Franken-wine? A Pinotage from South Africa

Is it Franken-wine?

Pinotage is a hybrid grape that is mostly grown in South Africa (although Stoneboat makes a nice one in the Okanagan). It is a hybrid of Pinot Noir and Cinsault (also called Hermitage) and was developed because South Africa just doesn't have the ability to grow Pinot Noir that well, because it is so hot. This grape was the result, but I think it is more of a distinctive grape, at least from my first tasting.

Why try Pinotage? Well, it was actually a homework assignment for my WSET class - and I love this kind of homework!

Yesterday was a busy day, however, so when my wife went shopping, I asked her to pick up a bottle of South African Pinotage. There was only one kind available at the local liquor store and I don't think it was the fanciest bottle in existence.

It was a 2015 The Grinder Pinotage that cost a staggering $13.99. Would this be another Yellowtail?

In appearance, it was medium ruby and clear. On the nose, it had medium intensity and had aromas of plum, red liquorice, jam, and coffee (just like the label!). On the palate there was also black pepper, leather and tobacco, and a bit of an earthy taste. It had medium plus tannins, light body and medium plus acidity with a medium finish. 

Trying to evaluate it was not easy, even after going through the tasting. I quite liked it, despite its cheap price, as it was different and paired well to the steak and mushroom dinner we had. It seemed balanced, had OK length, had pretty good intensity, was fairly complex and as far as expressive, I don't know - I haven't had enough Pinotages to tell if it is expressive of not. It was definitely Good but I'm not sure if I would call it Very Good.  Good plus?

I would like to try another Pinotage for comparison, but when I looked on the BC Liquor Store website, there were only three listed and two were blends. I might have to make a trip to the private liquor store...

Overall, I enjoyed this one. It did have a coffee aroma, as promised by its name and label description, but it didn't overwhelm the wine. I liked the design of the label as well! My wife wasn't as thrilled with it - she said that it was OK but didn't stand out for her. However, she didn't think it was terrible - certainly no kin of Frankenstein's monster....

Pizza Wine!

I love pizza.

Really love pizza.

I remember our trip to Rome a couple years ago where we had the best pizza imaginable. It was a simple Margherita pizza with the crust, tomato sauce, basil, and a bit of cheese. It was an amazing moment!

Since then, I have had no time for crappy take out pizza from one of the many chains. No cardboard for me!

Soon after I cam back from Rome, a fellow teacher at my school, Deanne, introduced me to the Inno Bakery that had frozen, pre-made pizza dough. Defrost one of these suckers and you have enough dough for two, thin, Italian style pizzas!

It was a tiring week at work for both of us, so I decided that this was an excellent time to create a couple of tasty homemade pizzas.

One I cooked in the very cool Breville toaster oven which has an actual pizza setting and comes with a pizza pan (although I have since replaced it since I wore it out). This pizza had tomato sauce made with just tomatoes, prosciutto salami, sliced tomatoes, black olives and shredded mozzarella.

The other I cooked on a pizza stone on the BBQ. This one had the same ingredients except for pesto instead of tomato sauce (Italissama makes great pesto sauce - just like we had in the Cinque Terra!) and sundried tomatoes instead of sliced tomatoes.

I like doing both because the toaster oven takes longer than the BBQ so I can make that one, throw it in the oven, prepare the next pizza, throw it on the BBQ, and they are ready about the same time.

But what kind of wine? What kind of wine, indeed?

Well, certainly not a Bordeaux or another strong wine with lots of tannins. That just would not do for a simple dish like pizza. So I looked through my purchases from last week and found what I thought would go well, a Côtes de Rhône Villages!

This wine is grown near the Rhone River. It is made of Grenache and Syrah grapes and sometimes other grapes such as Mouvedre and Cinsault. The way it works it that the base level (still good wine!) is called Côtes de Rhône. The next level is called Côtes de Rhône Villages - the one I bought. Finally, the highest level are the ones from named villages such as Chateauneuf de Papes.

This wine was a 2013 Côtes de Rhône Villages Boutinot Les Coteaux which sold for $17.79. It had a red fruit and plummy nose and a medium intensity in colour (which means I could see through the wine but not super clearly). It tasted of red fruit like raspberries and cherries although there was a bit of black currant and some light tannins. It also had a medium finish.

And after a very hectic week, it was delicious! Sometimes that's good enough...