2007 Neil Ellis Pinotage
February 25, 2009 by Erin Thomas
*Bottle #54: 2007 Neil Ellis Stellenbosch Pinotage
*Price Tag: $23
*Running Tab: $652
Duh du du DUH! (That was my attempted trumpet horn simulation).
Announcing the second step to my new year blog approach: Guest bloggers! This week, for the inaugural guest blogger kick off, I persuaded another industry wino to consume something other than his boss’ juice. Really twisted his arm with free wine. Please welcome N.J.
So here it is, my first guest blogging sesh and my first shot at Pinotage! Pino-wha, you might ask?
“Peeno-taj:” a successful hybridization of Pinot Noir and Cinsault. Professor A South African professor decided to play Grape God in 1925 when he cross-bred this two varieties as “Hermitage” and eventually dubbing it Pinotage. Dionysus might have been a little threatened.
No locally-bred South African varietal is more planted in their soils but the grape itself only takes up around 7% of the available vineyard area. With 60 appellations and many other varietals planted nationwide, this region of Stellenbosch takes the title for Pinotage.
Now Pinotage can sometimes be a little whiney bitch. Although it’s easy to farm and rear, major criticisms have been made about the hybrid wine to be containing volatile acids, causing there to be some funky smells coming out of the glass. And that stuff doesn’t blow off over time in the glass, it’s what you’re getting for aromas.
Why it’s a pain is because it’s entirely up to the winemakers – the fate of this seemingly simplistic varietal lies in the hands of often times equally whiney and bitchy vintners… It is the battle of the divas.
Likewise, here we are faced again with the battle of the wine reviewing divas. In all actuality, N.J. and I agreed on this wine for the most part so there was no hair pulled or nails sharpened…
Both of us being South African virgins, please don’t take advantage of us.
NJ: I was struck by the color, an inky purple reminiscent of Syrah that I hadn’t expected.
E: Although we were drinking it together, I saw a ruby, almost brick red color. I also have a stigmatism in both eyes…
E: I witnessed the wine post-decant, so I found it to have dark, ripened fruit with a tarry, inky, leather-like aroma. That soil/dirty fruit smell that I thought a region known for minerality might add to the wine was definitely present and dark fruits like black currants and some steady plum notes were mixed in.
E: I found this wine to be very well-structured, especially in comparison to Bottle #2 that we consumed following this guy. The dark fruit was more present for me, with a rich and borderline semi-sweet mouth entrance. Soft supple tannins drifted in the mid-palate pushed by waves of the same semi-sweet finish that finalized with those dry, young tannins.
E: What he said.
E: Perv.
This was a nice bottle of wine, despite it’s youth – which I’ve done some reading and found that Pinotages aren’t necessarily known for their aging capabilities so this was actually a good call.
Drink it again? Always. Drink always? Of course.
Score: 8.
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