2013 Kanonkop, Black Label Pinotage, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Critics reviews
Platter Wine Guide, wineonaplatter.com, Oct 2015
About this WINE
Kanonkop
Kanonkop was part of the Uitkyk farm and the inheritance of the former South African Prime Minister Paul Sauer. Today the estate is owned by his grandsons and is synonymous with Pinotage. The grape, which is a crossing between Cinsault and Pinot Noir, was planted for the very first time in this farm.
Kanokop winemaker Beyers Truter is South Africa`s Pinotage king. Beyers has been known to state that, were he not married to his wife Esme, he'd be married to Pinotage. He uses fruit from mature bush vines and exposes the wine to high amounts of new oak in maturation. Beyers Truter produces wine that rival the very best in the world. For the quality, they are ridiculously good value for money.
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch is South Africa’s best-known wine region, producing a wide variety of wines from leading estates, even though it accounts for less than 20 per cent of the country’s total production. Designated wards within the wine region are Jonkershoek Valley, Simonsberg-Stellenbosch, Bottelary, Devon Valley and Papegaaiberg.
At 17,500 hectares, Stellenbosch remains the Cape's most famous and important fine wine district, thanks to its proximity to Cape Town, to the cooling influences of False Bay, its mountainous (ie Helderberg, Simonsberg), granitic topography and its centres of learning such as Elsenburg Agricultural College.
It's notable for the refinement of its Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, especially from the likes of Glenelly Estate, Keermont Vineyards Oldenburg Vineyards, Raats Family and Anwilka
Pinotage
Created by Professor Perold in 1925 by crossing Cinsault and Pinot Noir, Pinotage is South Africa's trademark black grape. It took a long time for quality orientated producers to latch on to the grape`s potential - in the 1970s it was still being grubbed up in favour of more fashionable grapes. However it is now much in demand, partly due to South Africa`s export boom of the mid 1990s, and because of the Pinotage Producers Association which as well as vigorously promoting the grape, conducted vital research into clones, vine disease and vinification methods.
There is light, soft, easy drinking Pinotage that can be excessively jammy and is made for drinking young. However the more serious examples such as those from Kanonkop are produced from 50- year old unirrigated bush vines and are increasingly matured in new French and American barriques. These are full-bodied, rich, concentrated wines that are packed with ripe, spicy, black fruits and have the ability to age with grace.
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Description
The most serious Pinotage in our tasting and probably the most serious Pinotage I have ever tasted: this has very dark, savoury fruit on the nose with notes of toasty grilled meat. It is unmistakably Pinotage, but with a certain dark power about it. With black, lush fruit on the palate, huge depth and concentration, this is a wine which will age effortlessly for decades, with plenty of crisp acidity and fine, grippy tannins to balance it all out. Very impressive, big and bold; this is one to put in the furthest reaches of the cellar and forget about for as long as you can resist it.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
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