Pinotage
South Africa
A Pinot Noir and Cinsault cross with dark fruit, smoke and, when treated badly, a burnt-rubber note it has never lived down.
At harvest
Each bar drawn against the full range of all 54 varieties
Sugar
23-26 Brix
23 - 26
Titratable acidity
5-6.5 g/L
5 - 6.5
pH
3.4-3.8
3.4 - 3.8
Juice yield
0.66 L/kg
free run plus a gentle press
Sugar per kilogram
178 g
at 24.5 Brix, the midpoint
Fruit for 23 litres
35 kg
before racking losses
Potential alcohol
13.5-14.7%
from 1.103 fermented dry. A range, because conversion varies by strain
What it punishes
Hot fermentation. The isoamyl acetate that gives the acetone character comes from fermenting too warm and too fast.
Made into
- Dry red
- Rose
Sulphite at this pH
At pH 3.60, protecting a red wine to 0.5 mg/L molecular SO2 takes 31 mg/L of free SO2. Work it out for your own reading.
More vinifera red
Cabernet Sauvignon
Bordeaux, and now everywhere warm enough
23-25 BrixMerlot
Right Bank Bordeaux
22-25 BrixCabernet Franc
Loire and Bordeaux
22-25 BrixPinot Noir
Burgundy
23-26 BrixSyrah
Northern Rhone
24-27 BrixGrenache
Southern Rhone and Spain
24-26 BrixMourvedre
Bandol and Spain
24-28 BrixZinfandel
California, and Croatia before that