Winemaker Notes
A beguiling wine with rich, spicy red berry and black cherry aromas, evident ripe tannins and a long, complex finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Painted Wolf 2021 Swartland Guillermo Pinotage opens to a combination of earthy aromas and fruity ones. The earthy side is very clean and fragrant with flinty soil and iris root, and the fruity side leans into currant berries, grilled watermelon and tart pomegranate. I recommend drinking this wine while those aromas are still young and fresh. The grapes are picked off of old unirrigated bush vines that produce low yields. The wine ages in French and American oak, with 20% new wood.
South Africa’s signature grape, Pinotage is a distinctively earthy and rustic variety. In 1924 viticulturists crossed finicky Pinot Noir and productive, heat-tolerant Cinsault, and created a variety both darker and bolder than either of its parents! Today it is popular in South Africa both as a single varietal wine and in Cape blends. Somm Secret—The name “Pinotage” is a subtle portmanteau. The Pinot part is obvious, but the second half is a bit confusing. In the early 1900s, Cinsault was known in South Africa as “Hermitage”—hence Pinotage.
Literally meaning "the black land," Swartland takes its name from the endangered, indigenous "renosterbos" (translating to rhino bush), which used to be plentiful enough to turn the entire landscape a dark color certain during times of year. The district, attracting some of the most adventurous and least interventionist winemakers, excels in robust and full-bodied reds as well as quality fortified wines.