Painted Wolf Guillermo Pinotage 2013
Dark purple in color with a light ruby hue on the robe. The nose offers an assortment of spice, light coconut and cedar spice over dark red berry and dark cherry fruit aromas. Medium fuller bodied, this has a backbone of acidity that gives the red fruit base juiciness and vibrancy. The tannins are finer grained, but firm enough to focus the fruit and give good supporting structure leading to a dry finish, saying this should show well over the next 3 years plus, where it will broaden out and gain more mid palate flesh. With its noted acidity and vibrant fruit base this is made for food and would be a great addition to any outdoor grilling event.
90 pts Robert Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate (NM)
The 2013 Guillermo Pinotage is aged in around 25% new oak. It has a commendable bouquet, quite glossy but not overpowering with iodine and blueberry aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with candied orange peel infusing the blueberry and blackcurrant notes on the entry, a fine line of acidity and a well-balanced, quite focused finish. This is a well-crafted Pinotage from Painted Wolf.
87 pts Vinous/Tanzer
Full medium red. Like the 2014 bottling, this wine began with a suggestion of maderization, showing exotic coconut and nut notes along with red berries and smoke. A bit tighter-knit than the 2014 but without that wine’s sweetness of fruit or depth of texture. Not bad but a bit sour on the finish, even if the tannins are essentially harmless. Got a bit drier with air.
The grapes were hand picked into small baskets and taken to the cellar where they were hand sorted, destalked and gently crushed. The wine fermented in small open fermented bins with 4 punch downs per day. Before the wine was totally dry, we pressed and placed it in oak barrels to complete alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. 24000 bottles have been produced – the bottling has been split and is sealed with both natural cork and screw cap.
An intense, rich wine packed with flavors of ripe blueberry, mulberry and mocha, exotic spice and creamy vanilla with evident ripe tannins and a long lingering finish.
Pinotage grapes were sourced from the Kasteelsig vineyard which is owned by Painted Wolf Pack members Billy (Guillermo) and Penny Hughes. The grapes are organically farmed and became fully organically certified in the 2013 vintage. The site is primarily red Glenrosa soil with some Oakleaf – both shale rich duplex soils. The vineyards are irrigated. Kasteelsig vineyard supplies grapes for some of South Africans top boutique wines. Yields are round 8 tons to the hectare
