2009 Two Oceans Western Cape Pinot Noir 85 Points

A good initiation to South African Pinot Noir

Last week I came across what could arguably be the cheapest Pinot Noir in the world, the 2009 Two Oceans Western Cape Pinot Noir at R 29 (USD 4), a bottle retail at Makro and Checkers , new addition to the range of everyday drinking wine from this highly commercial label, made by Distell.

It is a fine effort to be applauded, not only for the price but for the sheer drinking style of this wine, with upfront boiled beetroot character, dark cherry and earthy note with hints of minty fynbos character, which let me presume a portion of the fruit might be from Elim wards in the Southern Cape as Pinot Noir from that area have that canny dried minty character, not distracting at all in subtle doses….. overall it shows Pinot Character at R 29, could you believe it?

The only slight downside is the colour of the wine, touch too dark for Pinot Noir, so wondering what else could have been added to beefed up the red pigment!

Could it be the old South African trick of a soupcon of Shiraz / Syrah!.......

Nevertheless tick all the right box in other areas with good fresh acidity, little or no wood at all, though a touch of charry note after 15 hours left opened in the bottle, good fruit expression.

What more do one want for that price? At least it’s far better than most Shiraz / Syrah or the dreadful Merlot invading the market at present….

It’s a must try for something different around the table and for sure over delivers in quality compares to other Two Oceans wines, it would be great to see it on more wine lists as it will help a long way with educating patrons about what is inside a bottle that’s count rather than the label, and a 2009 Decanter Silver medal, further confirms my rating and judgement.

Well done to the Two Oceans team, let’s see if consistency will now be maintain! With future vintages.