2004 Kanonkop Pinotage

"Dow below 7000!", "HSBC to Layoff 6000", "Stocks Lowest in 12 Years".....these were some of the headlines on CNN yesterday. After shutting off the TV I was feeling a little blue. To make things less negative in the world, I thought I would cook my wife and I a nice meal , and open up a bottle of wine I have been holding for a couple of years.

I prepared an Oxtail Ragu Pasta and opened up my South African 2004 Kanonkop Pinotage. A pinotage grape is a hybrid cross between a Pinot Noir and Cinsault grape (I had to google that one). I have read in a few cases of "wine experts" giving this wine a below average rating. I could not have disagreed with them more! I thought the Kanonkop Pinotage had very distinct features. The nose of this wine smells of spicy tobacco, black peppper, black cherry, mint, and black currant. With all the smells working together, the wine offered a bitter dark chocolate type finish which complemented the oxtail pasta perfectly! Out of my scale of 10 corks, I would give this bottle an 8 cork rating.