WTF is Pinotage? (And WTF is Coffee Pinotage? South Africa’s signature wine)

Show Notes

Episode 111: WTF is Pinotage?   00:00

Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair! 

Ok, a quick orientation for those of you who may be new to the podcast - in each episode we learn about, taste and give our honest review of three wines that are reasonably priced - meaning under $20 each -  and should be easy for you to find. And our podcast is made for people who want to learn more about wine, find new wines to enjoy, and just want someone to talk about wine in a fun way that regular people can understand. So, if that sounds like you, you are in the right place! And we are proud to say that we are recommended by the editors of Decanter Magazine who call us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining

Carmela, today we are doing something that I personally love to do, and that is respond to requests from our listeners. A few weeks ago, a listener named Carol reached out and said that she had not heard us discuss Pinotage and wondered if we would consider doing a WTF is Pinotage episode. And we said Hell Yeah! 

So thank you Carol for the question, and for the opportunity to try Pinotage because I don’t know that I have ever had it before. And this is the perfect kind of wine to do a WTF episode on because it is certainly not a varietal that you run into everyday, but is one that you definitely see, and one of those that you, like us, are probably super curious about and want to know if it should become part of your repertoire.

So, we are going to talk in a few minutes about what exactly the F Pinotage is, but before we do that, I did want to also spend a few minutes talking about the South African wine industry because Pinotage is the signature wine grape and varietal from South Africa - in fact it was invented there - and South Africa is probably a bigger wine growing region than most of us realize. 

This may surprise some people, but according to Wikipedia, which is never wrong by the way, South Africa is the eighth largest wine producer in the world and the sixth largest exporter of wine in the world. South Africa is reported to make about 1.1 billion liters of wine a year, or about 300 million gallons. That’s a lot of wine. 

Most of the wine produced in South Africa comes from the Cape Region. Now, I am not an expert on South African geography by any stretch of the imagination, but the Cape Region is the most southern part of South Africa, and is a suitable place for wine growing because while it is warm, the water and the mountains cool the temperatures a bit. 

And, South Africa has been making wine for a long time - since the 1600’s when the Dutch brought wine cultivation to the region. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Dutch in South Africa also brought with it a lot of other not so great things that came with colonization including the horror of slavery and the scourge of Apartheid which we would be remiss to not mention. 

During most of its history in South Africa, the wine industry was, like all other industries, very restrictive in terms of who could own land and wineries - which was not the original inhabitants of the land -  and how workers that were not white were treated. I have a great article in our show notes from a website called This Day in Wine History where they cover this subject. 

When Apartheid ended in South Africa, two very good things happened for the wine industry there. First, there were reforms that opened up South African wines to the rest of the world, and Fair Trade Certifications in vineyards there brought changes like ensuring that at least 25 percent ownership of vineyards was by farm workers, better wages, and worker involvement in the operations and management of the vineyards. And when they say workers, we should all understand that to mean the black people of South Africa. It was not really until after Apartheid ended that South African wines could even be found outside of the country.

Now, I mentioned that Pinotage is sort of the signature grape of South Africa, but their most planted and most popular grape is Chenin Blanc which we have covered in several episodes, as recently as Episode 97 which is about wines that go with Thai Food -  and we reviewed and liked a South African Chenin Blanc. But they grow a ton of different wines, from Bordeaux blends, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, as well as Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay. 

Like many well-known wine regions, the South Africans have specific designations for wine regions, called Wines of Origins or WO in South Africa, and there are about 60 of them, and those help to ensure that the wines are of higher quality and consistency. 

One thing listeners of our podcast should know is that South African wines continue to grow in both popularity and quality, and that many wine experts, like Jancis Robinson, consider it to be a good bargain. So, we say get it while it’s still cheap. 

And on that note, I think it’s time we learn more about just what the F Pinotage is and if it is a wine that should be on your list to try, and we have three South African Pinotages we are going to taste and review  . . .

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

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And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should tell about The Wine Pair Podcast. This week, we want you to tell anyone who thinks that they only make good wine in California or Europe, because it ain’t true!


ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_wine 
• https://www.wineenthusiast.com/region/south-africa/
• https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/dutch-colonization-wreaked-havoc-from-asia-to-africa/1075570#:~:text=First%20colonizer%20of%20South%20Africa&text=The%20Dutch%20increased%20its%20activities,which%20reached%2016%2C000%20in%201795. 
• https://thisdayinwinehistory.com/south-africa-wine-industry-before-and-after-apartheid/ 
• https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/what-i-learnt-about-south-african-wine 

Topic: WTF is Pinotage?!? 10:19

So, let’s learn a little more about Pinotage, which as I mentioned earlier, is a wine that was invented in South Africa. Now, many of the wines we drink today are clones or hybrids or derivatives of different wines, and Pinotage is one of those.

Pinotage was first cultivated in South Africa around 1925, so nearly 100 years ago, as a hybrid of Pinot Noir and Cinsault (San - So). Although it was initially grown about that time, it was not bottled as a wine until about 1941. In fact, Pinotage was almost never a wine at all. The professor who initially started messing around with the blend left the university where he started the seedlings, and when they went to clean up his offices, they nearly threw out the few plants that existed. 

Now, you may be wondering where the name Pinotage came from if these are the two grapes they combined. Well, the Pinot part is easy to figure out, but actually the South African name for the grape Cinsault (San-So) is Hermitage, and so Pinotage takes the first part of its name from Pinot Noir and the last part of its name from Hermitage, and so we are left with -  Pinotage.

Now, you may be wondering what this wine is supposed to taste like, and if it has the bright cherry and subtle flavors or a Pinot Noir. And you would be kind of wrong. Pinotage is supposed to have a flavor all its own. Where a Pinot Noir will have raspberry, cherry, mushroom, vanilla, and flower flavors and smells, Cinsault (San-So), which is mostly a blending grape used often in in Rhône blends and rosés from Provence, has flavors of raspberry, red currant, tart cherry, violet, and black tea. Together, in Pinotage, they make a wine that can have flavors like black cherry, blackberry, fig, mint, game or wild meat, banana, tropical fruit, earthy, and herbs or bramble.

It also has had a reputation for having an off-putting smell of rubber or paint or band-aid, with some people saying that it smells hot and sometimes smells of rusty nails - none of which are often things you want in a wine. One of those things you would say Carmela may not be things you want to put in your body. However, the winemaking is supposed to have gotten better and those smells are not so prominent anymore. Modern winemakers are moving more towards a fruity and juicy version of the wine, with more red fruit flavors when it is made in cooler climates. 

It is also known to be a pretty tannic wine, so wine experts would say serve it at cellar temperature, or just under room temperature, and let it breathe for an hour or so to let it calm down. Because of these high tannins, Pinotage can age for many years, and after 10 or so years it can show some decent complexity. 

Pinotage is supposed to be a pretty easy wine grape to grow, which is quite different from Pinot Noir which is notoriously finicky. Although it is most widely grown in South Africa, Pinotage is grown in many countries including Canada, Germany, and New Zealand, and in the United States in wine growing areas like California, Oregon, Michigan, and Virginia.

While Pinotage is most commonly grown in South Africa, it only makes up about 6% of the total wine grapes grown. While it is often bottled as its own varietal, it is also found in what are called Cape Blends in South Africa, and there is also a Port like variety as well. Which is cool if you are into that sort of thing. 

The best Pinotage sometimes doesn’t make it out of South Africa, so I am curious to see what we think of these wines, and I would imagine that if you have the wine in South Africa, you might have a pretty good experience with it. 

Well, I think that is enough information. It feels like it’s time to start talking about the wines we are going to be tasting today and getting on with our review - because I am super interested to see what we think. 

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinotage 
• https://winefolly.com/grapes/pinotage/ 

Pinotage Wines We Chose for This Episode 16:25

As usual, all of the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $20, and all of them should be relatively easy to find because I bought them all on wine.com. I will say that Pinotage is not the easiest wine to find, but you can definitely find it if you go to larger wine shops, online retailers, and shops that specialize in new world wines. 

