Spice Route Pinotage

Charles Back was an early pioneer in the Swartland, founding Spice Route there in 1998 after tasting an exceptional Sauvignon Blanc and immediately buying the land on which it grew. "Without [Charles]…the Swartland would still be regarded as a rural backwater", wrote Tim Atkin MW, who awarded the winery 'Cru Bourgeois status in his South Africa Classification in 2019. Today, the Swartland is the source of many of South Africas outstanding wines, and Spice Route remains one of its best and most credible producers. This is largely because they own all their own vineyards, driven by a belief that producing exceptional wine begins in the vines. Their vineyard holdings are comprised of 100 hectares in Malmesbury and Darling. The former, all bush-trained and planted on Malmesbury shale and red clay subsoils, give the fruit grown there an intensity that makes this region so exciting.

Winemaker Charl du Plessis has worked with Charles since 2002 and knows the region intimately. Charles is keen to capture the flavours and structure of the outstanding fruit he has grown. In fact, despite the desert-like conditions of the region, the vines are never irrigated.

Pinotage,

This wine is produced from a single block of bush vineyard on the Klein Amoskuil farm in Malmesbury. These unirrigated bushvines were planted in 1997 on Koffieklip soils. This deep ferricrete soil is comprised of decomposed granite from the Paardeberg Mountain percolated with iron rich brown and red stones. Koffieklip soils produce elegant red wines with robust structure.

The bunches were fermented in 5-tonne 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 with 30% new oak used to complete malolactic fermentation and maturation. A small portion also matured in underground clay pots.

This Pinotage has an intense ruby red colour in the glass. On the nose are lifted aromas of blackcurrant and ripe cherry fruit, with subtle notes of dark spices, cedar and a trace of smoky oak. On the palate, there are intense dark fruit flavours complemented by bright acidity and framed by velvety tannins.

For the carnivore, try this with venison, burgers or if you can get them, traditional boerewors. For a less carnivorous diet, drink with grilled aubergine or spicy chana masala.

Nolan - Text from the Spotlight On The Red Wines of South Africa blog.

Spice Route wines are produced by a South African wine making legend called Charles Back. Charles is credited with bringing a multitude of Mediterranean varietals to the Western Cape and has helped drive a quality revolution throughout South Africa's wine industry. His work includes championing varieties better suited to the Cape’s warm and dry climate, lesser-known regions, earlier picking dates, soil assessments and the restoration of old vines. This impact was recognised in 2014 when Charles was presented with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by the International Wine Challenge at just 58.

Charles’ main property, Fairview, is over in the famous wine region of Paarl. In 1998, he bought an old farm to the West in the wheat growing region of Swartland, becoming a pioneer of the region as a quality viticultural area. Charles has always been forward-thinking, innovating in the vineyard, cellar, and in the local community. To the Swartland, Charles brought the same philosophy he developed at Fairview in Paarl. The philosophy is based on social commitment, sustainability, conservation. Black empowerment sits at the core of their business and they have a committee comprised of elected farm workers, who ensure equal opportunities by investing in education and training. While all its production is certified Fairtrade, Charles doesn’t advertise this, preferring to sell his wines on their quality alone.

Swartland gets its name from the Dutch, Black Land, so named after the native renosterbos (rhinoceros bush), whose foliage turns black after rain. The climate is hot and dry, the dryness means there are lower disease pressures here which massively benefits Pinotage whose fruit can be very susceptible to disease. The heat can of course be an issue for Pinotage so the vines are farmed in the bush vine system, trained as goblets, with the grapes protected from the intense sunshine by the vine canopy. These vines are also old and unirrigated, two factors which naturally control the yields. Spice Route only have a single block of Pinotage planted so they can easily keep an eye on the vines and more readily provide them with the attention they demand.

After hand picking, which is the only option for bush vines, the bunches were fermented in 5-tonne 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 with 30% new oak used to complete malolactic fermentation and maturation. A small portion is also matured in underground clay pots.

The resultant wine has lifted aromas of blackcurrant and ripe cherry fruit, with subtle notes of dark spices on the nose, cedar and a trace of smoky oak. On the palate, there are intense dark fruit flavours complemented by bright acidity and framed by velvety tannins.

This is a brilliant wine to pair with either venison or chana masala.