Swartland Pinotage, 2019

If you're still not sure about Pinotage, this wine will change your mind. Hailing from Swartland in the Coastal Region of South Africa, it is ripe, spicy, rich and smoky. Dark fruit, including blackcurrant and cherries combined with sweet, sweet,  vanilla oak.  

Meet the maker: Spice Route

Region: Swartland, Coastal Region – South Africa 

Grape(s): Pinotage (100%)

14.5% ABV / 750ml / Vegetarian / Vegan

Viticulture:

This wine is made from a single block of bush vine vineyard on the Klein Amoskuil farm in Malmesbury.

The site's unirrigated bushvines were planted in 1997 on Koffieklip soils. This deep ferricrete soil is comprised of decomposed granite from the Paardeberg Mountain percolated with iron rich brown and red stones. Koffieklip soils produce elegant red wines with robust structure.

Winemaking:

The bunches were fermented in five-ton open concrete fermenters with manual punch-down of the skins twice a day, extracting deep colour and flavour.

After pressing, the wine was transferred to tight-grain American oak barrels (of which half were seasoned) for malolactic fermentation. The wine was then matured for 16 months prior to bottling.

The different parcels were racked in spring to blend the wine, which was then returned to barrel.