Pontac

APPEARANCE

ON THE VINE: it is a low-vigour variety with a small canopy and very tight bunches of small, thick-skinned, pitch-black grapes.

IN THE GLASS: a deep ruby-black colour. Pontac is known as a Teinturier, one of the very few red varieties which actually has red flesh.

 

SMELL

Mocha, coffee and blackberry, but it can also exhibit Cabernet Sauvignon characteristics, such as lead pencil. Sometimes spicy, herbaceous, organic and perfumed.

TASTE

Minerally and flinty, with mocha and coffee following through from the nose. Sweet, wild red-berried fruit, with hints of smoke and liquorice. Full-bodied.

ORIGIN

Pontac is thought to have originated in France, with links to the De Pontac family (an important grape-growing dynasty in the Médoc from the mid-16th to mid-17th century). In south-west France, the little village of Pontacq is found. Records chronicle the arrival in the Netherlands in 1772 of the ship De Hoop carrying some Cape Pontac… together with red and white Muscadel, Pontac is one of the three varieties listed as ingredients for the famous sweet wines of Constantia that were much admired in 18th century Europe.

IN SOUTH AFRICA

Both Klein Constantia and Groot Constantia have planted Pontac in the past with an eye to the production of natural sweet wine. Klein Constantia hoped to made a red to match the world famous Vin de Constance. Hartenberg used to bottle a varietal Pontac, but today the cultivar has all but disappeared from the Cape vineyards.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD

Pontac is still cultivated in France and used in some Bordeaux-style red blends, often paired with Malbec.