| Winery: | Fairview (South Africa; Paarl) |
| Vintage: | 2005 |
| Type: | Pinotage |
| Retailer: | Rick\'s Wine & Gourmet |
| Price: | 11.99 approx |
| Notes: | Screwtop |
| Rating: | 2 |
This wine taught me an important lesson about vintages. We bought a bottle of the 2004 and loved it, so much we went back and asked for a case – they were completely sold out so we order one and waited for it to come in. When it arrived we popped a bottle and tasted it but were quite disappointed. Not nearly as good as our last bottle. Thanks to this lousy wine blog I was able to look up that it was a 2004 vintage we had last time. I did not even think to ask what year I’d be getting from the store…ah well, lesson learned. We’ll stick it in the basement and wait until next year to give it a try, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
| Winery: | Golden Kaan (South Africa; Western Cape) |
| Vintage: | 2003 |
| Type: | Pinotage |
| Description: | Pinotage
A good example of a unique South African varietal. The medium-bodied Pinotage with a typical ruby-red appearance. Sweet plums and raspberries on the nose with soft wood and tannins are well integrated. This wine will complement pork, poultry, lamb and veal dishes. |
I’m drawing a blank on this one- no idea where we got it or if it was any good.
| Winery: | Andrew's Hope (Malmesbury, South Africa) |
| Vintage: | 2000 |
| Type: | Pinotage |
| Retailer: | Rick's Wine & Gourmet |
| Price: | $9.99 |
| Description: | "Stunning for about $2 a glass, this Pinotage tastes rich and buttery in every way. The tannins are soft and subtle, which makes the wine very drinkable. It's similar in emotional quality to an Aussie Shiraz, which is probably the wine market South Africa is trying to inhabit." -Jonathon Alsop, http://www.invinoveritas.com |
Kim says it “tastes like dirt.” Not surprising since that’s what she said about the Robert’s Rock Shiraz-Malbec, which this bears an uncanny resemblance to. The pinotage grape is something I only discovered recently and the previous two reminded me of a cross between a shiraz and a pinot noir; this had a very strong malbec taste to me.
FRED BOUCHARD has an interesting article on the pinotage grape.
The maverick grape Pinotage is South Africa’s unique contribution to the world’s growing portfolio of interesting red wines, much as jazz and blues are America’s contribution to the world music. With its Beaujolais-like forward and youthful fruit, sometimes awkward astringency and curiously bitter aftertaste, Pinotage is not likely to become any wine marketer’s Great Red Hope. (Hey, jazz has got along for decades with a 3% market share of the music industry – but what a savvy little insider’s share it is.) Besides, Pinotage manifests other endearing characteristics, like lasting a long while in an open glass, aging rather slowly and well in the bottle, blending beautifully with “noble” Bordeaux and Rhone grapes widely and successfully planted in South Africa, and matching intriguingly with nearly as wide a spectrum of foods as that other under-valued but far more ubiquitous grape, Riesling.
A detailed history at the link.
Jonathon Alsop adds this helpful information:
Pinotage is the main red grape of South African wine, and it’s a cross between Pinot Noir — which we know and love — and Cinsault, a relatively unknown French grape that’s hardy and high yielding. Between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, you have a grape that grows around the world and produces plenty of juice for winemakers to work with.
| Winery: | Wildekrans (Walker Bay South Africa) |
| Vintage: | 2003 |
| Retailer: | Indigo Bay Restaurant |
| Description: | "This Pinotage has a pronounced wood essence, a coffee and ripe fruity, youngberry nose which enhances the new oak barrel flavours. The colour has a deep, dark purple centre. This wine has huge intensity, is very complex, velvet soft textures with a long finish on the palate. This wine is once again a real pedigree.
Only wines that meet with our standards of excellence were then used in the final blend for our Barrel Selection." - winery |
| Notes: | Heavier than pinot noir-but quite tasty
Veritas 2005 - Bronze
"Can drink now or keep for 5 - 8 years." - winery |
This is the first Pinotage I’d ever had, although Kim has had it previously. It reminded me very much of a cross between a pinot noir and a shiraz. It’s definitely something we’ll explore more of in the future.
