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Babich
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Gimblett Road, Hawkes Bay
New Zealand
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One of New Zealand’s oldest family owned wineries
since 1916.
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1999Very dark dense black colour, slightly spiced nose. Warm sweet fruit, bit closed, medium and not overly expressive. It could be going into a closed phase but I think I'll drink up soon
1999 Winemakers Reserve - Winner of the International Pinotage tasting in Feb 2001 - my notes read "dark purple with sweet nose application a clean refreshing taste, enjoyable and lively, my favourite" (PFM 02/01)
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Babbling Brook
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Cape
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Own label of SA retailers Makro
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tasting reports welcomed
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Backsberg Estate
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Paarl
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An innovative progressive winery quietly making excellent wine under the direction of owner Michael Back.
A new visitor facility overlooks the brandy still, and visitors can wander through maturation cellars.
Excellent Pinotage is made here and visitors should check for wines not available elsewhere, including old vintages at low prices to account for ullage and varietals, such as Malbec made in small quantities.
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2000 - Purple colour, very soft but with good tannins. Peppery, earthy, mellow strawberries, lingering aftertaste, not as complex as the 95, might be worth keeping a while.(PFM 09/2002)
1997 - Rich ruby-mulberry colour.
Very high-toned, estery, acetone "paintbox" nose, with healthy secondary
amounts of red plum and cassis. Leathery black table grapes immediately
take over on the palate and are followed by refreshing acidity along with
a dominant black elderberry flavour -- the first such occurrence for me in
a Pinotage. The tannins are well in the background, and the finish tends
more towards black elderberry with a touch of oak instead of the
traditional leatheriness. A lovely Pinotage indeed. (Paul Bulas, Canada 01/01)
1995 - Medium bodied, with an abundance of firm tannins and overlays of smoky wood aromas and flavors, this polished wine has plenty of berry, cassis, black cherries and even a hint of mint to add to its charms. Drink now or in the next few years. Score 87. (Daniel Rogov 7/99)
1991 - dark red, with dry tannins, medium to full bodied and a tang of eucalyptus. This is a very satisfying drink with a long finish and dry end. (PFM 09/2002)
1981 - Bright, transparently clear and very, very soft drinking with tastes of stewed fruits, rhubarb, plums and cloves (PFM 09/2002)
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Badsberg
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Worcester
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tasting reports welcomed
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Bantry Bay
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Cape and Paarl
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Labels of US distributer Four Quarters
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Tasting reports welcomed
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Baobab
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Worcester
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Own label of US importer GlobalVineyard. Sourced from winemaker Johan Morkel at the Aans de Doorns co-operative in Worcester.
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tasting reports welcomed
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Barkan
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Israel
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Israel's first Pinotage was released in March 2004
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2001- Bright garnet with purple rim. Soft dusty mulberry fruits with silky mid-palate, elegantly balanced with gentle tannins, medium bodied and medium long finish. A delicious delightful sophisticated wine. (PFM 05/04)
"Judea Reserve, 2001 - The first Pinotage released in Israel, not only a rousing success in its own right but perhaps the very best wines ever from Barkan. Deep garnet, medium- to full-bodied, with generous but soft and well integrated tannins, and very appealing plum, black cherry, currant and oak aromas and flavors, those playing nicely on the palate to reveal hints of smoked meat and sweet herbs. Soft, spicy and delicious, the wine is drinking very nicely now and should cellar comfortably until 2006-2007. NIS 80. Score 91. (*) (Tasted 10, 13 and 14 Mar 2004 with consistent notes For the record, the first tasting was at the release event held on 10 March and thus not blind, the second and third in my own tasting room, the first tasting with a flight of South African Pinotage wines, the second with a mixed flight of New World reds of 2001.)" Daniel Rogov
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Bay View
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Stellenbosch
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Label of Longridge Estate
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Good colour, plum nose, enjoyable quaffing
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Baynsvalley
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Wellington
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Label of Bovlei co-operative used in Belgium
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see Bovlei
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Beaumont Wines
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Walker Bay
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Wines are crafted by Niels Verburg in Bot River from 5 hectares of 25-35 year old vines. The farm dates from 1700 when it was a Dutch East Indies outpost.
