The wonders of science are that DNA may play a critical part in who we are, but it also has the ability to twist the logic just when you thought you had it nailed.
Think of two parents who can produce four children who look nothing like each other – and another set who can produce the same number all coming out of a mould.
Abraham Izak Perold crossed hermitage and pinot noir in the 1920s to create South Africa’s own varietal pinotage, eventually planting four vines in his Stellenbosch garden.
The irony is that apparently scientists have tried for decades since then to reproduce Perold’s creation, only to fail.
It was actually Chris Theron who took the pinotage experiment to the next level and planted it commercially in the 1940s in the Bellevue, Kanonkop, Meerendal and Uiterwyk vineyards that led to the first commercially produced pinotage harvest in 1959. A step back, according to the Pinotage Association, is that Elsenburg lecturer Charl de Waal produced the first pinotage in the Welgevallen experimentation cellar in 1941 but it was never commercially bottled.
It is enough, however, to acknowledge that this year South Africa proudly waves the flag for 70 years of pinotage, even if it was another half-generation before our wine appeared on local shelves – and maybe not worth discussing the number of years before it became something for which the international community was prepared to put down their hard-earned pounds or dollars.
Despite that, it is worth raising awareness of some award-winning and laudable pinotages.
The recent Pinotage 2011 Young Wine Tasting reflected that this year’s pinotages were still a work in progress, but that a characteristic emerging was juicy fruits and soft tannins – essentially a vintage that can be drunk now rather than held in reverence for years while the world falls apart around you.
Pinotage Association vice-chairman De Wet Viljoen praised the winemakers for managing the heat that prevailed for the season’s harvest; understanding their vineyards and treating their grapes in the cellar. His comment was that the wines, although young and thus works in progress, were already showing character, vibrancy and structure – and of course, great varietal characteristics.
In that vein, what noteworthy pinotages have recently come to the shelves?
Rhebokskloof has released its Estate Pinotage 2010 (cellar price: R67) in a vintage in which 60 percent of the wine was matured in new French oak barrels and the balance in second-fill barrels (meaning another wine was matured in the barrels before this one).
Winemaker Rolanie Lotz believes the wine with its dark cherry flavours offers a sound match to red meat or game.
In terms of vegetables, the wine works with aubergine, wild mushrooms and dark, leafy greens.
This year’s Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show saw the Rijk’s Pinotage 2007 claim the trophy for the best pinotage.
Not having tasted this vintage, personal comments on the pinotage 2006 (R130) are that when pinotage is a passion, this wine is heaven on earth.
There are few doubts that the 2007 will not follow suit.
Stellenzicht winemaker Guy Webber received a gold medal at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards for the Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Pinotage 2008 (R82). Webber as an avowed pinotage lover believes that in making elegance in wine, treating good grapes well produces an excellent wine.
Last, but not least, would be a cult wine typically in the bracket of people for whom quality rather than quantity plays a significant role. There were only 1 200 bottles produced of the Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage 2008 (R1 100) where the wines were made exclusively from a small patch of pinotage vines planted in 1953.
Kanonkop cellarmaster Abrie Beeslaar, also named the International Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in 2008, said that vintage was a spectacular pinotage year.
The Black Label vines may be nearly 60 years old but produced a worthy wine for serious collectors, particularly given their expected ability to age another 20 years. - The Mercury