(de)
T
stemming
the purple tide
by: Jacques van Zyl
here’s a certain kind of brief for writing an
article which takes the wind right out of
one’s sails. The kind which says: you can do
what you want, but make sure you do this.
This is one of those articles. “Find out and
decide which are the five best pinotage wines, but
make sure.” To be fair, pinotage might be the most
contentious and difficult
to write about grape there
is and there may be no
other or simpler way to
approach this feisty orb
than head on. The debate
over this humble hybrid
of pinot noir and cinsaut still rages. It almost reminds
me of what former Harvard professor Henry Kissinger
allegedly said when asked to compare the in-fighting
within international politics to that of universities:
“Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the
stakes are so small.” But whether a large and languid
debate or a small and vicious one, I might as well jump
right in and get my feet, and likely both of my eyes,
purple.
“Hot and horrible,” a group of
proclaimed in 1976, of wines m
describing their taste as being lik
van Rensburg of Vergelegen mig
opponent. It has “no place in
disgusting grape” and, most luc
untenable as child rape”, are some
Yet,
type
a sem
disso
bante
remin
confu
in search of a few basic sign bo
landscape. One of the main distra
that pinotage offers, is its pro
isoamyl acetate, or “banana oil”
a substance sharing characterist
of ripe banana, pear, paint or e
what everyone wants in a wine g
wines produced from this grape a
characteristics.
“Pinotage is as untenable
as child rape.”
Andre van Rensburg