Rossouw, Gouws & Clarke Dry Red 2021
By Christian Eedes, 12 September 2021
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From a 1968 Swartland vineyard of Pinotage farmed by Scholtz Rossouw, made by Jurgen Gouws of Intellego and bottled by David Clarke of wine agency Ex Animo, this wine sees 90% of the fruit fermented whole bunch under semi-carbonic conditions for 10 days and the other 10% of the fruit treated as a rosé and blended back after malolactic fermentation.
Cherry, red currant and a hint of pomegranate plus overtones of fynbos and white pepper on the nose while the palate is seemingly light (although not entirely insubstantial given an alcohol of 13%) with snappy acidity and fine tannins. About as far away from Beyerskloof Diesel as you could possibly get but still plenty of flavour with a real urgency about it – best served chilled. Price: R175 a bottle.
CE’s rating: 91/100.
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Colin12 September 2021
Christian, I am curious. The most important thing to happen annually to SA wine is the ratings that international pundits give our wines. Whether it’s Neal Martin, Anthony Meuller or Tim Atkin. As everyone knows – Atkin released his report this past week, yet here at winemag you chose to not report on it. Why is that? Do you not consider his ratings worthwhile? Or important enough? You always report on the medals we get at Decanter or IWSC , so why not on the Atkin report? Surely his ratings carry weight and gravitas – that 97 sticker means a lot more for sales in the UK than the Winemag sticker (range 90 – 93, the Eedes safe zone) does? I thought you’re here to promote ZAR wines?
Christian Eedes13 September 2021
Hi Colin, Subsequent to 2019, we haven’t covered the ratings of other critics or wine competitions, local or international. This doesn’t mean they are entirely useless or that we don’t respect them but the public too often become fixated with ratings and we are trying to facilitate a more creative, constructive dialogue around the topic of wine. We are obviously going to promote our own ratings as energetically as possible and it is entirely your prerogative whether you align with them or not.
Top Wine SA13 September 2021
It is arguable that ratings by panels such as those at the International Wine Challenge where Tim Atkin MW is a co-chair count more than those of individual pundits such as Atkin… Weird that Atkin’s ratings of less than 95 are often regarded as more than what they are, i.e. equivalent to silver medals. And interesting that Winemag covers some competitions other than its own, such as the Trophy Wine Show, but not others…
Christian Eedes14 September 2021
Hi Top Wine SA, Wine magazine was the official media partner of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show when it was originally launched and I’m a long-standing judge at this competition so an exception is made in this instance.