A Surprising Pinotage Rose

Pinotage can produce some fantastic wines, but it also produces an awful lot of poor wine, now this isn’t all down to the grape itself, but it’s also down to the winemaking techniques used. Grown in South Africa, where it has become their signature grape, it is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault and was developed in 1925 by Abraham Izak Perold, the first Professor of Viticulture at Stellenbosch University.

I’d never seen a Pinotage Rose before, until a friend brought round a bottle of Kumala Eternal, Western Cape, Pinotage Rose 2011, since tasting this one i found several others that are available. I’m not the biggest fan of Kumala Wines having drank some very poor wines from them, many years ago, but in the interest of fairness, I thought I should give it a try!

In the glass you got a bright, strawberry red colour without looking artificial. On the nose you had quite pronounced fruit aromas of Water Melons and Strawberry’s, you got these coming through on the palate with the pronounced Water Melon really hitting your taste buds. Combine these juicy/fruity flavours with a serious amount of acidity, and they work brilliantly! The acidity really makes your mouth water and making it a very refreshing drink; don’t get me wrong, this is most definitely not a great wine, but it is a good one for what it is.

Would i recommend, if your looking for a fruity rose to chill for a hot summer day in the garden then this is definitely worth giving a thought too, great fruit loads of acidity to cut through the fruit, but if your looking for some thing with a bit of complexity and structure, then stay well away from it.

Charming, charismatic, cool: Callooh Callay

I don’t usually blog about bars, but I’m making an exception, for a fantastic cocktail club I had the pleasure of going to at the weekend: Callooh Callay. Based in the heart of all that is trendy and cool, Shoreditch, when you first enter the bar, it seems kind of normal, and kind of small. However, when you book a table in advance – that’s when it becomes kind of special.

In the corner stands what looks like, a big old fashioned wardrobe. On closer inspection however, you discover it’s a door, which leads you another bar, giving you a feeling like you’ve just entered Narnia. The bar was, for want of a better word, amazing! There were baths that had been cut in half and turned into seats and other eclectic furniture. Even better, then there is yet another smaller, even further hidden, totally exclusive bar upstairs.  Thankfully, it didn’t turn out to be style over substance; the menu was phenomenal, it had all the usual cocktails you’d expect, with many more that you’d never heard of.

We started with a glass of Ruinart Rose, a stunning Champagne. Founded in 1729, the House of Ruinart is reputedly the oldest Champagne house. Originally created by the Benedictine Monk Dom Thierry Ruinart, he did so in response to the enthusiasm of the aristocratic royal circles for the tipple. The business was then taken over and developed by his brother and nephew, both of whom were called Nicolas, who moved the family business away from the cloth trade in 1735, to solely focus on the Champagne business.

It had wonderfully youthful aromas of Strawberries, Raspberries and Red Currants; you got all these on the palate with a great level of acidity and wonderfully fine bubbles. A blend of 45% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs and 55% Pinot Noir from Montagne de Reims, it has a bright Salmon Pink colour, which was a little bit difficult to tell in the club, but didn’t take away from the wonderful taste. Even the bottle screamed class and individuality, instead of a traditional Champagne bottle; it was a shorter, dumpy bottle adding to the overall allure of it.

Is this a Champagne that I’d recommend? Absolutely! It was beautifully balanced with wonderful flavours that I could have kept drinking all night long and I definitely will be next time I go!

A Great Rose from California

Organic wine can be a bit of a misnomer, is their really such a thing? Many people will say, it says organic on the label so therefore it must be, but how carefully do they read the label. If they did they would see that usually in very small print, it will state that its wine made from organically grown grapes, not actually an organic wine. For it truly to be 100% organic would require the use of no chemicals at all, which reduces it shelf life considerably, due to winemakers inability to use sulphur to preserve it.

I had the fortune to be sent a bottle of Rose from the Bonterra winery in Mendocino County, California to review for the blog. I’d seen this brand around for many years on supermarket shelves, although not so much these days, but I’d never had the opportunity to taste them and this seemed the perfect opportunity.

The blend used for their Rose is that of Sangiovese, Zinfandel and Grenache which makes for an interesting drink. On pouring the wine, you had a bright Salmon pink colour with aromas of Strawberries, Raspberries, red Cherries and Elderflowers. You got all of these aromas on the palate, with a touch of peppery spice coming through in the background. To go along with these wonderful fruit flavours you got a good level of acidity, which made your mouth water, putting all these together you got a well balanced wine that worked so well.

Would i recommend this wine? Well chilled on a hot sunny day, this would be perfect for a lunch time drink that all will enjoy!

Currently this wine is available as a Valentines gift set from Tesco’s with two bars of Green and Blacks chocolate.

Sainsbury's English Sparkling Rose

As I’ve already mentioned I decided to treat us to a bottle of English Sparkling this week, which was Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference English Sparkling Rose, produced by Chapel Down in Tenterden Kent. It’s made from Pinot Noir, Reichensteiner and Rivaner and has been made traditionally by secondary fermentation in the bottle for 18 months.

When pouring the wine I was surprised as it looked more like a white than a rose, however once the glass had started to fill up you could see a very pale salmon colour coming through. On the nose it had wonderful aromas of Strawberries, Rosehips and bready characteristics you would expect from being bottle fermented. And again these flavours came flooding through on the taste, with a delightful fine mousse that was extremely long lasting. The acidity, sweetness and flavours were all in balance with one another resulting in a wonderfully refreshing wine.

This is a wonderful example of how good English sparkling can be, and I can highly recommend it to any one, especially as an alternative to Champagne.