Food & Home Entertaining – September 2019

your

RAISEglass

What to drink, when,

where & how... BY MALU LAMBERT

J

ustwhatisaCapeblend? At a glance, it’s a red

blendthatcontainsapercentage of Pinotage.

Simple,right?Notquite. There is much debate in

theSouthAfricanwine industry as to how much

Pinotageintheblendclassifies it thus and it is

sofarunlegislated.ACape blend can contain

anythingfrom10%to70% of Pinotage. The term is

alsooccasionallyused for chenin-led white blends.

“Allovertheworldyoufindblendsthat typify a country, specific

regioninacountryorastyle–forexample, Bordeaux, Rhône or

Australianshiraz[syrah]blends,”explains winemaker Beyers Truter

ontheimportanceofthecategory.“No matter where in the world

youare,theseblendsareknownfortheir uniqueness, composition

andmostlyorigin.TheCapeblendcategory makes it possible

forusasSouthAfricanstoproduceablend that is unique to the

Cape,bothinstyleandorigin.Thepossibility exists for a person

anywhereontheglobetolookataCape blend and understand

whereitcomesfrom,astheWesternCape has such a strong and

well-knownnameinternationally.”

Pinotageasavarietalisoftenseenas too idiosyncratic by an

internationalaudience,butbyputtingit in the framework of a

blend,wegiveourpatrioticgrapewings to fly.

Signature

BEYERSKLOOFTRAILDUSTCAPE

BLEND2017,R155

“Thiswineisanacknowledgementof

everypersonwhohasbeeninvolvedin

thePinotagejourney,fromvineyardto

glass,”saysBeyersTruter.“It’satribute

tothelegacyofPinotagebyunitingthis

uniqueSouthAfricancultivarwithits

heritage:pinotnoirandcinsaut.”This

blendof47%cinsaut,30%Pinotage

and23%pinotnoirofferslusciousred

fruitslikecherriesandplumswithajuicy

brightcoreandsmooth,slipperytannins.

STYLE

36 SEPTEMBER 2019

DRINK UP