Origin Pinotage

Pale with a bright ruby glow, when you pop your nose in the glass you get that sweet red fruits all mixed up with vegetal and slightly animal aromas tempting you in. Here, once more sweet fruits, fresh and zippy acidity. The animal nuances come through once more but there is a lack of layering, depth and complexity. Those red fruits are clean and juicy with a hint of zest on the edge but no real substance, I feel as though I have been promised much, then denied at the last minute. The cost is low, about £5 from Tesco's online, so should we expect more.......? I feel that I do! It is very young, 2012, so less than 2 years old, so maybe time will add character.
Score 76

The Outlier from Jordan in South Africa 2009

The Outlier from Jordan in South Africa 2009

This is a wine that delivered, with true Sauvignon Blanc flavours and aromas and fresh acidity. Some french oak had been used – but only slightly fills out the clean fresh flavours. There was minerality obvious on both nose and palate, and gooseberry and kiwi continue from one to the other with  the oak adding structure and a smoky creaminess. The acidity for me seems slightly out of kilter – jumping and spiky, but not so much that the wine was spoilt. The alcohol was well integrated and provided some bulk to the body and the structure of this wine felt good and balanced.

The vines that provide the grapes for this wine vary in age from 9 to 27 and are grown on granite and loamy soils. After harvesting, the grapes were destemmed before approximately 6 hours skin contact to improve the flavor and texture of the resulting wine. Gentle pressing in a pneumatic “tank” press, then cold settled for 2 days before being racked and inoculated with selected yeasts. All the vineyard blocks were kept separate and fermentation took place between 12-16°C.

This wine has won lots of awards (received 4 Stars in the 2010 Platter’s South African Wine Guide, scored 89 points in the Wine Enthusiast Editor’s Choice Award and received Top Stellenbosch District Terroir Award at the 2010 SA Terroir Wine Awards), and the oak content ensures that this is most definitly a food wine and can also  be enjoyed as an aperitif! The selling cost for this is around £11.50 – enjoy!