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1998 - deep colour - this is ripe plum flavours and very mouthfilling, a wonderful wine. There is a lot of sediment. This has really opened out since I tasted in in January. Its great now, but I think another year and it will be even better (P May July 2000)
1998 - closed tannic, needs 2-3 years according to Niels
1999 - fresh, soft, lively, approachable. Very drinkable
2000 - tasted from fermentation tank - good pinotage nose
P May Feb 2000
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Bellevue Estate
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Stellenbosch
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Pinotage vines in Bellevue are some of the oldest anywhere, and they were used to produce the worlds first commercial Pinotage bottled under the Lanzerac label. Dirkie Morkel makes classic wine from these knarled old vines.
Winery is starting to use Morkell brand name as Bellevue couldn't be registered in Europe.
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2000
Deep red colour with well integrated tannins. This is a far more complex wine and would work better at this stage in its life with food. There is a hint of eucalyptus on the nose and nice mixed red/black fruit flavours. Other tasting notes suggested this was a controversial "new age" wine but that was not the opinion of the group. Good value for money. (Keiran Molloy 12/04)
2001 P K Morkell (Premium label) - Rich ruby colour, alcohol nose, stewed black fruits, spice and pepper, long warming aftertaste. I think this needs a few years to give its best.
2001 - Delicious plum fruits with well integrated tannin giving structure and pleasant long lingering aftertaste. Matured in 10% 2nd fill French, rest American, oak barrels. 13.5%. (PFM 02/2003)
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Bellingham
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Franschoek
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Bellingham have won many awards for their pinotage.
The Pinotage Club have been unsuccessful
in tasting pinotage at the winery - for two consecutive years we
were told they had sold it all to the UK supermarket chain, Sainsbury,
but we now have managed to purchase some Bellingham pinotage.
Dakota Importers
US web-site has an interesting history of Bellingham.
The 1997 Bellingham Spitz was a winner in the
Top 10 Pinotage competition 1998 and finalist in 2000.
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1999 Spitz - pale red colour, lightweight, pleasant quaffing wine (tasted May 2001 IWSC)
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Benguela Current
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Cape
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Label of Berg & Brooks
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tasting reports welcomed
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Berg & Brook
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Paarl
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Fast expanding winery consortium and major exporter.
It's labels include the excellent Savanha range (the 96 won
our Pinotage of the Year '97) and Benguela.
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tasting notes welcomed
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Bergendal
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Cape
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tasting reports welcomed
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Bergheim
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Cape
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Garagiste wine made by Edwin Jordaan at the Cellar on Main in Paarl
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2001 - light bodied with some tannins and a long finish
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Bergheuvel
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Cape
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Brand available in Netherlands, maybe an own label.
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tasting reports welcomed
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Bergsig Estate
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Breede River
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AS well as a red Pinotage, Bergsig make a semi-sweet 'Blanc de Noirs' version.
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tasting notes welcomed
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Bernheim 'Philips Red'
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Paarl
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Wines are crushed, fermented and matured made in HDP (high density polythene) tanks. With 2002 vintage made from own grapes, previous vintages from bought in.
Name comes from friend Phillip that kept demanding they plant Pinotage
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2002 Tank Sample - Banana nose, fruit hidden by wood, will soften (2/2002 PFM)
2000Bright purple, very soft smooth, bananas and plums. Good quaffing.(2/2002 PFM)
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Beyerskloof
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Stellenbosch
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Major pinotage brand owned by the Kanonkop team. The winery is surrounded by vines but to meet demand most of the grapes are sources elsewhere. The winemaker Beyers Truter, the
king of pinotage.
2003 saw the introduction of a Reserve wine with a black label. This has more wood aging and I think it is what used to be sold under the Bouland label which has now been discontinued.
