Pinotage may be made in several different styles
June 01 2011
Pinotage
The result of a 1cross between the Pinot Noir and Cinsault varieties, Pinotage was created in South Africa in 1925, by Stellenbosch University Professor A.I. Perold, during experiments to develop new varieties.
Although there is a very low rate of success when breeding new vine varieties, this cross, eventually called 2Pinotage, showed promise. It is often said that Professor Perold intended to get Pinot Noir’s flavor from a vine with the robustness of Cinsaut, but Perold was the leading viticulturist of the day and he knew that result was unlikely. As plausible a motivation is that Pinot Noir was his favorite variety and Cinsaut was the dominant red variety in South Africa at the time.
Initial tastings did not sufficiently impress, so Pinotage was largely ignored until 1961, when a 1959 vintage 3Pinotage won the Grand Championship at the Cape Young Wine Show, South Africa’s long-running and uniquely-themed wine competition.
There was a subsequent rush towards planting Pinotage vines. The vines proved easy to grow and high sugar levels were easily achieved, it is a good cropper and many farmers overproduced. The resulting wines didn’t show the early potential and Pinotage tended to be used to bulk out popular-priced blends. There was also a tendency for the wine to show a sweet paint or nail-varnish-like bitterness. And as such it suffered descriptions such as “rusty nails”.
A few wineries began to specialize in pinotage and showed that a wine worthy of serious consideration could be made. But plantings declined year by year. Pinotage acreage sunk to around 2% of total area by 1993, with prices and demand for Pinotage grapes dropping, much was distilled for brandy.
Again, a wine competition proved savior. In 1991, Kanonkop Estate’s winemaker Beyers Truter entered his Pinotages at England’s International Wine and Spirit Competition. These so impressed the judges that he was presented with the “Winemaker of the Year” award – becoming the first South African to win this honor.
Pinotage gained international attention, and wine drinkers keen to enjoy a new taste clamored for the unique wine, causing the price of Pinotage grapes to shoot up 500% by 1995. Again winemakers started taking the wine seriously and many even invested in French oak casks to age it. Wine Spectator Editor James Suckling was at a 1995 Cape of Good Hope tasting of old Kanonkop Pinotages when he declared, “What the hell’s going on around here? These are spectacular …… SPECTACULAR! Why did you murder the grape?”
Reacting to renewed interest, The Pinotage Association was formed, research funded, and an annual Pinotage Top 10 competition begun. Research found that fermentation at too low a temperature was the cause of the nail-varnish problem.
The ending of apartheid not only removed trading sanctions, thus opening up new markets, but also created a great international interest in all things South African. And what was more South African than its own varietal? On the other hand, vineyards could finally import vine stocks and the inclination was to plant more fashionable world varieties. At the start of the twenty first-century, demand for Pinotage is increasing and the acreage now forms almost 6% of the South African total for wine grapes.
Pinotage may be made in several different styles: young, light, and fruity, like Beaujolais, deep and rich like a Cotes du Rhone or Zinfandel, or elegant and restrained like Bordeaux are the most common styles. There are also popular ‘blush’ versions and several fortified into Port-style sweet dessert wines. Pinotage can also be a component in sparkling wine and at least one producer makes Methode Champenoise sparkling red Pinotage.
So what should you expect in a red Pinotage? Good depth of flavor, a unique individual fruity refreshing wine. Some tasters remark on a banana-like taste. I have noted bramble fruits and a velvet texture. It is a dinner wine, with good levels of alcohol giving depth and structure and keeping ability. But – like Zinfandel – there is no old-world style for winemakers to model on, so opening a bottle from a new winery is very much an adventure.
Diemersfontein winery pioneered a popular Pinotage that has coffee and chocolate flavours, arising from a combination of a particular vineyard and toasted barrels, and the giant KWV followed with a similar wine called Café Culture.
