2004 Nederburg Pinotage Selected Special Release

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 89.7 points

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  5/19/2019 - forceberry wrote: 88 Points

  100% Pinotage from vineyards planted between 1980 and 1990. Aged for 24 months in a combination of new American and French oak. 13,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.
  
  Moderately translucent and slightly developed blackish-red color with a subtle brick-orange hue. The nose feels developed with somewhat Cabernet-like notes of cassis along with complex aromas of wizened dark fruits, some ashtray, a little bit of burnt rubber, a hint of developed raisiny character and a touch of sweet strawberry. With some breathing more toasty notes of oak start to emerge. The wine is ripe and even slightly jammy on the palate with flavors of wizened blackcurrants, some strawberry tones, a little bit of sweet mocha oak, light vanilla tones, developed hints of raisins and dried dates and a herbal touch of mint. The sweet, toasty oak seems to only grow in intensity as the wine opens up. The acidity feels rather modest, making the mouthfeel rather soft and slightly dull, and even the resolved medium tannins don't manage to bring much firmness to the mouthfeel. The finish is sweet, soft and somewhat jammy with flavors of milk chocolate and vanilla, some developed fruit notes of wizened plums and raisins, a little bit of mocha cake, light liqueur-ish tones of crème de cassis and a hint of strawberry jam. The tannins lend a subtle hint of grip to the aftertaste.
  
  A nicely developed new world red that suffers from the typical pitfalls of many South African reds: too low acidity, too soft tannins, too jammy fruit and too much oak. Overall the wine felt like a moderately developed hot-vintage Bordeaux with a heavily jammy and oaky character. If you don't mind that the wine is rather sweet-toned and somewhat soft, this is a quite pleasant effort for an aged new world red. However, it's nothing particularly thrilling and stylistically a bit too "new world" for my taste. It's an interesting experience to taste a Pinotage with some age, but I'm not sure if I got anything particular varietal character here, tasting the wine blind. It is probably peaking now; although the wine might keep for many more years, I doubt it will develop much from here. Perhaps a bit pricey for the style at 30€.

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  4/24/2019 - Henman Likes this wine: 92 Points

  The cork was 1/3 stained and intact. Aired in the glass ca 1/2 hour. The grapes were harvested by hand according to the label. A nicely matured nose of decaying leaves and tobacco. Medium to full bodied, smooth and supple with gentle tannins, delivering vibrant fruit of cherries and plums with firm acidic structure, wrapped with funky notes of decaying leaves. There is a nice meaty umami aspect to the palate as well. Still quite youthful, could hold for 10 more years. Lovely matured Pinotage. Great value at 30€ from Alko.

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  3/23/2019 - Leto South wrote: 89 Points

  Blackish red, brownish edges (doesn't look so old). Bq largish, smoky, oak, tobacco, herbs (bay leaf), blackberries. Medium body w rounded tannins, good acidity, cherry-like fruit. Good balance, nice aftertaste, though not much complexity. At its peak now. Nice Pinotage!

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  10/14/2018 - Eriklainen wrote:

  Fantastic nose of fresh tobacco, also on the palate. Rather dominant. IT is in perfect drinking window and I wouldn't expect that much more. Quite easy to like if you are a little old school about your wine. Has nothing in common with "natural wine".

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