Nigel Lelew on Wine

Mid Sussex Citizen Star Wine Buy 1997 Bellingham Pinotage - Somerfield £3.99 Until the end of March, Somerfield are slashing £1.50 off this stunning South African Pinotage from one of the country's respected wineries. It's got ripe strawberry and plum fruit with a slug of vanilla oak that sets this wine apart from the rest. If you haven't tasted Pinotage before ... now's your chance!

Winemaking in South Africa goes back over three centuries, further back indeed than some of the other "New World" producers. For climatic reasons most of the vineyards are to be found in the southern tip of the country, to the east of Cape Town although some vines are planted in the hotter, more arid areas around the Orange River further to the north.

By far the most abundant grape variety grown is the steely dry Chenin Blanc, known locally as Steen. Here is South Africa Chenin is able to make a variety of wine styles from the very dry whites that the grape is renown for in France's Loire Valley, to versions of sweet wine. In all it accounts for much of South Africa's good value commercial wine production. Such flexibility to produce the range of wine styles that South Africa does from one grape variety enables producers to make the most of their own particular local conditions. As well as Chenin there are other white grapes around including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat, Colombard, Semillon and Riesling, a formidable list of whites especially when the potential for blending is included.

If South Africa has just one quality to bring to the wine world it is almost certainly the ability to bring clean fresh whites to the international market and compete with the ever increasing cost of whites from, say, Australia.

Red wine should not be overlooked in this appraisal of South Africa. The quantity of vineyards producing red grape varieties in South Africa is on the increase, albeit they are starting from a pretty low base. Like the whites, the register of international grapes has ticks in most of the boxes including Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Pinot Noir, but they somehow don't quite compete with their other New World counterparts. Merlot may be the one exception to the "not quite" rule. It's being used to smooth some of the rough edges off its Bordeaux blending partner Cabernet Sauvignon, and to good effect ... look out for an increase in South African Merlot based wines.

South Africa does possess its own red grape which is becoming better known every year on the world stage. Pinotage was the brainchild of Professor Perold back in 1925 who crossed Pinot Noir with Cinsaut to give red grapes that produce a full aromatic red wine. In conjunction with oak contact, Pinotage can be outstanding ... I wonder when other New World countries will start planting South Africa's Pinotage in their own vineyards!

If you have any comments or questions please e-mail me at nigel@vinrouge.co.uk