Pinotage - February 2014

South Africa Pinotage

Pinotage is truly native to South Africa.  It was developed in 1925 by a professor of viniculture at the University of Stellenbosch.  It is a cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsault (aka Hermitage).

Why these two grapes?  Pinot Noir is renowned for its aroma & flavor, but is difficult to grow.  Cinsault is easy to grow abundantly and is very disease resistant.  The hope was that the hybrid would take on the best of both grapes.  The reality is that Cinsault won.  Pinotage grapes grow like crazy!  While this is good if you are just trying to get grapes to market, it is bad for wine because the more grapes on a vine, the more diluted the flavor becomes.  Vintners in South Africa work very hard to keep yields down on Pinotage.

Pinotage rarely shows its Pinot Noir roots.  Instead, it leans toward a darker fruit, tobacco, chocolate note and flavor wine with high tannins and low acid.

Pinotage wasn't really planted until the 1960s.  Unfortunately, it was successful or popular and, with sanctions in place on the country, plantings decreased.  After apartheid, everything South African became vogue and the wine started shipping out.  Initially, the wine was poorly received in the US due to the contrast in American wine tastes and the high tannin of the Pinotage.

Add money and research and time and you get to present day.  Pinotage is still unpredictable but it is widely planted and vintners are playing with blends and new technology for wine making.

One of the top wineries in South Africa, Kanonkop, does their own thing with the wine.  They use old fashioned methods to produce their wines, including using open top fermenters.  These wines are MASSIVE and can age forever!  These are weighty, dark fruit wines with heavy tannins.

Blending is a common practice to fill in the "holes" in the Pinotage.  Cape Blend is the latest trend and the hope is that it will become synonymous with good, South Africa wine across the wineries.

We are tasting the following wines tonight:

Fairview Pinotage 2011 - $11.99 - this is the product of Charles Back who brought us "Goats Do Roam" - expect a full bodied, smooth & earthy wine. - Update - WOW!  Pinotage is amazing!  Who knew?  We liked this one and we did end up opening a bottle of "Goats in Villages" that Charles Back made and we enjoyed that as well.  This was a nice bottle.  Yummy and very drinkable at a great price point!

Groot Constantia Pinotage 2012 - $21.99 - This winery was founded in 1685.  Expect this wine to be fruity, full bodied, and well balanced.  Update - nice wine.  This was not my personal favorite of the evening, but the bottle was dry by the time the night was over.  Enjoyed by all.

Kanonkop Pinotage 2011 - $35.99 - Kanonkop wines are good upon release but cellar very well and become even more impressive with age.  Expect a big, very full wine with gobs of dark fruit and serious tannins. - Update - the hands down favorite of the night!  Oh my, this was yummy.  I can only imagine what a few years in bottle would do to this.  Since this tasting, I have tried Kanonkop Kadette which is a Pinotage blend.  OMG - it is AMAZING!  Jammy and drinkable and screams "I will get you in trouble!" which means it is a must buy.  If you are ever at Nando Peri Peri - check their wine menu for it (they give 8 oz which is like super huge!).  I will be looking for both of these at Wegmans near me very soon!

All wines had to be shipped in from Cali.  Seriously, Cali!  Pinotage selection in Virginia sucks.

We will be tasting these wines with charcuterie, hard cheeses, chili con carne (how is it chili without the carne????), lasagna, & a heavy meat stromboli.

Pictures and notes to be updated soon.

Cheers, 

Kitti