Kanonkop in China

Here's a nice video interview with Kanonkop owner Johann Krige while he's visiting a stockist in Hong Kong.

See  here

Johann has said in the past that Pinotage is popular there because it pairs so well with the local food.

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Loma Prieta Finds Gold

In times gone past they headed to California to dig for gold. Now it’s their wines that are finding gold. Loma Prieta winery’s gold rush is led by its Pinotage. The medal count for the 2010 Pinotage so far this year is eleven Golds, and it also won Best of Class Red Vinifera Varietal for the second year running at the Indy International Wine Competition.

 

Pinotage grapes growing in the Estate vineyard

 

The winning 2010 Pinotage, as with their previous vintages, comes from the Amorosa Vineyard in Lodi, but owner Paul Kemp’s future plans include releasing four separate single vineyard Pinotages. This year he is bottling his first Estate wine from his own vineyard, as well as from the Amorosa Vineyard in Lodi, and  he’s also made wines from grapes grown in Karma Vineyard, Lodi and Sierra Ridge, Amador County.

 

My notes on the Loma Prieta 2010 Pinotage Amorosa Vineyard noted blueberry and cherry flavours, there’s a good fruit acidity which makes the wine very moreish, some tannins and, after the bottle has been open some time I started to notice an underlying soft coffee accent developing. It’s a delightful wine now and I think it will only get better.


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POT in Jo'Burg

Diemersfontein's popular Pinotage on Tap comes to Jo'burg on 15 September. Details here


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More Pinotage planted in Virginia

New winery Grace Vineyards, located in White Hall, Virginia, has just planted an acre of Pinotage. It previously operated as Mount Juliet Vineyards producing grapes for other wineries from its 53 acres. Now under new owner John Grace, Grace Vineyards is opening in April 2013 and will be producing its own wines. .

Pinotage Top 10 - The 20 Finalists

The Top 10 are due to be announced at the end of this month.

They'll be chosen from the following finalists..

Altydgedacht Pinotage 2011 (Durbanville)
Beaumont Pinotage 2010 (Bot River)
Delheim Pinotage 2011 (Stellenbosch)
Diemersdal Pinotage 2011 (Durbanville)
Durbanville Hills Rhinofields Pinotage 2011 (Durbanville)
Fairview Pinotage 2011 (Coastal Region)
KWV Cathedral Cellar Pinotage 2009 (Western Cape)
Mount Vernon Three Peaks Pinotage 2011 (Paarl Simonsberg)
Painted Wolf Guillermo Pinotage 2009 (Swartland)
Painted Wolf The Den Pinotage 2010 (Coastal Region)
Riebeek Cellars Reserve Pinotage 2011 (Swartland)
Rijk’s Private Cellar Pinotage 2008 (Tulbagh)
Rijk’s Reserve Pinotage 2008 (Tulbagh)
Simonsig Red Hill Pinotage 2010 (Stellenbosch)
Spier 21 Gables Pinotage 2010 (Stellenbosch)
Springfontein Jonathan’s Ridge Pinotage 2009 (Walker Bay)
Swartland Winery Bush Vine Pinotage 2010 (Swartland)
Tukulu Pinotage 2009 (Darling)
Wellington Wines La Cave Pinotage 2010 (Wellington)
Windmeul Reserve Pinotage 2011 (Paarl)

 

Interesting selection of newcomers and old reliables. Mount Vernon is a name new to me. According to Platter they're a small producer with just 1,000 cases and their Pinotage has 'coffee notes' which is a flavour the Top 10 judges have previously steered clear of.

 

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Pinotage in Ohio

There’s Pinotage in Ohio, but currently only as an ongoing trial started in 2008 by Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Centre who are trying to find suitable wine grape varieties that can survive and thrive in Ohio’s climate.

This a partly driven because there are now not enough Ohio grown grapes to meet demand from new wineries in the state.

Professor Imed Dami told the Pinotage Club that they’re

“still early in having a complete picture about how Pinotage performs in Ohio.

I like its growth habit and it seems to carry a heavy crop load. Bud injury from winter was not bad for a vinifera. However, it is notorious for crown gall. So its success would depend on winter survival and obtaining crown-gall free stocks. This variety has potential.”

Professor Dami, who is a state viticulture specialist with OSU Extension, added 

“we're also evaluating the effect of region (terroir) to see whether it is more suitable in southern Ohio.”

