Riebeek Cellars Pinotage (2004): Wine Review

2004 Riebeek Cellars Pinotage
Where found?: Pieter Kruythof Laan, off Kloof Street
Riebeek Kasteel | Map

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How much? R15 (!)
Drunk with? Dinner; Chicken soup.
Did it suit? Quite well, surprisingly.
Value for money? Yes
SA Blog recommends? For fun with friends.

Tasting notes
At the recent Riebeek Valley Olive Festival, the best-priced bottles of wine came from Riebeek Cellars – with their 2004 Pinotage going for just R15. Bravely – and doubtless also to manage expectations – the Cellar folk were marketing it as “poison pinotage”, a move which had the desired effect of creating a huge amount of clamor for the stuff.

My Lovely Assistant and I just got round to tasting ours – and can report that, while it’s not going to win many medals, it certainly isn’t poison, either. The wine’s disconcertingly light in color, and has the legs of a geriatric using a walker, but it tastes pretty good – no sourness, light tannins, faint sweetness, etc. In short, it washes down food quite well.

Riebeek Cellars has a few cases left, I’m told – another reason to head off to the Swartland. Their 2004 “Poison” Pinotage gets a “Best of the Swartland” award, in fact, for pure sentimentality’s sake.

Estate notes
Riebeek Cellars
www.riebeekcellars.com
info@riebeekcellars.co.za
Tel: +27 (0) 22 448 1213, Fax: +27 (0) 22 448 1281

It’s not an estate, per se, but a cellar – a place where grapes from different estates across the Cape congregate to make wine. There’s plenty to taste here – several ranges, and many varietals – and the prices are incredibly good.