What Ernie Els Drinks
OK, so I don't know if Ernie Els drinks it, but he was the first South African I could think of while I was sipping on Goiya's Shiraz/Pinotage mix from 2004.
If you haven't yet tried Goiya, it's far from inaccessable, as its now widely available at normal retailers (i.e. beyond bottle shops) around L-town, and its right in what I'd call that second tier of cheap wines (right around the $7-$9 a bottle range).
I first tried the straight 2004 Goiya shiraz a few months ago simply because of the intrigue of a South African wine, and was very pleasantly surprised, as the South African Shiraz grapes pack more of a spicy punch than do either their Austrailian counterparts or any of the California Syrahs I had tried recently. I later noted that Wine Enthusiast had rated the '04 Shiraz an 85, a good rating for that price range, and bestowed upon it a "Best Buy" label, always a good sign.
The Goiya mix I tried was 75% Shiraz, 25% Pinotage, a varietal unique to South Africa. Unfortunately, despite the exotic nature of the Pinotage, it added what I thought to be an odd, almost banana-like taste that trumped the unique qualities of the South African Shiraz. Apparently the Pinotage is supposed to include the best qualities of the Pinot Noir (of "Sideways" fame), but I found it to be a lot fruitier than than a Pinot Noir.
The Pinotage taste dominated immediately, and after a litte while, the spiciness that I liked in the straight Shiraz kicked in, but I found that taste severly dilluted. The bottle recommended matching the wine with Steak, Spicy food, Pizza or Pasta with red sauce, but I'm afraid that the former two options would severely overpower this wine. I'd stick this with a sweet red sauce on pasta, if anything. I'd give it a 2.0/5 on Luca's 5-point scale. Oh yeah, Dave Matthews is from South Africa. So is Reteif Goosen.
posted by JohnnyMitchell | 9:31 PM
5 Comments:
Ernie Els is much more likely to be drinking his own label wine - see www.ernieels.co.za - which is highly rated, expensive and delicious.
In fact he's more likely to be drinking any good SA wine rather than these cheap supermarket brands. And please don't judge Pinotage (which is not unique to SA) as a variety soley on these cheap brands.
Just to be clear, while I defer to you on matters of Pinotage, as its clearly a passion, I should point out that the Pinotage Association's own website says:
"Pinotage is a wine that is (at this stage) unique to South Africa, thus making it a valuable instrument in the marketing of South Africa's wines in general." (see www.pinotage.co.za).
I realize after further research that Pinotage is now grown in New Zealand, Brazil, the US, etc., but obviously it is still primarily associated with South Africa.
As for "grocery store" wines, I'm obviously displaying my budget constraints and experience level when it comes to wine tasting, but if there's anything I have learned its that finding those sub $10 hidden gems that are widely accessible that is more worthwhile than anything.
By the way, Luca, any idea why I can't get paragraph breaks in my posts?
I agree with JM's assessment of this wine. Nothing special about it, rather boring to drink. I'm much preferred the Yellowtail Shiraz that I switched to after this.
I'll give it a 2.0 out of five. If it's cheap it may e something to sit out at a bar-b-que.
'Unique' is a much misused word ;)
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