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Queensland, Oz has Pinotage

 Ravenscroft Wines is owned by Mark Ravenscroft who currently has about 450 Pinotage vines on a 0.7 acre plot. Marks says  

“Progress on the Pinotage front has been a bit slow as I have had hail the last two Octobers. So limited quantities made - only getting about 800 kg and about 600-700 bottles. The wine at the moment shows Pinot characters, although with a bit more spice – a bit like Tempranillo.

I am the only one growing it in Queensland and did so for the uniqueness and my heritage, of course.”

Mark comes from South Africa and studied winemaking at Elsenberg in Stellenbosch where he qualified in 1988. After travelling the world’s wine regions he spent a couple of years as winemaker at Onverwacht Wine Estate in the Western Cape. He emigrated to Australia in 1992 where he worked as winemaker at several estates before buying his own property in 2004. 

Mark planted his first Pinotage in 2007 with an initial Pinotage vintage in 2009. 

Marks says

“The wine has been made in the press using a commercial yeast- using it as a roto fermenter - no special tricks. As soon as I progress to a ton I will start cold soaking etc.

I still think the style at the moment is not finalised. My Pinotage retails for $35 and sells well through my cellardoor.”

 
See also http://www.pinotage.org/2011/12/australia-joins-pinotage-family.html

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Pinotage found in Europe!

There’s Pinotage in Europe! It is at Venthône, near the town of Sierre. It’s grown and made by Simon Favre, owner of Cave d’Anchettes in the Valais wine region.

Simon’s father-in-law had brought Pinotage back from a trip to South Africa and intrigued, Simon planted fifteen vines in 1982 and has been multiplying them every since. They are planted over several of Simon’s vineyards located at different altitudes.

Alex Rychlewski was given a bottle of the 2007 Pinotage some time ago when he visited the region. Alex, an American living and working on Bordeaux for more than thirty years, said

I suspected that the wine would gain nothing from further ageing. The color certainly implied as much. It was diffuse with a brown rim. The nose was sweet and very Pinot-like and the wine was smooth, sweet once again (not literally!), and on the short side. A fun wine to enjoy with a grilled slice of lamb on a Wednesday afternoon.

This is the first and only confirmed sighting of Pinotage in the old world, but if its been growing in Switzerland for thirty years unknown to us I wonder if there are there other plantings to find.

Many thanks to Alex Rychlewski for his tasting note and label photo.

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The Ruins Pinotage with owner Michelle du Preez - Video

The Ruins Pinotage 2010 is a modern clean fresh fruity wine. It is made at Bon Cap by Marinus Potgieter using grapes organically farmed by winery owner Roelf du Preez.

I really enjoyed a bottle with dinner the other night, it's big on bright berry fruits,  light on tannins, and easy drinking for right now.

Michelle du Preez was in town last month so I asked her to share her thoughts on the 2010 Ruins.

In the UK The Ruins Pinotage 2010 is also available from The Wine Society under their own label.

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Travis Langley of Beyerskloof - Video

Travis Langley is a winemaker at Beyerskloof, South Africa's Pinotage specialist.

I met Travis at the London Wine Fair and asked him to talk us through the winery's current offerings. Wines he discusses are

2011 Pinotage - the white label
2009 Pinotage Reserve - the black label
2009 Diesel - Barrel reserve
2008 Faith - Cape Blend

Pinotage in the Blogs

In the blogs

Londoner Sarah Ball at Window on Wine was taken with Bellevue Estates' 2009 'Houdamond' Pinotage exclusive to Marks and Spencer in the UK.

"The first thing to say is that this is a ‘big’, powerful wine with 14.5% alcohol. However, it isn’t just all shouty fruit; there’s more complexity than that – especially on the intense nose. Dark plums mingle with vanilla notes and intriguing smokey bacon aromas. I definitely thought I detected a waft of sweet maple cured bacon. On the palate the deep plum flavours are complemented by sweet spice and smokiness – not bacon this time. The wine has great length too."

Many of thought this a tremendous wine when we had it at our recent Wine Society's annual dinner-dance and local M & S's shelves were emptied of it within days.


Ben at the Waterford Wine Company in Milwaukee, WI loved the 2010 Barista “Coffee Pinotage”

"intense aromas of coffee and chocolate flow from the glass like a rich and tasty café mocha. Seriously – for whatever chemical reason – Pinotage mates to new oak perfectly, creating a sensational wine. On the palate plums and maraschino cherries join the chocolate aromas in a deep and expressive harmony. The finish demonstrates that this is a serious wine, not just some wine-making fad, with a tug of tannins and weighty finish.