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Beyerskloof Reserve 2002 - is very soft on the front palate with a sweet body which is later followed by a tannin structure, very moreish.(PFM 10/03)
Beyerskloof Reserve 2001
- very dark purple/red, closed at first but slowly opening to disclose a sweetly voluptuous berry bramble flavours and a long warming finish. (PFM 01/04)
Beyerskloof Reserve 2000 - Dark red/black staining the glass, soft up front raspberry flavours with underlying tannins. (PFM 05/03)
2001 - Its Beyerskloof, but not as we know it. It's Beyers first Pink Pinotage, but being Beyers it very dark, I've seen lighter Pinot Noirs. This barrel sample was rather sweet with a medium aftertaste. Beyers intends the finished wine, due for release in time for SA's summer, would be drier.
2000 - Dark ruby-garnet with pink edges. Briney, leathery nose, with notes of tart papaya, sour plums, fragrant oak and tropical fruits; hints of bramble emerge with swirling. Assertive, well-placed acidity on the entry with a tart mouthfeel held together by grippy tannin. Tart leather and plums on the midpalate, progressing to a pleasant, appropriately bitter finish. Leathery black table grapes round out the finish.
2000 - While I am a fan of Pinotage and have enjoyed nearly every one I've tried, the 2000 Beyerskloof does seem to be a bit light in terms of midpalate concentration. Perhaps this is due to the vintage (the tart acidity leads me to infer this), but I'm not entirely certain. Still, it's great quaffing Pinotage, and it does have some good structure down the middle as well. (Paul B. Ontario August 2001)
2000 -Dark ruby-garnet with pink edges. Briney, leathery nose, with notes of tart papaya, sour plums, fragrant oak and tropical fruits; hints of bramble emerge with swirling. Assertive, well-placed acidity on the entry with a tart mouthfeel held together by grippy tannin. Tart leather and plums on the midpalate, progressing to a pleasant, appropriately bitter finish. Leathery black table grapes round out the finish. (Paul B. Ontario Feb 2002)
1997 - Medium to full bodied, complex, concentrated and deep, with layer after layer of flavors (look especially for overlays of sweet herbs) that continue to open on the palate, this wine has a simultaneously soft and spicy character that cannot help but delight. Oaky, berry and earthy notes and a marvelously deep color make this a stylish, delicious and well balanced wine. (Notes consistent with those of an earlier tasting). Score 92. (Daniel Rogov July 1999)
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Beyers Truter
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Stellenbosch
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Beyers Truter's signature appears on this classy black label, which
is an 'own label' of British supermarket chain Tesco. The contents are Beyerskloof and Tescos insisted it be closed with an artificial cork
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Fresh bright fruity pinotage, easy to drink with no rough edges,
berry flavour.
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Bianco
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Tulbagh
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Winemaker/owner Toni (Antonio) Bianco puts the family name on this wine made on his De Heuvel estate. Four hectares of Pinotage vines were planted in 1996 on low trellisses due to the rough terrain.
A special bottling for a customer uses this rhubarb and custard coloured plain label
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2002 - Barrel Sample pre-fining - dark black, intense flavours, great potential
2000 - this is the initial vintage from four year old vines. Light red in colour, restrained fruity plum/strawberry flavour with soft integrated tannins.
2001 Rhubarb/custard label Good dark red/black colour, light nose, hints of banana and acid drops. A warm serious wine, good tannins, but very heavy. Need time to settle and bring out fruit, its a monster of a wine. Amazingly it has seen no wood.(2/2002 PFM)
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Birdfield
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Western Cape
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Label of Klawer Wine Cellar
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tasting reports welcomed
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Blaauwklippen
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Stellenbosch
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There has been so much rebuilding at Blaauklippen that I couldn't recognise it when I visited
in 2003. Theres a good restaurant with open kitchen and wood fired pizza oven and welcoming staff, large deli shop and impressive tasting room.(tasting fee)
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2001 - Purple colour, alcoholic estery smell, sour and lacking fruit. I think this wine is off, maybe been open too long, and I suggest this to the lady at the tasting counter and ask her to taste it herself. After doing so she says its OK; "our Pinotage is like that - its young." I hope she's wrong because its horrible. Coastal Region, 13%alc, 48R (PFM 02/2003)
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Bodega
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Paarl
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Export brand of Beaconsfield
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tasting notes welcomed
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Boland Wine Cellar
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Paarl
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1999 - Bright red colour, approachable bouquest but seems a little closed, with cherry and spice showing through; long aftertaste. Good
14% alc (PFM 10/02)
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Bon Cap
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Eilanda
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Bon Cap vineyard gained full organic certification 2002. With 42 ha of vineyards it is the largest privately owned organic winery in South Africa and exports to 9 countries
2004 saw the introduction of a label redesign and a new second organic easy drinking label - Ruins.