The first wine we are going to drink is called Fleur du Cap Pinotage, and this is from the 2018 vintage. The winery says they make this wine in the “contemporary style” which I believe will mean it is focused more on being fruity and juicy, and more effort is put into curbing some of the aspects of Pinotage that can be off putting - like smelling like a band aid.

They also claim to be environmentally friendly - although what that means is not exactly clear - and use low intervention methods. According to the winemaker, they use pump-over extraction to avoid harsh tannin. That means, to get more flavor out of the wine, they pump juice over the cap, which is the stuff that floats and stays on top of the juice as it ferments, and that means that they are not pushing the cap down. To mellow the wine, they also use natural malolactic fermentation which can make wines that are overly acidic more mellow and buttery in mouthfeel.

Before bottling, they store the wine in”second and third fill French and American oak barrels.” That means the oak is not brand new, but is not old either. Using oak that is not brand new will keep the oakiness down, and should mellow the tannins. 

The next wine we are going to drink is the 2021 Lievland Pinotage. This one is newer, as is the next one, so I wonder if the first wine, which is a 2018, will have mellowed out more. 

This wine is often made with a small amount of a blending grape, and in this case, they added in 5% Grenache. Grenache can make a wine a little bigger bodied and can also make it a bit more austere. Sometimes that description of a wine means that it is still tight or young with opportunity to open up. I think of it more as restrained, subtle, not overdone, and that needs to be savored and contemplated. 

I can’t find out a ton about this wine, but the story of Lievland Vineyards is interesting. It was founded in 1865, but was purchased in 2017 by a company called MAN Family wines after the vineyards had been dormant for about a decade. MAN Family wines started in about 2001 and seek to make very good everyday wines - wines for wine geeks is what they say. 

So, let’s move on to our last wine which is called the Barista Pinotage and is also from the 2021 vintage. Now, the Barista wines are not named that way on accident, it seems. To explain why, I will tell you a little story:
Barista is a brand developed by Bertus "Starbucks" Fourie. A Barista (of Italian origin) is someone who has an exceptional level of skill in coffee preparation and is known for his/her signature style of coffee - a term which aptly describes Bertus and the name of his wine. As a Coffee Pinotage wine, a style pioneered by Bertus over a decade ago, Barista draws out the coffee-like aromas from South Africa's signature Pinotage grape and is the creme of the Pinotage blends.

It turns out, he sort of stumbled on this somewhat coffee flavored wine by accident when he decided to ferment his wine in oak because they didn’t have enough stainless steel tanks. It is some combination of the toasted oak barrels, the strain of yeast they use, and the Pinotage grape itself. And “coffee Pinotage” is a thing, with other wineries making this style as well. According to the winemaker, it is the most controversial style of Pinotage. 

So this will be really interesting. Coffee is not a flavor I generally associate with wine, or even want to have in a wine, but coffee characteristics like mocha or cacao can come out sometimes. 

We have some really good articles that you can find in our show notes, but I think we need to just get to drinking these Pinotage wines and see what we think!


ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://bassersfinewine.com/shop/wine/reds/alternate-red/2018-fleur-du-cap-pinotage/ 
• https://mmdusa.net/portfolio/fleur-du-cap/pinotage 
• https://mmdusa.net/?ACT=59&path=pdf%2Ftech-sheet%2Ffleur-du-cap%2Fpinotage%2F2018%2Fscore&size=Letter&orientation=portrait&key=&attachment=1&compress=1&filename=fleur-du-cap-pinotage-2018.pdf&default_font= 
• https://winewizard.co.za/wine/9076-2021-Lievland-Bushvine-Pinotage 
• https://www.winespectator.com/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-call-a-wine-austere-5286 
• https://lievland.co.za/our-story/ 
• https://baristawine.co.za/barista-pinotage-2/ 
• https://www.indigowinegroup.com/portfolio/barista/news-and-accolades 
• https://admin.indigowinegroup.com/images/uploads/pdf/a-happy-accident.pdf 

Pinotage Wine Pairing Tasting and Reviews 21:57

Wine: Fleur du Cap Pinotage (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. Affiliate link)
Region: South Africa
Year: 2018
Price: $13.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 14.5%
Grapes: Pinotage
Professional Rating: WE89 

