Painted Wolf Guillermo Pinotage 2018

Tasting Notes: A bright vibrant wine with spicy red berry fruit, with evident ripe tannins and a long lingering finish.

The story of this wine:Guillermo Swartland Pinotage is named after our good friend Billy ‘Guillermo’ Hughes. He was amongst the first investors in our winemaking and conservation adventure, trading grapes for shares in Painted Wolf. Billy is an uncompromising exponent of organic and naturally farmed grapes with a keen interest in biodynamics. For a few vintages our winemakers Jeremy helped Billy make his Nativo wines. From 2013, Kasteelsig vineyard has been organically certified. Our friend Jenny Metelerkamp who lived with us in the bush in Botswana produced the fine Painted Wolf ink drawing for our logo and the pack labels.

Food suggestions: This is super food wine and pairs well with many deeply flavoured dishes. This wine does well with exotic flavours and we would happily push out the boat and serve it with dishes like Peking duck, sticky sweet and sour pork belly, braised beef shanks (Osso Bucco) with polenta and gremolata, wild mushroom risotto or Mexican style mole.

The vineyard: Sourced from 2 sites in the Swartland, certified organic Pinotage grapes from the Kasteelsig vineyard which is owned by Painted Wolf Pack member Billy (Guillermo), and sustainably farmed grapes from Werdie farm between Malmesbury and Darling. The site is primarily red Glenrosa soil with some Oakleaf – both shale rich duplex soils and these vines are not irrigated. Yields are round 6.5 tons to the hectare.

Winemaking:The grapes were hand-picked into small baskets and taken to the cellar. A portion was fermented in open bins and hand punched 4 times a day. The rest was fermented in a rototank. No commercial yeast was used as these grapes ferment well with their own yeast. The wine matured in a mixture of French and American oak barrels for 14 months. Approximately 30 % was new wood.

Ageing Potential: This wine drinks well in youth but improves over time gaining additional complexity for at least six-eight years from vintage.