If you love Pinotage don’t miss this. It is an exciting, new style of wine. And if you hate Pinotage you have to try this – it’s going to convince you that South Africa can make fabulously tasty wine."

But Harry Haddon who writes on wine for South Africa's 2 Oceans Vibe isn't keen on that style and found KWV's Sparkling Cafe Culture 'Choc Mousse' was a step too far.

"After leaving it in the freezer so it was just above freezing point (I would give the wine all the advantage it needed), I popped the cork and the room filled with a familiar, almost acrid smell. I poured a glass and hesitantly put it to my lips. Simply put the wine is a simple, unattractive, “coffee” pinotage that has been put through a soda-stream with a dollop of sugar for good measure. Sweet. Sickly. Fizzy. Is it the worst wine I have ever tasted? It’s close.

Actually, once I tasted it I felt like deleting this whole bloody column. Carbonated chocolate pinotage. Those are all the words I should have had to type. One doesn’t mind a wine that attempted something different and turned out poor. That, at least is interesting. But this wine is simply a cynical marketing ploy."

Richard Rowe, KWV's, Chief Winemaker suggested that Harry wasn't the target audience and invited him to taste KWV's serious Mentor's Pinotage. And that is an excellent wine.

Tim Atkin MW made Cape Chamonix 'Greywacke' 2009 Pinotage his Wine of the Week and awarded it 91 points:

If you've always struggled with the idea that Pinotage is the Cape's USP, try a glass of this amazing example from Pinot Noir specialist Cape Chamonix in Franschhoek. It's made in a ripasso style (like some Valpolicellas) to give it a little more alcohol and weight. It's supple, smooth and sensitively oaked with black plum and blackberry fruit, sweet oak and a harmonious finish. Best of all, perhaps, it doesn't taste like most Pinotage.

Odd to read Jamie Goode championing a Pinotage since he has said many very harsh things about the variety. Jamie has taken up cudgels on behalf of winemaker Craig Hawkin’s Lammershoek Cellar Door ‘Sink the Pink’ Pinotage 2012 which has been refused Wine & Spirit Board certification.

It has been rejected because it is not a typical Pinotage. It has also been rejected because it is not a typical rose. But it’s a lovely wine with real personality. There are lots of people who would buy and enjoy this wine. So why is Craig not allowed to export it? His wines can only enhance the image of South African wine in export markets.

I wonder if this is the full story since many expressions of Pinotage have been certified, including white, pink, sweet, fortified, vin du naturel and sparkling. A comment suggests it could be because ‘Sink the Pink’ is sexual slang.....


And lastly, on the UK wine forum Peter Gatti who owns a fine wine shop in Austin Texas posts about 2004 L'Avenir Pinotage

Purchased at Vaughan Johnson's wine shop in the Victoria and Alfred Cape Town location during a 3 week trip in 2006. this is the regular bottling not the reserve / estate (?; but a Veritas double gold winner.

Cork has 1-2 mm of saturation, emerges fully intact. Big, ripe nose of mulberry, gently poached red plum, pepper, spice and burnished old leather. Palate follows nose, slow surging attack that spreads and coats, but very lightly for such a concentrated wine. Finish is long, detailed, and fades very, very slowly.

The best Pinotage I've ever tasted, although there aren't many to choose from here in the US.

90 minutes later, even better; everything from before still apparent, but add fresh Turkish coffee grounds, tamarind, wintergreen, and a dark minerality that I might mystically attribute to the most ancient soils of that region of the world. It really tastes of essence of liquified granite. Boy, is this good!

At Pinotage on Tap UK - Video

Pinotage on Tap came to England this weekend. The South Downs of coastal Sussex vibrated with Afrikaans, rocked to South African songs, were scented with bobotie, potjiekos & malva pudding and flowed with purple Pinotage.

Diemersfontein had brought a barrel of their famous coffee Pinotage and flown in musicians from the Cape to remind ex-pats of home and they’d installed a kitchen and a team of chefs to produce platters of home-style cooking.

The location was a farm on the crest of the rolling low chalk hills along the coast known as the South Downs. This area is home to English sparkling wine and next to the PoT field was a newly planted vineyard of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier.

