Vinum Pinotage

We recommend pairing with grilled, or braised meats, like slow-cooked sausages, beef, and lamb.

The grapes for this wine are predominantly from a vineyard located in the northern part of the Stellenbosch region and a quarter of a century old. As is typical in our region, the alluvial soil in this vineyard contains a high proportion of decomposing granite, which comes from the magnificent mountains surrounding. Harvest was almost 2 weeks later than some of the recent hotter vintages, and the crop smaller, but with better acidity. As usual, the grapes were harvested by hand, early in the morning, into 20kg lug boxes to avoid any crushing and then transported to our cellar.

At the cellar, the grapes were manually sorted to ensure only pristine bunches were processed. Our primary objective with this wine was to wild ferment, importantly leading with carbonic maceration, so as to unlock and reveal the hidden side of Pinotage. This whole berry, natural fermentation took place in open-top, 600L oak demi-muids, for a very soft extraction of colour, flavour and tannin. Once the alcoholic fermentation had finished, we transferred the pomace to our press, merely for draining purposes and where the wine was gently removed from the skins and then moved into small, Burgundian barrels (228L and 300L), an equal mix of 2nd, 3rd & 4th fill for malolactic fermentation and maturation. No new oak was used as we wanted the wine to exhibit its freshness while adding texture and complexity.

Founded in 1998 by Alex Dale, Radford Dale set about the Cape in search of exciting vineyard parcels for their chosen specialist varietals. Today, they have two producing wineries. The first is located in Stellenbosch, predominantly focused on sourcing maritime influenced parcels around the Helderberg and Polkadraai. Here, they produce the cult, single vineyard wines of Renaissance Chenin Blanc and Frankenstein Pinotage, and the Radford Dale Vinum range; a set of six wines that consistently overdeliver on style to price. The 2022 vintage marked the maiden release from their own vineyards purchased in Elgin under Radford Dale Organic, with the release of four single varietal Estate wines, the only organic certified vineyards in the region. More recently, they have co-founded South Africa’s first Organic Wine Association. They continue to reintroduce Gamay Noir to the Cape, establishing the first new plantings for some 20 years. It’s a varietal geared up to thrive in warm conditions, and on granite soils. Stylistically, Gamay also embodies Radford Dale’s championing of elegant, refreshing red wines.