Wine of the Month - February 2013

Herr Expat knows I enjoy my wine and so my usual Valentine's treat is a nice bottle - and he didn't disappoint this year.

February's recommendation comes from South Africa, from the Stellenbosch region, well known for its sumptuous reds.  We tried a Jacobsdal Pinotage 2010. Now it retails at a bit more than my usual bargain finds (about 12Eur according to Mr. E - and he found it in Edeka which seems to have a rather good wine selection if you can find a big enough branch - rather like the Co-op used to have in the UK - but I digress.....)

So to the vineyard.  This pinotage hails from Jacobsdal - a family run wine estate in the Stellenbosch which has specialised in the production of Pinotage wines - almost exclusively - until the introduction of a Cabernet Sauvignon in 2004.  And I must say that they do pinotage very, very well.  This wine was bursting with berry flavours, soft, full and rounded on the palate - a shame we only had the one bottle to drink.....

I think Pinotage has to rate highly as one of my favourite reds, this wine and another SA stunner the Delheim (funnily enough that hails from another Valentine's day post....) are two that I can really recommend - but of course, the downside being that they come with a heftier price tag - worth it I'd say.

Prost!