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.

Your Everyday Wine Drinker

Welcome to my first ever blog post. I am just your everyday drinker who enjoys wine! I am starting this blog because I want to share with everyone my opinion of various bottles of wine I have tasted. I am not a trained wine professional however I did get to experience hands on what it takes to run and manage a winery and vineyard recently.

The first bottle of wine I would like to review is Ken Brown's 2007 Pinot Noir Santa Barbara county. This bottle of wine retails for about $30-$35 dollars a bottle. The first characteristic I noticed about this wine is the color. Its ruby but yet transparent color indicates a pretty young wine. The nose of this wine is fruitful with a hint of strawberry, kiwi, blue berry, raspberry and finished off with a little nutmeg. This wine is good to drink by itself or because of its youth, it will not over power any meal. I would recommend a white meat dish, seafood or any type of pasta. I noticed that it really helped enhance the butter, spices, and seafood taste of the pan seared scallops I had with it. Enjoy!!