Pinotage

APPEARANCE

ON THE VINE: small, conical and compact bunches; small, cylindrical berries with thick, blue-black skins.

IN THE GLASS: deep ruby to plum centres, sometimes blue-red; edges varying from fuchsia-purple through carmine to brick red. Older wines tend towards a mahogany centre and russet-orange rim.

 

Ester associations include red berry fruits – mulberry, strawberry, occasionally raspberry – and bramble, while spice and cloves can add to a multi-layered nose. Acetone whiffs are less common of late, as is the distinctive banana/papaya aroma peculiar to certain Pinotages. Smoked meat and salami have been noted. New styles show complementary oak.

TASTE

A young Pinotage will be packed with ripe fruit on the palate, with spicy plum flavours and a jammy character if very ripe. Medium- to full-bodied, often finishing sweetish. Some styles can tend to the Pinot Noir side of the cross when they age, but seldom to Cinsaut. Raspberry/strawberry fruit with spicy counters can carry through from the nose, as can hints of tropical banana.

ORIGIN

South African: the Pinot Noir Cinsaut (Hermitage) cross was engineered by Stellenbosch University’s Prof Abraham Perold in 1925, and the first commercial bottling was a Lanzerac ’59 released in ’61 – though it’s widely accepted that subsequently it was Kanonkop, pioneer of full-blooded oak and show-stopper style, that really put Pinotage on the map.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD

Australia and New Zealand were the first wine-producing countries outside South Africa to pick up on Pinotage. Latterly, a few Napa Valley cellars in the USA have joined the club, as has a Canadian or two.

BEST EXAMPLES

Kanonkop still stands out as one of the benchmarks, with consistently good performers these days including L’Avenir, Môreson, Beyerskloof Reserve, Diemersfontein, Rijk’s and De Waal.

AGEING POTENTIAL

Pinotage producers first started using new and small oak as recently as the early ’90s. It’s early days to tell how newer-styled wines might age in general, though signs are promising – some of the Kanonkops have developed with interest – and it’s expected that good Pinotages today should easily last 10 years. That said, certain well made old-style Pinotages have benefited from 20 to 30 years’ maturation.

MATCHING WITH FOOD

Unwooded, fruity Pinotage: game, lamb, bobotie, braaied boerewors and fish, curry, young cheddar. Full-bodied Pinotage: spare ribs, pepper-steak, or full-flavoured game dishes such as ostrich, kudu, springbok and guinea fowl.

SERVING TEMPERATURE

Between 16° and 18° C.