The Pinotage grape is unique to South African winemakers. A cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, it was the brainchild of a professor at the University of Stellebosch in the 1920s.
I know of no other county in the world that chooses to cultivate or make wine from it and I cannot begin to think of another variety that so divides a country’s winemakers.
I can count the number of times that I have actively chosen to order a bottle of Pinotage in a restaurant in the last decade with the fingers on one hand and my wine collection can never have included more than the odd bottle.
You would think that telling this to an array of South African winemakers would generate an enthusiastic defence of their national pride and joy but the truth is that there are as many locals who loathe it as love it.
In September, I spent a week working as an international judge at the Veritas wine awards in the Cape Winelands. For three days I was immersed in Pinotage, having been elected to the panel whose job it was to award bronze, silver and gold medals to the best on offer.
My fellow judges were all South African and all fiercely loyal to their indigenous grape.
I struggled with the swathes of oak that dominated many of the wines. I disliked the ester-driven aromas that have long been the bugbear of Pinotage wines.
My patience for the greenness that haunted many of the wines wore thin and my colleagues were in despair at my seeming hostility to their wines. However, it is these qualities that have left many South African winemakers disappointed with the variety, leading them to focus on the more traditional European varieties.
Is it fair for so many to have abandoned Pinotage? It is not easy to know. South Africa’s political history has delayed its progress in fixing some of Pinotage’s more troublesome qualities. Even the passionate folk at the Pinotage Association openly accept that there is work still to be done.
Clones play a critical role in producing quality wines. Where there is a good range of top-quality clones on offer, the producer has the best chance to choose the one with the right attributes to thrive in their unique vineyards.
Clonal selection also allows the winemaker to pick one that will work best for the style of wine he is looking to create. To put this in context, a Cabernet Sauvignon producer will have 20 or so clones to choose from, while there are only three available to the Pinotage producer.
The other issue for Pinotage enthusiasts is that there is a very important relationship between yield and quality. Pinotage is a naturally high-yielding variety but volume is not its friend, giving the wine some pretty unappealing flavours. It’s a tough economic call but there’s everything to be gained by keeping the yields low.
Vines that are grown in areas where there is extremely limited access to water and where temperatures soar are also less likely to deliver grapes that will produce tasty wines. More moderate climates and access to water will both aid successful Pinotage ripening.
The bottom line is that it is a grape variety that still needs exploring. The university in Stellenbosch is working hard to understand the optimum vine-growing conditions for Pinotage whilst development of better quality clones is also on-going.
My personal view on what I have tasted is that a more sensitive use of oak can only be a good thing. In the same way that a dense, tasteless sponge cannot be rescued with a dollop of extra-rich icing, neither can oak be used to cover up poor management in the vineyard.
It is true that I didn’t find dozens of ‘must-have’ wines in my three days of tastings but I did taste a small selection of wines that I very much enjoyed. There were deliciously intense, soft and generous blackberry and plum fruited examples, whilst a small number of winemakers had delivered more fragrant, lighter-bodied wines that were also charming.
I thought one of the most exciting prospects for Pinotage was as a partner to Syrah in some really very good blended wines. There were only a very small number of these wines entered into the awards but I know that one or two of them scored my most favourable scores over the three days.
My greatest frustration is that Veritas will not tell the judges what wines they have tasted. So, while I know that out of the 200 odd wines I tasted, I (personally) found four wines that I considered to be exceedingly good indeed (scoring 17/20), sadly I cannot tell you what they were.
Instead I have had to come home and do a quick tasting of yet more Pinotage at home to pick out a modest selection of wines for you to try.
One of the regions I visited on my week-long, whirlwind tour was Swartland, which particularly impressed. Many of the wines were well-made, good-quality and just very user-friendly. The Swartland Winery Pinotage 2007 is available from Majestic (www.majestic.co.uk) for £4.99 a bottle (£3.99 if you buy two). It is an easy-drinking, soft, lively wine.
The Kaapzicht winery is based outside Stellenbosch and the winemaker, Danie Steytler has firmly grasped that idea that the best Pinotage comes from low-yielding, healthy older vines. His 2004 Kaapzicht Pinotage is at the steeper end of the price scale at £9.80 a bottle but in this case you do get what you pay for and it’s a charming blend of medium-bodied blueberry fruits and hints of oak.
Sitting somewhere in the middle in terms of price is Bon Cap’s Ruins Organic Pinotage 2007 which I have known about and liked for a several years now. It’s at the lighter, more fragrant end of the Pinotage scale and that is probably why I like it so much. It is keenly priced at £7.25 at Bennetts Fine Wines.
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