Wine of the Week - Du Toitskloof Granite Pinotage 2021

For this Wine of the Week, we’re featuring Du Toitskloof Granite Pinotage 2021 – a proudly South African wine in every sense.

Iconic moments happen around tables and over the past few decades, Du Toitskloof has earned and enjoyed a profound place at South African tables. When the founders of Du Toitskloof Wines dreamt of their young, innovative winery, they knew that the journey was as important as the destination. Du Toitskloof Wines was established by 6 wine farmers as a cooperative in 1962. The six visionaries bought the 18ha of land from founder member Visser de Wet and accepted its first grapes in February 1963.

In the early years Du Toitskloof Wines became well known as a bulk-wine producer, yet after the winery began concentrating on the bottled wine market in the early 1990s, they soon cultivated a reputation as a progressive brand from the onset, not only in the innovative winemaking disciplines introduced at the cellar, but in its commitment to social development as a Fairtrade producer. The winery builds on three principles; they believe in always delivering a product of utmost quality, consistently, without compromising ethically.

The Legacy Range is a premium range produced by Du Toitskloof as a tribute to the winery’s 62-year legacy. It consists of an old vine Sauvignon Blanc, Nebbiolo, Pinotage, and red blend.

The Du Toitskloof Granite Pinotage 2021 from the Legacy Range is Du Toitskloof Wines’ flagship Pinotage.

The Granite Pinotage is made from grapes from Malmesbury. Here, the grapevines grow predominantly in weathered shale and granite soils. The Pinotage bush vines thrive in their hot and dry Swartland climate, which is ideal for viticulture; lowering the risk of fungal diseases, and water scarcity leads to smaller, concentrated berries. Soils also offer excellent drainage while retaining enough water for irrigation-free farming.

Each harvest season, the Pinotage grapes are picked when they reach optimum ripeness. After crushing and destemming, the grape mash is left on the skins to cold soak for three days at 8-12°C to extract maximum flavour and colour.

Fermentation follows, with pump-overs being done twice a day with controlled oxygen ensuring an even fermentation, which enhances aromatics and promotes yeast health. Next up, the wine is racked and skins pressed. Once the malolactic fermentation has been completed successfully the wine is racked from the lees and the final blend is assembled. The wine is then filtered and transferred to 100% new French oak barrels and matured for 18 months.

Du Toitskloof Granite Pinotage 2021 has ox-blood, iron-rich aromatics, laced with black pepper spice. From the shale and granite corridors of the Swartland, dryland bush vine Pinotage curls in with raspberries and red cherries; shadowed by dark, rich blackcurrants and plums. The buoyant, juicy fruit is held aloft in savoury oak spice, ribboned through with slender, easy tannins. Slices of Seville orange, sea-salt flakes radiate towards the edges, refreshing and tangy. Those pliable tannins continue to melt and fold along a long line of spice, deepening into a kiss of raspberry compôte on the poised, elegant finish.

The country’s most sociable red, Pinotage seeks out the local food first: A wildspotjie; salty biltong; the patriotic trio pap, wors and sheba; gently curried lamb kebabs; robust farmhouse bean soup; or even pens en pootjies.