Day 8 — Pinotage

Another day in lockdown, sipping some stellar South African wine… The theme for Day 8? South Africa’s very own varietal: Pinotage!

It’s Friday so I’ll keep it short and sweet and let you get to your wine a little sooner. 😜 What can we look forward to when we take a sip of Pinotage?

Pinotage in your glass

Pinotage should be ruby in colour, but can vary between a medium and deep intensity.

Typically you will pick up aromas of red berries, raspberry, strawberry, red cherries (typical red fruits), black berries, black cherries, fig, menthol and even violet. If the Pinotage was aged in oak the wine could take on very pronounced oak flavours of chocolate, coffee and smoke.

On the palate, you will find that a Pinotage is fruit forward with medium-bodied wines displaying a lighter, fruity taste and full-bodied wines displaying concentrated red fruit flavours. Well-aged examples will display flavours of smoked and/or roasted meat, dried leaves and molasses.

And that is it for today’s short and sweet Pinotage 101! If you’d like to read a little more about the history of Pinotage please read an earlier article here.

Until your next bottle. Keep safe, keep healthy and live responsibly.

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