Amandelboord Pinotage Makes it Four
We're celebrating our fourth Top 10 place in a row in the Winemag.co.za reports this year – this time for the Amandelboord Pinotage 2018, along with 90 points for the current 2019 vintage of this consistent top performer.
De Grendel is the only winery to have achieved four Top 10 ratings in the Winemag reports so far this year, and also featured in the top-ranked wines in the highly-regarded online publication’s 10-Year-Old Wine Report 2020 with 90 points for the 2010 Merlot.
“The Amandelboord Pinotage, first released in 2015 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our cellar, is a relatively young addition to the De Grendel flagship wines, and so we are really pleased at its consistent performance over its first few vintages, with not only a Top 10 place for the 2018 in this report but 90 points for the 2019 too.
“Consistency is something we always strive for. What makes this latest achievement especially significant is that the Winemag reports are based on blind tastings by the same three-person panel for each report – signalling that the quality of De Grendel shines through across the different varietals that we focus on,” cellar master Charles Hopkins said.
Pinotage, especially from the Durbanville ward, was a favourite of De Grendel owner Sir De Villiers Graaff’s grandfather and namesake, the 2nd Baronet Graaff, and the wine – made from De Grendel’s Durbanville vineyards – was inspired by the young Sir De Villiers Graaff’s memories of horse riding through the farm’s almond orchards with his grandfather.
The latest recognition for the Amandelboord Pinotage follows on from a 91-point score from respected wine critic Tim Atkin MW for the 2015 vintage, the overall top-scoring Pinotage award in the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show for the 2016 vintage, and a Double Gold for the 2017 vintage in the Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards last year.
The Winemag panel praised the 2018 Amandelboord Pinotage for its “complex nose with notes of cherries, plums, earth, herbs and spice, while the palate is medium-bodied and well balanced with lovely fruit purity, fresh acidity and fine tannins”.
Hand-picked and basket-pressed to preserve fruit purity and clean flavours, the current 2019 Amandelboord Pinotage vintage was matured for 12 months in a combination of French and American oak, 12% new, to produce a medium-bodied wine with intense deep-purple colour, fragrant aromas of maraschino cherries, black plums, prunes and banana toffee that follow onto the palate with a touch of toastiness and stewed fruit.
Pinotage is a great food partner and the De Grendel Amandelboord is especially good with a pepper-crusted seared tuna steak, grilled aubergines and tomato, a char-grilled sticky beef short rib or grilled rack of Karoo lamb.
Fresh and vibrant for immediate enjoyment, the wine has exceptional ageing potential to mature into its full power over the next 8 to 10 years.
To read the full Prescient Winemag.co.za Pinotage Report 2020, click here.