Pinotage's Sordid Past

After our last post, we received some interest and questions about Pinotage by email. Piontage is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault varieties, that was created in South Africa.

One of the things that intrigued us to make our own was the fact that it is not very well known in the US. Pinotage is beginning to gain attention in California, and our first experience with this fun varietal was right here in Amador County. I have, in fact, never tasted a South Africa Piontage, and only recently discovered that it has a kind of "sordid past!"

Peter May, from The Pinotage Club, sent me this comment, "What I find particularly exciting is that the California Pinotages that I have tasted don't exhibit the 'off' flavours found in many SA Pinotages and that have been attributed -- wrongly I think -- to the variety."

Apparently there were some early South Africa Pinotages, which had a sweet nail-varnish-like bitterness...not very appealing. It was later discovered that fermentation at too low a temperature was the cause of this problem.

I'm glad that California is helping redeem this varietal by producing some yummy, quality Pinotage wines. We find it an honorable grape.

When we're pouring our Pinotage next year, if anyone has a South African Pinotage they're willing to share, come on by and let's taste them side by side and examine the differences! That would be fun!

For more information on Pinotage, check out Peter May's Website, as well as his great article on page 4 of "Grapestalk."