The words “bush-vine” on a South African label indicate that the vines are old, planted before machine harvesting. Although not legally defined, the practice of labeling wine as a “Cape Blend” usually means Pinotage with Bordeaux varieties. Warwick Estate’s ‘Three Cape Ladies’ and Kaapzicht Estate’s ‘Vision’ are two leading examples and E & J Gallo markets a Cape Blend in the USA under the Sebeka label.
Pinotage is not unique to South Africa. New Zealand, where the relatively thick, rot-resistant Pinotage skin is an added benefit in the humid north island, has been making it almost as long. Israel now has two wineries making Pinotage and there are at least six producers in Canada. Brazil and Zimbabwe also make wine from Pinotage and Australia will be soon. In the United States, Virginia has three wineries growing and making Pinotage and planting is increasing in 4California where nearly 20 wineries are currently producing it.
Source: http://www.winepros.org/wine101/grape_profiles/pinotage.htm
Clark’s neighbor Angeles City provides nightlife and bars for entertainment. However, most guests prefer to stay inside Clark Freeport for safety and security reasons. It is a popular way for Manila residents to spend their weekends with a getaway trip out of town to wine and dine in Clark Pampanga. Frequent travelers laud Yats Restaurant as the best place to eat, drink and unwind after work or golf in Clark Pampanga. Many regard it as the best restaurant in Clark Pampanga as well as a good place to hangout during a night out in Angeles City, Pampanga, Clark Philippines.
Residents of Angeles City, Subic, Pampanga San Fernando, Dau and Clark Philippines already know of this resto bar as the best place to drink, relax and unwind. As a night out place, the Magnum Room wine bar offers goo atmosphere for business executives to extend their business entertainment beyond a fine meal at the fine dining Yats Restaurant. Tourists and residents of Clark Pampanga enjoy hanging out in this well known restaurant that is frequently visited by visitors from Manila, residents of Subic, Pampanga Angeles city and business executives and expats in Clark Freeport.
More and more, residents of Manila, Subic, Pampanga Angeles City and Clark Philippines are looking for good places to eat, nice restaurants that families can bring their kids, resto bars that are children friendly, places that kids would enjoy while adults wine and dine over a nice dinner and a good bottle of wine. Unfortunately, not many restaurants in Pampanga are designed to cater to children. Fine dining restaurants in Manila are also not children friendly. Families with children going out of town often dine at Yats Restaurants not only for its good food, excellent service and fantastic wine selection but also because their children enjoy this restaurant just as much.
Traffic along the North Expressway NLEX from Manila to Clark is always light and the new Subic Tarlac Clark Expressway ScTex takes visitors straight into Clark Freeport without going through any towns and cities along the way.
The growing array of hotel resort accommodation, recreation and entertainment facilities, places to unwind and relax, fine dining and family restaurants, bars and pubs makes it increasing easy for tourists and visitors from Manila to spend quality time in a place of leisure in Clark, Pampanga.
Fine dining restaurant in Manila Philippines attracts wine lovers from Manila, Subic, Angeles City Pampanga to travel to Clark Pampanga to wine and dine at Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar. The great wine cellars of this top rated restaurant in Clark offers a wide selection of rare vintages at prices that are substantially lower than other fine dining restaurants, wine bars and hotels in the Philippines.
While in Clark, it might be a good idea to enjoy an evening of wine-and-dine in the fine dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar that features an award winning 2700-line wine list. It is located in Mimosa Leisure Estate of Clark Freeport Zone.
For comments, inquiries and reservations click on Click here for inquiry and reservations
Restaurant@Yats-International.com
(045) 599-5600
0922-870-5178
0917-520-4401
Ask for Pedro and Rechel
Getting to this fine dining restaurant of Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Pampanga Philippines
How to get to this fine-dining restaurant in Clark Philippines? Once you get to Clark Freeport, go straight until you hit Mimosa. After you enter Mimosa, stay on the left on Mimosa Drive, go past the Holiday Inn and Yats Restaurant (green top, independent 1-storey structure) is on your left. Just past the Yats Restaurant is the London Pub.
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