Diemersfontein’s celebration of its new Pinotage vintage was first celebrated with Pinotage on Tap in 2005. Since then the annual event has grown and spawned satellite PoTs in Johannesburg and Durban. 2012 saw the first international PoT in England.

The recipe was straightforward. Erect a marquee to cover the musicians' stage and shelter the kitchen, place a oak barrel of 2011 Pinotage on a stack of hay bales, clear the skies of clouds, let the sun blaze down and have the mercury settle around 28C.

Then arrange a shuttle bus to bring participants from the nearest railway station on the London-Brighton line and give out goody bags filled with water bottles, biltong, beef rolls and the all important Pinotage on Tap wine glass, garnish with a welcome from the organiser and open the Pinotage barrel.

In the Cape PoT now hosts 2,500 people, but a more modest number attended this first UK event. “We are expecting around 300 people today,” said organiser and Diemersfontein owner David Sonnenberg. Unfortunately the second day of the event was cancelled because of low bookings.

Those of us who did attend sat on hay bales relaxing in the sun, listening to South African musicians Lonesome Dave Ferguson, Albert Frost & Robin Auld, eating our fill and sipping Pinotage straight from the barrel on an idyllic afternoon. What could be better?





David Sonnenberg talks PoT with Peter F May of The Pinotage Club.

Registration on arrival at PoT

Heading towards the marquee.

David Sonnenberg, owner of Diemersfontein, officially opens PoT UK 2012.

The famous barrel.

Albert Frost gets it on.

Owl Post Pinotage with winemaker De Wet Viljoen - Video

I met the ever charming De Wet Viljoen of Neethingshof Estate on Tuesday this week at the London International Wine Fair and asked him to tell us about his newly released 'Owl Post' 2010 Pinotage.



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Owl Post is one of Neethlinghof's reserve range of wine, now called 'The Short Story Collection' with each wine named after some aspect of the Estate. Owl Post refers to posts placed throught the vineyards as vantage points to encourage pest eating owls. This is part of the estate’s integrated pest management intending to reduce its dependence on pesticides.

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Pinotage on Tap in UK - Saturday 26 May 2012

This coming Saturday, 26  May sees  Pinotage on Tap (POT) festival held  near Brighton, the first ever POT staged outside South Africa.

Update:  Sunday's POT has been cancelled. The event will now be on one day only -- Saturday 26 May. See you there.

POT, hosted by Diemersfontein Wines to celebrate the new vintage of their famous coffee'n'chocolate Pinotage, regularly attracts thousands of fans to the wine farm in Wellington, South Africa and in recent times POTs have also been held in Johannesburg and Durban.

The location is Poyning Grange Farm, Fulking, South Downs, Sussex, near Brighton.

Nearest rail station is Hassocks on the First Capital Connect ThamesLink line from London and Bedford. Shuttle busses from Hassocks station to the festival have been arranged and seats can be booked via Diemersfonteins web site. Tickets to the festival cost £65.00 per person.

I was talking to a South African couple at a tasting last night and they went all misty eyed at the list of music performers, they had fond memories of listening to musician Robin Auld back home. Also playing are Londesome Dave Ferguson and Albert Frost.

Diemersfontein say the festival will involve a variety of culinary treats, from various bowl foods and canapés, to the much spoken about "strawberry and chocolate fountains". Wine lovers can enjoy a fantastic day out, whilst sipping this delectable wine, eating a variety of interesting foods, playing games and listening to great live band music. Promising to be an authentic South African party in every possible way, with typical South African cuisine and entertainment by South African musicians.

And of course, Diemersfonteins original Coffee Chocolate Pinotage will be flowing from the barrel, literally "Pinotage on Tap"

More information about the event can be found on the Pinotage on Tap 2012 page, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Enquiries to online@diemersfontein.co.za


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Making Mellasat's White Pinotage - video

I recently posted about tasting Mellasat's 2010 White Pinotage. Just realised I have a video of Mellasat's owner-winemaker Stephen Richardson describing how he made the wine. .

Jancis Likes Fairview's La Capra Pinotage

Jancis Robinson has been considering her current favourite still pink wines. Most are European but there are three new world rosés, Pinot Noirs from  Australia and Chile and then there’s Fairview La Capra Pinotage 2010:

‘With its Victorian fairground label and big, brash fruit fashioned by South Africa’s trademark red wine grape, it shouts “I’m different”. Like many pink (and white) wines at lower prices, it is kept fresh by dissolved carbon dioxide – but in this wine there is just so much fruit to counterbalance it that this ploy seems sensible rather than tricksy. Bring on the braai.’

