A Taste of South Africa

Once again I found myself in wine country -- this time in South Africa.

I figured it was a good opportunity to compare and contrast South African wines and Argentinean wines so I spent a day tasting. (See my Mendoza blog: http://bothsidesnowblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/when-in-argentina.html)

The day of wine tasting began with a winery tour. (Best to get that out of the way before tasting too many wines!) There we learned that South African wineries only use French or American oak to make their wine barrels. Although oak trees grow in South Africa, the oak trees here grow too quickly and therefore, the wood is too porous to hold the wine.

The hot summers in South Africa mean more sugar in the grapes. More sugar means higher alcohol content after fermentation. In general, South African wines have less acid and more of a fruity taste than wines from Europe.

We learned about the differences in the grapes used to make different varietals. An expert can look at these vines and know which grape is which, for me, the signs were very helpful!

While I enjoyed learning about wines generally, I found Pinotage to be the most interesting.The pinotage grape is a combination of the Pinot Noir and Hermitage grape vines. Pinotage was first bred in Stellenbosch (the town I was in) at Stellenbosch University in 1925. (However, the first Pinotage wine was not made until 1941.) This makes Pinotage the only truly South African wine.

Some South African winemakers won’t grow Pinotage. It is considered a “new world” grape (it didn’t originate in Europe) and many vintners think South African wines should reflect European influences and flavors rather than uniquely South African ones. I think the wine is quite tasty and support the wineries who produce it!

While visiting the Beyerskloof winery, we learned that their Pinotage is the best selling Pinotage in South Africa.

Beyerskloof produces a million bottles each year and exports to Europe and North America (among other places). Pick up a bottle for your own taste of South Africa!

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