It’s voluptuous, vivacious and velvety; and its annual vintage release is the reason that thousands trek to their regional capitals for the Pinotage party to end them all. The Original Coffee Chocolate Pinotage wine from Diemersfontein is about to be unveiled for vintage 2012 at Pinotage on Tap, taking place in Lanseria at the Forest Camp, Cradle of Humankind Restaurant on 15 September.
It’s voluptuous, vivacious and velvety; and its annual vintage release is the reason that thousands trek to their regional capitals for the Pinotage party to end them all. The Original Coffee Chocolate Pinotage wine from Diemersfontein is about to be unveiled for vintage 2012 at Pinotage on Tap, kicking off on 1 September at Litchi Orchard in Salt Rock, Durban.
The inaugural UK Pinotage on Tap festival was a huge success and with the weather being so beautiful, it truly marked the advent of the start of summer (something we could finally gloat about to friends back home).
Pinotage on tap all day? And in the sun? Probably a normal weekend for South Africans back home, but last weekend, for the first time, Diemersfontein Estate Wine ventured north of the equator and held their annual launch of their new vintage in the scenic countryside of West Sussex.
One of the hot—and, to some, unfortunate—wine trends these days is adding coffee or coffee flavoring to wines. But one of the hottest wines at the recent New York Wine Expo was one that had coffee characteristics without actually containing any java.
Instead, The Pinotage, from South African winery Diemersfontain, possesses a distinct coffee aroma, winery owner David Sonnenberg told me, through the way the wine is made, including the selection and handling of the grapes and type of oak barrel used in its aging.
Just recently I went to the Jacob Javits Center to attend the New York Wine Expo. This event happens once a year in tandem with the Restaurant Show. It’s an event where wine producers from around the world has the opportunity to share their creations with the public and members of the trade. I went on the trade only day. And it’s a perfect time todiscover those wonderful gems of wines from other regions that you might not normally have the chance to find.
Wine lovers still deciding whether to attend the Wellington Wine Harvest Festival have an added incentive this year: Whites on Tap at Diemersfontein; an intimate, family-friendly event from the folk who devised the über-popular Pinotage on Tap.
Set to take place on one of the two Wellington Wine Harvest Festival days, Saturday 17 March, at Diemersfontein Wine & Country Estate, Whites on Tap will feature the award-winning range of Diemersfontein white wines: the Carpe Diem Chenin Blanc and Viognier, and the Thokozani White Blend.
