What red do you serve at the birthday dinner for an exploration geologist coming of age? What red do you serve with deconstructed roast quail served on a piece of black slate? The answer to both riddles was solved last night by the Greywacke Pinotage 2009 from Chamonix. The birthday boy being Mike Solomon and the venue Hartford House in the damp Natal Midlands that looked like the set for the filming of The Hobbit, shown below. Hartford House, where hurricanes hardly ever happen.

2009 as it is the best vintage for SA reds of all time. Pinotage, as its half the price of the comparable Cabernet or Shiraz (and one third the price of a Pinot Noir). Chamonix as it was by far the best terroir estate at the blind tasting for our Neil Pendock’s Winelands Guide 2013 last week. Greywacke as it rocks!