That the Diesel 2010 Pinotage should trouser the Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year crown for Anri Truter comes as no surprise, as the brand has form. It is a critter wine (check out the hound on the label) so should do well in the USA, especially today as they reach for something to toast another winner: Barack Obama who is partial to Portuguese water dogs (below).
The big surprise was that it failed to place among the ABSA Top Ten Pinotages this year or indeed even pop up in the Top Twenty. But then as I was told by Anri on Saturday night “we didn’t enter it as it was just bottled.” Our favourite Pinotages tasted blind for the upcoming Neil Pendock’s Winelands Guide 2012.
- Bergsig 2010 from Breedekloof. Minerality, chocolate, fresh red berries with an elegant texture.
- Durbanville Hills Rhinofields 2011 from Durbanville. Lively fruit cinnamon spice and charry oak. Dried prunes and candied red fruit. Floral fresh notes. Pleasant sucrosity, elegant. A gourmand wine.
- Fairview Primo 2010 from Paarl. Exotic nose, elegant, sweetly fruited, floral with an underlying chalky minerality.
- Kanonkop 2010 from Stellenbosch. Intense, dense, classy, huge length, pastille style.
- Lanzerac Pionier 2009 from Stellenbosch. The perfect pinotage: intense red cherry flavours, dense and spicy.
- Lutzville 2010 from Namaqualand. A real crowd pleaser. Toasty, green banana, ripe red fruit, sweet spices. Elegant, sugary and fresh.
- Neil Ellis Vineyard Selection 2010 from Stellenbosch. Toasty oak, redcurrants and mulberries, raspberry jam and chocolate.
- Rijk’s 2008 from Tulbagh. Sweet and spicy oak, dried stone fruit
- Wellington Wines La Cave 2010 from Wellington. Complex, black plums, densely fruited
- Wildekrans Reserve 2010 from Bot River. Minty berries, black plums and candied red fruit. Superior oak management and seamless balance.