See our article on Bon Cap in the May 2004 newsletter.
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2003 - Garnet colour with a purple rim, fuller bodied than the Ruins with plump rounded fruits-of-the-forest flavours woven with structured tannins and a lingering dry finish. 13.5% alc (tasted prior to release, 3 weeks after bottling PFM 3/2004)
2003 - The Ruins Bright purple colour, light bodied with fruity raspberry flavours and a tannic finish.13.5% alc. (tasted prior to release, 3 weeks after bottling PFM 3/2004)
2002 - Bright purple colour, juicy bright tones, medium tannin grip on aftertaste. Good (PFM 10/02)
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Boplaas
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Calitzdorp
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1999 - They grew the grapes and matured them 6 months in French Oak. Because of the hot temperatures its made light for early drinking. Bright red colour, closed flavours with underlying bitterness. (tasted May 2001 IWSC by PFM)
95 Pinotage, good colour, fruit varietal flavour, underlying firmness.
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Botha Co-operative
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Breede River
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tasting notes welcomed
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Bottelary Winery
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Stellenbosch
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Supply Vinefruco brands
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tasting notes welcomed
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Boundary Valley
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Paarl
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Label of Cape Wine Cellars
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Bouwland
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Stellenbosch
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A new winery from the Kanonkop team
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tasting notes welcomed
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Bovlei Winery
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Wellington
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Co-operative operation in Wellington
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94 Pinotage, fruity, fine dark colour, refreshing
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Bredell Wines
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Helderberg
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Only red wine is made at this farm which has been in the Bredell family
for several generations, and they are the worlds largest producer of 'port'
wine.
The Pinotage comes from twenty year old bush wines; much is sold to KWV but Bredell are planning increasing their own bottling from 70K bottles in 2003 to 300K over the next four years.
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1999 - Red rimmed, deep black body, soft plummy fruits, sweet tannins, structure about as good as it can be, and long long aftertaste. Excellent (PFM 02/2003)
1996 Plum colour. On the
nose there is vanilla, bananas, and
fruit. The nose follows through onto the palate. On the palate there is
banana, fruit, and vanilla. The tannins are not hard. There is good
balance between fruit, acid and tannin. It was oaked for 14 months in
American oak. It was a wonderful wine. (Jane Mort - 9/98)
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Broken Stone
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Simonsberg
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Second label of Slaley Cellars, releasing their first Pinotage in 1999 from the 1997
vintage. Their Pinotage vineyards are situated next to Kanonkop on the farm Slaley (45 year old bushvines) and on the Southwestern slopes of Simonsberg on the farm Ernita (4 year old trelissed vines). They don't buy any grapes in. (A 1998 Pinotage under the
Slaley Cellars label will be released later in 1999)
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tasting notes invited
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Bushmans Creek
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Cape
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This a personal venture of winemaker Kosie Moller, called "Mr Mystery who cannot be named" on the back labels of the first vintage.
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1999 - Red colour with a white rim, medium bodied warm, middle of the road pleasant drinking wine, no rough edges, no esters, no bitterness, but rather lacking in character.
14% alc (PFM 10/02)
1998 - It doesn't taste like its spent 18 months in new oak. Its a delicate wine made in a lighter style. Kosie says future offerings will change in style. (tasted May 2001 IWSC by PFM)
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