2007 Pinotage enjoyed after 15 years
When we received some fan mail from a somewhat vinophilic gentlemen in the Garden Route who missed his calling as a writer, we had to share it with the world. Whether you’ve been drinking Du Toitskloof Pinotage for the last couple of months, years or decades - we’re sure you’ll agree with Ritchie.
Letter from Ritchie
Greetings to the Du Toitskloof team and the Chief Winemaker of Bachhus’s Best - Shawn Thomson.
On Friday night we brought out the big axe and chopped some good old indigenous ‘braaivuur hout’ here in the foothills of the Outeniquas – some 15 km inland of Sedgefield – a sleepy paradise in the Garden Route area.
Us forest types who had the sense to escape the big smoke of places like Cape Town and Johannesburg (plus the mampoer odours of places like Groot Marico) enjoy a bit of fine dining now and again – especially if it is washed down by a good bottle or six of Bacchus’s best nectar.
After donning my trusty miner’s lamp and hard hat, I descended into the depths of my cellar to dig up a dusty old bottle or more of red oxblood coloured sanitiser. Out came a Du Toitskloof Pinotage 2007. I read the back label and after commenting to myself, “F&^k Marilise” it read, ‘Drink now or try again in five years time’.
Given that the label must have been printed in about 2006/07, I got confused and drowsy minded as I was not sure if the printer meant me to read it then (2007/8), a year later, or 15 years later. With further deep introspection, I thought, “just as well I ignored the advice in 2007 as I was not sure how I would have ‘drunk it then’ and then ‘tried again in 5 years time’”.
Applying mathematical logic, 3 x 5 = 15 – so maybe it will be three times as good now in 2022 as when I was advised to drink it in 2012.
Having been a geologist at one stage, a breed who is known for never missing an exploration, I thought, “it is Friday, the coals are hot, ‘die vleis is mooi blou’ and a serious vino was needed”. With a whistle, the well-trained golden retriever brought the corkscrew and out came the cork, slightly soft, but still intact.
A rich deep red nectar emerged into the glass. A super nose, fine legs on the inside of the glass, followed by a super taste. A very smooth, berry taste and well rounded.
Well done and thanks.
Wifey Dear and I really enjoyed the bottle with some superbly cooked ostrich fillet and local wors. Wifey considers herself the ‘salad queen’ so all in all the meal complemented the wine, and vice versa.
So although the label recommended 5 years, 15 years has resulted in a most fantastic wine.