What we tasted and smelled in this Fleur du Cap Pinotage:

• On the nose: Black cherry, plum, blackberry, heat, wood, smoky, smells a little like a Cabernet Sauvignon
• In the mouth: Tangy, sour, different than it smells, sour cherry, tart raspberry, crunchy red plum, red grape skins, grapey, sharp

Food to pair with this Fleur du Cap Pinotage: Steak, red meat, grilled foods, a cookout wine, casual backyard cookout wine, burger
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Fleur du Cap Pinotage Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 6/10
• Carmela: 6/10

Wine: Lievland Pinotage (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. Affiliate link)
Region: South Africa
Year: 2021
Price: $14.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 13.5%
Grapes: 95% Pinotage, 5% Grenache

What we tasted and smelled in this Lievland Pinotage:

• On the nose: Band aid, rubber, cat pee, well-used bathroom, banana, funky, alleyway, almost no fruit  
• In the mouth: Tart red fruit, vinegary, band-aid, under-ripe raspberry, cranberry, pomegranate pith, skin, dirt, furry strawberry leaf, green strawberry, giving me a headache

Food to pair with this Lievland Pinotage: Roast, beef stew, potatoes meat and gravy

Lievland Pinotage Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 4/10
• Carmela: 4/10

Wine: Barista Pinotage (Click here  to find this wine on wine.com. Affiliate link)
Region: South Africa
Year: 2021
Price: $17.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 13%
Grapes: Pinotage
Professional Rating: D 88

What we tasted and smelled in this Barista Pinotage:

• On the nose: Intense coffee smell, black drip coffee beans, burnt coffee, black cherry, plum, rubber, box of band aids
• In the mouth: Tart, red fruit, grape juice, coffee aftertaste, creamy body, coffee ice cream, meat in the aftertaste, lingering burnt campfire smoke aftertaste, fun to taste

Food to pair with this Barista Pinotage: Grilled meats, charred pizza, charred foods, pasta puttanesca, spicy pasta


Barista Pinotage Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 5/10
• Carmela: 6/10

Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

• Carmela: Barista Pinotage
• Joe: Fleur du Cap Pinotage

Taste profiles expected from Pinotage   40:52

• General 
  • Black cherry, blackberry, fig, mint, game or wild meat, banana, tropical fruit, earthy, herbal or bramble, band-aid
• Fleur du Cap Pinotage
  • Winery: On the nose it shows ripe fruit such as plums and a hint of black currant, finishing in oak spice. Full-bodied on the palate with ripe plum and other berries standing out. The Pinotage is very well balanced with a lingering after taste.
  • WE: This is a spicy medium bodied red. Aromas of cumin and strawberry reveal in the glass. The palate shows strawberry accented by paprika and white pepper. It’s an everyday wine with good acidity, slightly green tannins and a long finish.
• Lievland Pinotage
  • Winery: A modern, elegant style of Pinotage with vibrant aromas of cherry and raspberries and a hint of cedar and vanilla from the oak maturation. The palate shows ample red fruit and a delicious savory note. Dry-farmed bushvine vineyards lends a depth and richness and add delicious complexity to this wine.
  • Wine Wizard: Crimson-edged deep cerise. Perfumed black fruit aromas. Whiffs of violets, notes of bilberry and Morello cherry. Opulent, yet restrained with plenty of nuance on the mid-palate and a pretty savoury edge to the finish.
• Barista Pinotage
  • Winery: A burst of ripe mulberry, plum and Maraschino cherry meld with nuances of vanilla and mocha on the palate. Luscious tannins make this an accessible wine ready to be enjoyed.
  • Winemaker FAQ: The flavor profile includes a burst of intense, rich coffee and chocolate aromas, with ripe nuances of banana, cranberries, cherries and plums. The aromas follow through on the palate, with aromas of vanilla and butterscotch.
  • Majestic wines: Has an intense nose of coffee, chocolate and cherry, with savoury notes on the finish.
  • D: Fresh nose of peaches and dark berries with touches of wax and violets. Ripe and approachable tannins.

Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 43:53

Ok, so, Carmela, it is just about time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast service - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.

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