ridge Single Vineyard Pinotage 2012

The 10 winners will be announced on 29 August 2016.

This is the 20th year of the competition which started in 2007. In the past 19 years two wineries have won more times than any other: Kanonkop and Rijks, both taking 10 trophys, and it is good to see they are both finalists this year.

There's a good mix of established names and newcomers. I'm pleased to see L'Avenir back in the finals; their vineyards  produced 7 wins in the past and the current entry's back label honours Francois Naude the winemaker from that time.

Pinotage Association Chairman Beyers Truter said

"Rijk’s and Kanonkop, as other finalists such as Simonsig and Diemersdal are no strangers to the Absa Top 10, while relative newcomer producers of the likes of Rickety Bridge and Frater Family Wines are exciting developments.

Together with this mix of new and established, it is fantastic to see quality Pinotages originating from nearly all of South Africa’s diverse regions – from Stellenbosch and Paarl, to Walker Bay, Durbanville and Robertson. For quality Pinotage wines to be produced from such a diverse spectrum of terroirs not only underscores the versatility of the grape; it is also testimony of the producers’ love for fine winemaking, their commitment and insight of the region’s climates and terrains.”

Congratulations to all.

Pinotage 'defies outdated stereotype'

 "South African wine defies outdated stereotype", says Michele Parente at The San Diego Union-Tribune, who chose Kanonkop Pinotage 2013  as her  Wine of the Week.

She says

This misunderstood wine, a hybrid of pinot noir and cinsault, tastes like neither. But it tastes delicious. So much so, I’m breaking the $30 limit on Wine of the Week picks to shout from the rooftops that if you haven’t heard of pinotage before, seek it out. Or, if you’ve been unaware of the improvement in quality of these South African native wines over the past 15 years, consider yourself aware.

Read the review at http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jul/27/wine-of-week-kanonkop-pinotage/

WoTM -- Ayama Pinotage 2013

My Wine of the Month for July 2016 is Ayama Pinotage 2013, from their vineyards in Voor Paaardederg.

Berries – especially red cherries – were very much to the fore on opening, with a light sweet cherry thread to the front on the palate. It treads lightly on its 14.5% abv with a bright clean fresh fruit finish.

I’ve not come across this label before. Ayama's first bottling was in 2006 and this wine was a Winner in the 2015 ABSA Top 10 Pinotage Competition.