Well, it’s a new and
unique way of making pinotage … with a passionate Italian twist which gives the
wine more flavour and more taste.
Let’s start at the
beginning. The Bellingham Pinopasso 2014
pays homeage to the Italians who settled in South Africa after World War 2 , who
lived and worked in the Cape and in fact built the white wine cellar at
Bellingham after the war. “Those Italian viticulturists and winemakers played a
major role in the South African wine industry, replanting vineyards and
building cellars, and Italians still play a big role in the industry, bringing
both innovation and new wine grape varieties to the country,” says winemaker
Niël Groenewald. At Bellingham they don’t rest on their laurels, and believe
that innovation is the way to get ahead in a very competitive wine industry.
So, how do you take a wine grape variety and turn it into something special?
Adopt the Ripasso way of making wine from Italy, was one option.
And it’s really
simple, because the Ripasso style is where the wine from the previous vintage
is passed over” the skins and pips of the new vintage. In other words, where
wine from 2013 was passed over the skins of the 2014 vintage, which results in
a wine with more flavour, a little more alcohol, and more complex structure. A second contact with the skins ensures further
extraction, interesting tertiary and multifaceted flavours and taste. The
result is the perfect Tapas wine.
Niël describes this
innovative, hand-crafted wine as “dark red with flavours of cherries, plums, and
blueberries, and with spicy undertones”.
There is an emerging
trend developing for red wines to be enjoyed on their own and not necessarily
with with food, Pinopasso is exactly that. Niël suggests the wine be enjoyed on
its own, slightly chilled, or if with food it works beautifully with antipasti,
pasta, pizza, barbequed meat or even chicken salad.
Bellingham Pinopasso is
a fruit driven wine with great structure, an alcohol content of 14% per volume
and residual sugar of 9%,” adds Niël.
The Pinopasso retails for approximately R55 per
bottle and available at most retail outlets nationwide.
So, if you enjoy the
good life – good food, good wine and good company – make sure you don’t miss
out on something very special.
Here’s to la dolce vita! Here’s to Pinopasso!