The remarkable is generally found in the edges. It’s also so much easier to stand out on the edges, where the competition is less slavering. The edge doesn’t mean that everyone will like what you do, but it is very likely that they will notice it.
My very first wine launch for the year was a pinotage gig. Hamilton Russell, who usually launch their new vintage chardonnay in early January, this year kicked the calendar off with the new 2004 Ashbourne, a wine that is pinotage but doesn’t use its genetics as a selling point. Presented in a handsome, heavy bottle, the label a clear allusion to France, Ashbourne presents itself as, simply, a serious wine.
Ashbourne 2001 is a wine that you could secretly show in the company of Bordeaux blends – indeed few pick it as pinotage. This makes it something of a Pyrrhic victory for the variety. At once a wonderful wine and one that does not taste like any other pinotage, it presents little for the pinotage mainstream to cling to and is difficult to harness for the greater marketing of the grape. Proprietor Anthony Hamilton Russell does not feel this is an issue, however, stating that the future of the variety is still unwritten, and that the Ashbourne “style” could well be the finer expression of the grape.
Now, finally, the next vintage is released. The 2004, to my palate, reminds me much more of pinotage, with more primary fruit. I would be surprised if this wine does as good a job of being the “fine wine without an obvious mother” that the 2001 was. Fuller fruit expression with more of pinotage’s ripe winegum notes open into a wine that is again very well-styled and age-worthy, but less mysterious. And perhaps this is a very good thing for the variety.
Towards the end of 2006, the Hermanus Round Table held its annual Pinotage Auction and did a great job of raising money for charity. Tasting through the dozens of examples, I was again struck by the preponderance of heavily extracted bombers with walls of obvious wood. These were often emblazoned with stickers, but there were two variants that I preferred. The first were wines that came from old vineyards, like the Graham Beck Old Road 2002. From vines planted in 1963, the 44-year old plant certainly did wonders for the complexity of the wine.
The next style that I liked was the more elegant and restrained, like the Tukulu 2004. No matter what the variety, the first challenge of any winemaker is to achieve pleasure in drinking, not weariness.
“Deep inky purple, it gives off concentrated aromas of dark red fruit – dried strawberries, blackberries, black cherries – spiced with white pepper and infused with smoke. The fruit grows luscious, creamy and mouth-filling but not in a big-wine, jammy way. Rather, it’s like dipping through layers of mousse, with dry tannins and nice acidity that roll to a chewy finish.”
There are so many points raised here worthy of discussion about the identity of Pinotage. Unfortunately it seems that any good wine that does not taste bitter, nail varnish etc, is damned with faint praise that although good, it doesn’t taste like Pinotage.
How about we turn things on their head and say — if a Pinotage doesn’t taste like Ashbourne ( I have not tasted the 2004 and only a pre-bottling sample of the 2001), or the wine described above, then it is not varietally like Pinotage?
I wonder why it is that Pinotage grown and made in California and New Zealand do not suffer from the defects that too many people say represent Pinotage?
The quote at the beginning is from a review in the Dallas Post of Fort Ross Pinotage from California.
Interesting comment in a news article on http://www.wine.co.za may explain change of focus in Ashbourne “An impressive flagship Ashbourne 2001 (the original Bastenburg name had to be changed) is made from 100% Pinotage from HRV’s Bastenburg vineyard. But grapes will be sourced from Southern Right’s site from the 2004 vintage.” http://www.wine.co.za/News/News.aspx?NEWSID=6363&Source=News
Peter, it’s certainly true that good pinotage wine still suffers from the general pinotage image. There’s a problem of brand here, and I think it is one that will take a while to go away. Certainly it will be faster if all pinotage was of the quality of Ashbourne!
I suspect that the pinotage grown on other shores is better off because the locals don’t have all the baggage that we carry re the variety.