Kanonkop is a 4th generation family-owned wine estate, which has been handed down from generation to generation and is now in the hands of brothers Paul and Johann Krige.
The name Kanonkop is derived from a hillock (kop) on the Simonsberg mountain above the wine estate from where, during the 17th and 18th centuries, a cannon (kanon) was fired to announce the arrival of sailing ships entering Table Bay. The roar of the cannon would be the signal to local farmers, who were waiting to make the 50-kilometer journey to the harbour, to load up their wagons with fresh fruit and vegetables to barter their produce. The first wines bearing the Kanonkop label were produced in 1973.
In 1924, while heading up Oenology and Viticulture at the University of Stellenbosch, Professor Abraham Perold made a crossing of two grape varieties that today forms the South African wine industry’s unique selling point. Pinot Noir and Cinsaut (once known as Hermitage in South Africa) became Pinotage, a red-blooded South African grape variety.
This wine is one of the world’s finest examples of Pinotage, a variety first planted on Kanonkop in 1941.
Fermented in open top concrete fermenters at 28°C. The floating skins were punched down by hand, every 2 hours during fermentation. The juice was drawn off the skins after 3 days. After malolactic fermentation the wine was matured for 18 months in 80% new and 20% second fill 225L French Nevers oak barrels.
The Kanonkop Estate Pinotage is bold with plums, blackberries, mulberries, rich vanilla, layers of smoke, and roasted nut on the nose. Followed by a palate packed with plums, cherries, black figs, pomegranate, dark chocolate, blackberries and spicy oak, The beautifully integrated plush, creamy tannins teams with satisfying acidity resulting in a wonderfully balanced wine with a long finish, promising a great maturation potential.
