Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage
Wine: Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage
Grape: Pinotage
Region: Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa
Vintage: 2008
Price: $8.99
In the glass: Petit Pinotage is a deep pigeon blood ruby-red color with an opaque core going out into a dark crimson rim definition with high viscosity.
On the nose: It has all the hallmarks of a classic pinotage with apple-wood smoked bacon over crushed blackberries, charred embers, marionberry jam and hints of fruit-driven minerals.
On the palate: Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage shows excellent restraint and has nicely concentrated cherries, the smokehouse wood, then a lovely structured red and black fruit medley. The midpalate is dense and full-bodied with ripe cherry fruit, more smoked notes, but balanced with supple yet ripe tannins and then a nice kick of cranberry juice.
Odds and ends: Pinotage is an interesting grape varietal, which was developed by cape vintners in South Africa in 1925 by crossing pinot noir and cinsault. It has become the signature wine of South Africa. Ken Forrester was a hotelier who got bit by the wine bug in 1993 and purchased the old Boer farm. He has developed several great lines of value wines besides this one. Petit Pinotage is a good wine to drink with barbecued short ribs. It drinks well now and should through 2012 with ease. It is highly recommended as an interesting alternative to European wines.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89016-0749, or e-mail him at gil@winevegas.com.
