HAD a pinotage lately? Perhaps the question should be, have you ever had a pinotage? It's the Cape's homegrown variety and, despite being two years short of 100 years old, it still divides opinion, with some writers suggesting that its inventor should have strangled it at birth.
Pinotage is the love child of two grapes with which I have a love-hate relationship: Pinot Noir and Cinsault. The result is a grape that also divides opinion but it keeps drawing me back.
It's the unique difference of pinotage that makes it the ideal wine to open at a dinner party or to gift to a wine lover who may be stuck in their affair with Aussie Merlot.
The first thing that tells you the wine is different is the aroma, but anyone who has experimented with home made wines by adding banana skins (trust me, it was a thing in the 1990s) will recognise it.
Then you have the palate which can vary immensely from sugary bubblegum at the bargain end of the market to leathery, intense black fruits with spices at the quality end.
Anyway, the moral of this story is, like Marmite, you will either love it or hate it, but you won't know until you give it a go!
Radford Dale, Vinum Pinotage
This is one of the best you will find and a rare example of the true capabilities of the grape but then Radford Dale is one of the finest wineries in South Africa. Ripe, juicy black fruits with very soft tannins and a slight hint of pepper on the finish.
www.oddbins.com £14
Pinotage Rhebokskloof 2019
This is an intriguing wine, with the nose giving the opinion that it's a bit light and perhaps just a bit of fun, but the palate is complex, layered and a great partner for barbecue dishes. Autumn fruits and a hint of oak on the finish. A classy wine.
www.corneyandbarrow.com £13.50
Follow me on Twitter @gerardfinewine or Instagram @richardsonswines
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here