They roam, these goats.
One afternoon, at harvest time, my mischievous son Jason and his friend Justin let the goats out of their tower and sent them for a walkabout amongst the vines. As in the legend of the Yemeni goat herder, whose roaming flock first discovered the joys of coffee beans, our goats picked out the best and tastiest fruit. Their choice serves as our inspiration for this wine.
Or so goes the legend…
It’s a sort of cutesy play on the Côtes du Rhône region of France, literally along the shores of the Rhone River. But given that this is probably the most diverse growing region in France, it’s hard to figure out which style (let alone varietal) Goats is trying to emulate. Grenache is the most common grape, but everything here would be a blend at any rate.
Push overcomes shove; it’s just a cutesy play on words. Not bad plonk, though, either.
A dry wine (atypical, apparently, for South Africa) with plum and dried fruit nose, and a little pucker on the tongue (what the snobs call “mouthfeel”, but a word which I don’t like the earsound of). Ruby red, peppery taste, perhaps a little too spicy, but nice on my palate.
Winemaker’s comments:
The grapes were harvested from vineyard Paarl, Pikenerskloof, Pedeberg and Malmesbury. The grapes are mostly sourced from are dry farmed old bush vines. These are mostly vinyards with small cropping levels. The resulting wine has considerable concentration. The 2001 Goats do Roam Rose is a blend of Pinotage (29%), Cinsault (12%), Carignan (5%), Grenache (23%), Gamay Noir (20%), Pinot Noir (4%), Shiraz (3%) and Muscat Frontignan (4%). Produced in the Saignee method whereby juice was drawn off the fermenting red must.
On the regular rotation it goes.
(And onto the Vino, vino page as well.)