We were invited to taste this year’s top 20 Pinotages this
week. These are the competition finalists and the winning Top 10 will be
announced at an awards lunch on the 15th of August in Stellenbosch The tasting
was held at the Cullinan Hotel
The tasting would be blind, and our highest scores would be
collated by the organisers. The person who selected the highest number of top
10 winners from the twenty wines will win a prize
20 glasses of Pinotage to taste. There were 161 entries
tasted, 20 of which were finalists. The judges were Neil Ellis (Convenor) François
Haasbroek, Nomonde Kubheka, François Rautenbach and Samarie Smith
Johan Schwartz, Pinotage Association Marketing Manager,
instructs us how to do the tasting and fill out the forms
instructs us how to do the tasting and fill out the forms
All in a nice quiet room
Etienne Louw, Pinotage Association committee member, was
also present
The tasting card
Samarie
Smith told us that 2016 was a difficult year for wineries; of the 2017 entries
some are too early to judge, they need to open. There is a huge variety of
styles, and some wines caused serious debate amongst the judges. Some
winemakers love oak, but some luscious fruit was attacked by oak. Dull palates
on some wines, others were rich, ripe and opulent (certainly a style we
prefer). Big is acceptable, overbearing is not. The ripeness varied from
delicate to robust. Interesting and new; musk, rose petal and honeycomb were
found on some, should they be there? Brett and
volatile acidity should be looked at. Oxidation on some wines is a
disadvantage, harsh oak tannins are bad. Complexity, good intensity, primary
fruit, balance, herbs, structure; all these points were discussed amongst the
judges. And we were told that the museum class was impressive and that one of
them one is an ambassador for Pinotage. There were fewer issues of oxidative
wines here. It is a profound, world class group
Glasses at the end of the tasting. We do not need to taste much wine for our assessments. Much of it goes into spittoons
Then when the tasting was finished and the results logged,
the wines we had tasted were revealed. Not many surprises. The list of Finalists
and Museum class Finalists can be seen on
the Pinotage Association website
Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Brut Rosé, made from Pinot noir,
Pinotage and Pinot meuniere, was provided at the end to refresh our tired
palates. It was very welcome and very much enjoyed
They had laid on a huge spread for us after the tasting.
Duck salad
Koftas
Mini sliders
Pork buns
and many more, some in bains marie. Difficult to do it all
justice
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
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