Pinotage News -
A
Process Of Creation
Abrie Beeslaar
Prof Archer
Susan Erasmus
New Vintage Pinotage Tasting
The annual New Vintage Pinotage Tasting took place at Doornbosch in Stellenbosch onThursday 22 July. A little later in the calendar than usual due to the Soccer World Cup, itoffered fourteen wines from different viticultural areas as examples of the potential of the2010 Pinotage harvest.Member’s wines are tasted initially within each area and the wine that is considered thebest example of the area, or one that shows the best potential, is then submitted for thevintage tasting. This allows for a wide diversity of taste and style, as wines range fromcoastal, to inland areas even as far as the Orange River and does not centre on thetraditional Stellenbosch area where there is a concentration of Pinotage wines.Guest speaker, Professor Eben Archer an experienced and well respected viticulturist,analyzed some of the climatic conditions that had not made the 2010 harvest an easy one.Although his data was based on the climatic conditions in Nietvoorbij the consensus wasthat most areas had similar problems.High winds in November had been one of the factors and days of rain and lowtemperatures in October had affected the growth and size of the berries in certainvineyards. However the temperatures in December and January fluctuated less allowingfor steady growth. All these factors affect colour, size of the berry, sugar and acid levelsand flavour, making the wine maker’s job more difficult but also more challenging.Wines were tasted in flights of 4, 5 and a further 5 allowing the wine makers to describetheir wine after the tasting and for a further overall opinion to be offered after each flight.Discussion was encouraged as part of the reason behind the vintage tasting is for winemakers to share their knowledge and experience.Wineries that participated were Swartland Winery, Fairview Winery, Wildekrans WineEstate, Grootdrink Wine Cellar, Spruitdrift Cellar, Spier Wines, Kleine Zalze WineEstate, Viljoendrift Wines, Perdeberg Winery, Alvi’s Drift, L’Avenir, Simonsig WineEstate, Wellington Winery and Botha Cellar.The increasing number of women wine makers in the industry was well represented aswell as international interest from an Australian winemaker currently gaining experienceabout Pinotage in South Africa.
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