100 Wine Blogs, 100 Days Blog 33 Robertson Winery Tasting: Pinotage vs. Cabernet Sauvignon Part 1

33. Robertson Winery Tasting: Pinotage vs. Cabernet Sauvignon Part 1

The Three Wine Girls are ready to taste some more wine. You can view the video Part 1to go with Blog 33 and video Part 2 to go with Blog 34. Pinotage is not pronounced “pinot-tauge,” it is pronounced “pin-oh-tauge,” according to a good friend of mine. Here in America, we don’t say anything right. Spain should really be Espana and Italy should really be Italia. Being American, it is hard to pronounce other country names. So, we have officially decided to pronounce it correctly, hopefully we have it right this time.



Our tasting consisted of the Pinotage and the Cabernet Sauvignon. Both wines are vintage 2008, from Robertson Winery in South Africa. Both bottles were about $9.99 each and are drink now wines. The Pinotage is made using Pinot Noir and Cinsaut. Cinsaut is pronounced “sin-sew” in South African and in France, the spelling is Cinsault and the pronunciation is “san-sew”. Cinsaut and Pinot Noir used to be called Hermitage in South Africa but it is now known in South Africa as Pinotage.

We did not do a blind tasting this time. We compared the B wine, which was the Pinotage, to the C wine, which was the Cabernet Sauvignon to see which one we like better. The night before the tasting, I had a Cabernet Sauvignon from Robertson Winery that was a 2007. I don’t know if wine critics want to hit me over the head for loving it so much, or if it’s a brilliant choice. I think that the wine is affordable and one of my favorites. The 2007 Robertson did not have a twist cap like the 2008. The Three Wine Girls feel that it is nostalgic to have a cork. It’s a ceremony! What is the world thinking with the twist cap? It is fun to try to find a bottle opener in the middle of the night.

Lindsay started the tasting with wine B first, the lighter wine, the Pinotage. We got some air in our glasses by swirling glass B around, looking for color and clarity. We then held it up to the light with our white background. We felt the color of wine B looked like a plum. Alma felt it was not that thin. She liked the smell and felt it was not that strong. She really liked the nose on it and felt it was smoky. Veronica noted that it had toasty oak and a great smell. She also smelled banana, chocolate and coffee and it tasted that way too. Alma felt it had the perfect amount of sweaty man. It tasted pretty light, medium bodied with soft tannins. It was not bitey, it tasted plumy and was pretty good with a nice mild finish. It also lingers a little bit.

I like to look at my fingers through the wines by putting my fingers behind the glass to see the weight of the wine. If you can see your fingers through the wine, it may not be very heavy. The Cabernet Sauvignon and the Pinotage were not heavy because we could see our fingers through the wine in the glass. We have those darker colors in many of our California Cabs including dark, rich, deep reds and heavy oak with spice.

We felt the pin-o-tauge was…mmmm…very good! Part 2 is the next blog where we will taste the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Tell me your thoughts, make them funny, keep them nice and educate me.
Bon Vin!
Veronica