Spice Route Pinotage

Country: South Africa  Region: Swartland 

Varietal: Pinotage Vintage: 2022

Category: Red Wine  Style: Dry  

Producer: Spice Route Winemaker: Charl du Plessis

"Charles Back was a pioneer in the Swartland when he started Spice Route in 1998. “Without [Charles]…the Swartland would still be regarded as a rural backwater” wrote Tim Atkin. Today, the region is the source of many of South Africa’s outstanding wines, yet Spice Route remains one of the best and most credible producers in the region, due largely to the fact that they own their own vineyards. Spice Route’s 100 hectares of vineyards are situated in Malmesbury and Darling. The former, all bush trained on Malmesbury shale and red clay subsoils (the clay ensures the vineyards are dry grown), give the Grenache and Mourvèdre the intensity of fruit that makes this region so exciting.

Vineyards:
This wine is made from a single bushvine vineyard on our farm, Klein Amoskuil in Malmesbury. These un-irrigated bushvines were planted in 1997 on Koffieklip soil.

Vinification:
The bunches were fermented in five ton open concrete fermenters with manual punch-down of the skins twice a day, extracting deep colour and flavour. The wine was pressed off and transferred to tight-grain American oak barrels for malolactic fermentation, of which half were seasoned barrels. The wine matured for 11 months before bottling.

Tasting Notes:
Intense ruby red colour. Rich blackcurrant and cherries on the nose. Intense dark fruit flavours on the palate that combine well with sweet vanilla oak aromas.

Food Suggestion: Indian spicy dishes or a well matured steak.