by Patrick Ogle

Van Loggerenberg  Break-A-Leg  Paarl Cinsault Blanc de Noir 2017 is supposed to be a "blanc de noir" but the color is a light pink as in a rose. BUT calling this a blanc de noir is totally accurate. This drinks like a white wine.  

We've had Cinsaults that were blanc de noir before. Likewise with Pinot Noir and possibly a few other red wine grapes.

This wine has minerality, a light earthiness that mixes with a bracing acidity. It reminds of some Northern Italian whites--at least that was my first impression. There is a bit of citrus blossom--just a hint, like being in an orange grove when it is flowering and taking a deep breath (admittedly a situation most folks won't find themselves in). The citrus fruit here is a very much the exotic sort--a tangelo or something rather than a run of the mill orange. There is a little bit of pith lurking here especially on the finish. If you let the wine warm up the pith comes out even more. I'd add a bit of under ripe apple to the mix here too (not green apple though). There is a tiny hint of oxidation.

I liked this wine so much I grabbed a second bottle. As if often the case my second impression was a little different; it had more fruit than i remembered (a little more, still far from fruity). These sorts of differences in perception might be from what I was eating or not eating at the time. Impressions can vary from time to time even when the wine doesn't.
 
This wine spends nine months on old oak (no wood is really noticeable). This is a lovely, unique wine for well under $20. It is regrettable it might be difficult to find.

Mount Abora Saffraan Cinsault (also spelled Cinsaut), from Swartzland in South Africa, is made from grapes off nearly 40 year old vines. It is dry-farmed and spends 9 months in used French oak.

I was told this wine shared qualities with high end Beaujolais by two people whose descriptions are invariably correct. I  nonetheless doubted until I tasted. When they said "high end Beaujolais" I thought they meant  really good Beaujolais Village but when I tasted this I was thinking more Cru Beaujolais.

I remember a Chiroubles I had that was really close to this. It has some earth to it but also noticeable bright red fruit--rasberry, cranberry and a lot of zip. In the midst of the earth there is pepper.

Of course this isn't Gamay; it is Cinsault.

Cinsault is a widely grown grape. If you've had a rose from the south of France you've likely had Cinsault. It is also a component in many Rhone blends and shows up in some Chateauneuf du Pape. More and more it is being used by New World winemakers as a varietal wine. It grows well in warm weather and ripens early. Some sources say it is declining in production and it MAY be. But it is still grown quite a bit. In South Africa it is, along with Pinot Noir, one of the parents of Pinotage (the grape was sometimes called Hermitage in South Africa.

South African wines have a reputation for earthiness. This is not a bad thing (in many contexts it is a good thing). Yet even in saying this wine is earthy it is NOT really dirty or funky in the broad scheme of things, There is a whiff of barnyard and this it blows off a bit with air. This is a wine that maybe should be served with a wee bit of a chill--not as cold as white but colder than room temperature. I don't always give a price range? But this wine comes in between $14 and $17. It is an absolute steal at the price.

In the past month I have had four different South African Cinault wines and all of them had wildly different profiles (although one was a blanc de noir). It has always struck me as a versatile grape that skilled winemakers can get a great
deal from. France's La Cinso leaps to mind.

by Patrick Ogle

La CinsO 2013, a wine from Domaine Anne Gros (& Jean-Paul Tollot), is a deep, interesting cinsault. This wine is "grapey" at first taste with nice acidity and well-mannered tannins under the surface. I say "well mannered" because some tannins walk up and punch you right in the privates. These are there and they seem to build as you keep tasting but it is never a "rude" taste sensation. This wine opens up with some air but it really doesn’t need much. It gets more herbal a and perhaps with a bit of smoke or tar. Air adds to the nuance adding to the the notion this is a wine to think on. Try to catalog the various herbal sensations.

There is dark fruit here but it is subtle and  a bit elegant. There is nothing jammy here and yet CinsO isn't all subtlety. I wrote "grapey" but other dark fruits are probably more prevalent--blackberries and blueberries spring to mind. There are deep textured flavors that seem almost inorganic but I wouldn’t say "minerally." This may be getting too esoteric. CinsO isn't all THAT deep and complicated but it may be more than might be expected for a grape often used in blends and for rosés.

La CinsO comes from Minervois in Languedoc-Roussillon but the winemakers are best known for their burgundies. Cinsault is not a "rare" grape but it isn't one on the tip of the tongue for many wine fans. The varietal often finds its way into rosés and red cinsault I've tasted have frequently been light, summery reds. As noted this one has a bit more to it.

Anne Gros and John Paul Tollot are the winemakers here and both are most well known for their Burgundies. While I didn't think "Burgundy" when I drank this I also didn't think "Languedoc" but my experience with 100 percent cinsault from the area is, to put it mildly, limited.

Cinsault isn't a rare grape. It is widely grown in France, North Africa and a number of other areas (including some quite old vines in Northern California). You do not, however, see a great deal of it bottled as a varietal and often these are everyday wines. At $20 a bottle-ish most people won't think this wine is an everyday price but it is also a notch up other cinsault.

This wine is labelled as a “Vin de France,” a table wine but that label can be deceptive. Sometimes it isn't about quality but about the winemaker not following the regional rules. This wine also reminds that however modest the grape to wine experts; land and climate (terroir) and careful handling of yields (the fewer grapes per vine, the higher the quality) can lead to a solid, interesting wine. This isn't something that will shatter your world but it is a wine that is a bit different, with a little bit our roughness, a tiny bit of funkiness (early Commodores...not Parliament) and also something you can use to stump your friends; no one will say "Minervois cinsault" at your blind tasting!

by Patrick Ogle

When I put this wine aside to drink I actually held off a few days. Rhododactlylos, from Scholium Project, is a blanc de noirs made from cinsault grown in the northern end of California's Central Vally from 140 year old vines. It sounded special and weird at the same time. So I waited a few days. The wine met the special and weird expectations.

As we've discussed before over some pinot noir you can make white wine out of any grape. Skin contact is what makes a wine turn red and if you minimize or eliminate that? You get white or in this case sort of copperish white with even a hint of the brownish. Do you like that buttery sensation that comes from malolactic fermentation? BAM! It is here in spades.

Do you want your wine dry? This bone dry but it is far from sweet. Want to know about fruit? I've heard others say but my first thought here isn't really fruit it is sensation; it is artistry. This is wine made with something akin to passion. It is the first wine I've had from Scholium Project but it will not be the last. I couldn't bring myself to analyze as much as just drink.

I was going to discuss malolactic fermentation--this wine apparently has 100 percent malolactic fermentation. I was going to go into more detail but details do not matter all that much. What I want to do instead is encourage people to look to winemakers like Scholium Project in the USA and abroad and to take the odd risk here and there with a grape you may not know.

Let's chat about cinsault a bit. You may have had it and been unaware as it is used in many roses from Provence and is also a common grape in Languedoc. In fact it is one of the top five most grown grapes in France (and it is heavily
grown in North Africa). I read about the Bechthold Vineyard in Lodi, California where there were vines that were planted when Grover Cleveland was president (perhaps the same vines used to make this wine?).

Cinsault can produce a lot of fruit and that is bad. This seems counter-intuitive but with wine grapes? Big yields are bad. Winemakers keeping the yields in control will produce better wines. Also, as vines age? They produce fewer and fewer grapes but these grapes tend to be of higher quality. I imagine these Lodi cinsault vines producing three grapes per vine.

Never be afraid to try something new when it comes to wine; the worst thing that happens is that you don't like it. Scholium may produce wine for the adventurous; so be adventurous. You may not have much luck finding this particular wine? But keep an eye out for Scholium.