Diemersfontein

A little later I head into the cellar with Rightford for a tank sample of the 2008. It’s only three weeks since the grapes were harvested but already the wine smells more like mocha than berries. “It’s not just a hint of coffee but a resounding slap,” he observes cheerfully – and he has every reason to be cheerful, for “the Pinotage which tastes like coffee” has taken the world by storm. It has certainly put Diemersfontein on the map in just seven years…

Back in 2001, recalls Diemersfontein owner/CEO David Sonnenberg, former winemaker Bertus Fourie was simply working on a whole range of wines. “We had no idea the Pinotage would leap ahead of the rest – so far ahead, in fact, that I sometimes feel a little wistful because it dominates what Diemersfontein is all about.”

“There’s the perception that we’re a one-horse stable,” agrees Rightford. “The irony is that we’ve actually won more awards for our other wines,” adds Roode.

Which is not to say that the Pinotage hasn’t enjoyed competition success over the years, from being listed in the Absa Top Ten to winning the Michelangelo International Wine Trophy for Best Pinotage. It has also enjoyed good international media coverage, most recently being named one of only four South African red wines in UK wine critic Oz Clarke’s 250 Best Wines of 2008. “But the proof of the pudding is in how well it’s done commercially,” sums up Sonnenberg, with a consumer survey in the SA Sunday Times last April revealing that it was the “overwhelming favourite” of all Pinotages – The People’s Pinotage as columnist Neil Pendock called it.

“We never dreamed it would become this iconic, cultish wine,” says Sonnenberg, revealing that production is now at over 60 000 cases with the wine typically selling out by March or April – several long, dry months before the next vintage’s launch in September. “People write to us in various degrees of desperation asking where they can get hold of the wine – such charming, pathetic emails about being ‘in love’ with the wine; saying that it’s the only wine that has ever really ‘spoken’ to them!”

In less poetic terms, the Pinotage is praised for its easy accessibility as well as its rich coffee aromas and voluptuous fruit and sweet chocolate notes on the palate. “It appeals to new drinkers who find it an easy introduction to the world of red wine – a true midwife to drinking pleasure – yet many experienced wine drinkers also choose it for being out of the ordinary, for challenging convention. There’s certainly a category of people who find it too much, too ‘in-your-face’, and some feel the need to criticise it quite heavily. But very few just ignore it.”
At the very least, says Sonnenberg, it has “branded a relatively new winery without our having to do a huge amount of marketing”. So what’s the secret? “We have to acknowledge Bertus Fourie’s innovation,” says Sonnenberg – and not at all grudgingly, despite Diemersfontein’s short-lived attempt to take legal action preventing Fourie from making coffee-flavoured Pinotage when he jumped ship to the KWV in early 2006.

“Seven years ago Bertus was breaking new ground in terms of the oaking regime,” he explains. “Of course there are copycats now but I don’t think they have the key ingredient – the robustness of Wellington Pinotage.”

Roode and Rightford agree: “The intensity of this wine is due to about one-third of the fruit coming from unirrigated bush vines – and bushvine Pinotage loves Wellington! The heat here is not necessarily a negative factor – it means we don’t get boggy conditions if it rains; our vines don’t suffer from disease; and our grapes get properly ripe without any greenness. Our intense fruitiness is not easily replicated, with certain blocks lending themselves more to those coffee flavours than others.”

About 70% of the fruit is now bought in. “We couldn’t cope with the demand,” says Sonnenberg who has established good relationships with regular suppliers. “They’re a nice bunch of young farmers who know what we want,” says Roode. “We don’t have to police them.” Despite the large volumes involved, the grapes are sorted by hand. “Bunch-sorted,” qualifies Rightford. “All MOG [matter other than grapes] is chucked out.”

And then the hard work begins, including pump-overs every three hours for 24 hours. “Pinotage is like a thickskinned guy – it needs a lot of work to get the goodness out of it,” jokes Roode. “It’s not like Cab where you have days to think about things,” adds Rightford. “We have to work through the night with Pinotage because it ferments so fast. If you blink too long, it’s dry!” The wine is then put into tanks to mature on oak staves for five or six months. “We just give it one or two aerated rackings along the way and finally, if needed, a light egg white fining.”

And that, in short, is the tried-and-tested recipe – but Sonnenberg insists there has been a winemaking shift since Roode and Rightford took over from Fourie. “The ’06 and ’07, whilst maintaining the coffee intensity of previous years, have more fruit coming through,” he says. “The wine is now more elegant and better balanced than it used to be, and I personally enjoy it more as a result.”

Rightford confirms that they are trying to increase the wine’s complexity: “Previously it maybe bordered on being one-dimensional, but at the end of the day it’s not a cheap wine. It sells for around R70 a bottle, so it needs to offer a bit extra.”

“It’s interesting to compare different slopes or to see how bushvines on these soils compare with trellised vines on those soils. We’re always doing little experiments on the side – trying different combinations or different oak staves. We’re very lucky to have a boss who actually pushes us to try new things; who lets us think outside the box.”

“Or at least gives us enough space in the box to rattle around,” laughs Rightford, who insists that he and Roode are not merely trying to achieve consistency with this wine. “Obviously the Pinotage in our Carpe Diem range is made in a more classic style for ageing; a wine to keep you guessing and coming back to the glass. But with the coffee Pinotage we’re also striving to make the best wine possible every year and there’s definitely vintage variation. For example, the ’07 has choc-coffee undertones but also more black berry fruit than the ’06, whereas ’08 will be bigger – deep and plummy.”

The question is whether the wine’s many fans actually want vintage variation and extra complexity. “For a lot of people it was the first red wine they drank,” says Rightford. “But whether it’s still the only wine they drink, or whether they’re starting to discover other wines too, their palates are evolving. In a way it’s a wine growing up with the generation of people who discovered it.”

And then there’s its compatibility with food. “It tends to be served with dessert at our restaurant, because we don’t have a dessert wine, but it’s a versatile match with anything from casseroles to chocolate,” says Sonnenberg, adding that his own favourite food match is spicy game meat. “That’s when its true character comes out.”

Rightford waxes lyrical about a dish of rolled lamb neck with marrow and banana stuffing prepared by the head chef at Diemersfontein’s Seasons Restaurant, while Roode recommends the Pinotage with a dark chocolate and plum pudding. “We’ve recently taken up running,” he laughs. And they’re not joking about the pull-up bars in the cellar either…

When it comes to the Pinotage, the team has much to celebrate – and where better than at Pinotage-on-Tap, the launch party currently held annually at Diemersfontein as well as Johannesburg restaurant Casalinga? (And coming soon to Durban and Plett too: watch this space…) “The commercial success of the wine is super – I’m the last to deny it – but to experience the phenomenon, to see 1700 people in one place enjoying the wine… it’s just too wonderful,” says Sonnenberg.

“Most people behave; a few end up a bit the worse for wear. But we don’t mind. We just enjoy not taking ourselves or the wine too seriously.”