Read all Jancis has to say about it at http://www.ft.com


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Mellasat's White Pinotage

WoSA held a tasting in London this week with the theme of wine tourism to publicise Cape Wine 2012 in Cape Town and the new Vindaba tourism show.

The London tasting showcased wines from properties with tourist attractions. Of the whites I was most impressed with Mellasat’s Enigma White Pinotage 2010. I’ve tasted and enjoyed earlier vintages but this seems to be the most complex and interesting yet.

Serve this one blind and see what happens. I reckon a white Burgundy would be the guess.
 

Four Pinotages made the Top 100 South African Wines competition.

Congratulations to:

• Allee Bleue Pinotage 2009 - WO Piekenierskloof
• L'Avenir Grand Vin Pinotage 2009 - WO Stellenbosch
• Neethlingshof The Owl Post Pinotage 2010 - WO Stellenbosch
• Swartland Winery Bushvine Pinotage 2010 - WO Swartland

366 wines were judged submitted by 136 wineries.

Full details at www.top100sawines.com .

Delheim Pinotage Rose: Video

Delheim owners Victor Sperling and Nora Sperling-Thiel take us from their tasting cellar into the vineyard to see Pinotage harvested and then into winery to meet winemaker Reg Holder as they tell us about how they make their award winning Pinotage rosé, in this excellent video made by A Minute of Wine.

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Silkbush Mountain Vineyards

Silkbush Mountain Vineyards are located in the Breede River Valley, roughly midway between Worcester and Tulbagh.

The name is probably unfamiliar because they have only released a couple of vintages wine under their own label but you may have drunk wine made by others from their grapes, including Flagstones Writer’s Block Pinotage which has twice been a Pinotage Top 10 winner.

Silkbush was bought in 2000 by Californian Dave Jefferson and a consortium of American investors and comprehensively replanted by his South African partner, General Manager and viticulturist Anton Roos who lives on the farm.
Just before returning home from the Cape I visited Silkbush where Anton (pictured above)found time in his busy schedule to drive me up the mountain to the Pinotage vineyard. On the way he told me the farm covers 140ha of which 87ha are planted to vines. Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, and Pinotage are the most planted varieties and they also grow Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Viognier, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.

The Pinotage vineyard is at the highest point of the farm at 730 metres, on the upper corner of the hillside.(arrowed in above picture) Mountains rise steeply beyond; one of them is Sybasberg which translates as Silkbush Mountain and gives its name to the farm. Looking over the vineyards, I could see the valley stretching out into the distance to mountains opposite. The sky was deep blue without a cloud with a raptor lazily circling above.

It is a most beautiful location and there is a guesthouse on the property that can be booked. It was originally intended for the investors but (it seems amazing to me), with the exception of Dave Jefferson, none have made the journey to this most beautiful of winelands.

The vineyard slope faces West-North-West and is always two degrees C cooler here than the valley floor. The soil is shale and quartzite. It is naturally loose and stays loose but there aren’t many nutrients so they don’t get vigorous vine growth.

Silkbush aim to harvest just seven tons per hectare. Quality is the driving factor so they remove half of the crop at 80% véraison. Leaving it this late maintains berry size.

Up to now Silkbush have concentrated on producing grapes for partner wineries but they have reserved some rows of the high Pinotage vineyard for themselves which they market under the Silkbush label in South Africa and export as Lions Drift Pinotage. Already Lions Drift is listed on Silversea Luxury Cruise Lines and American Airline’s Business Class.

I tasted the 2009 vintage. It has good dark red colour with an inviting nose. There is an explosion of ripe fruits on the palate, blackberry with damsons underneath. There’s a touch of oak, really nicely integrated, that leaves a trace of vanilla and a pleasant grip. This is a clean, fresh, modern fruit-forward Pinotage with a good fruit-acid balance of making it very food friendly. It’s great drinking now but I’d like to drink it in a couple of years to develop because I think it is going to be a stunner.

Silkbush don’t yet have their own wine making facilityry so the wine is made at Waboomsrivier, a stone’s throw away, under the auspices of Bennie Wannenburg who’s made many a prizewinning Pinotage. Great fruit, great winemaker, great wine.


Silkbush labels. Left is the Silkbush label for South Africa, on right is the export Lions Driftlabel.