BARISTA, PINOTAGE - $16.99

BARISTA, 2009 Pintoage - Val de Vie - West Cape, South Africa.

For all of you coffee lovers out there, this is a must try.  Notes of ripe berry, dark chocolate and, that's right, coffee. And not a little bit either. This isn't one of those distant flavors that make you think oh yeah, I get that, after someone points it out. You'll find it all by yourself.

Now, $16.99 is a little more than I like to spend on a bottle. I don't make a good living, but I enjoy wine immensely, thus I must budget. Time and time again I've been forced to offer my pickled soul to the mercy of Three-Buck-Chuck, but every once and a while even we poverty stricken peasants must allow ourselves to eat cake - and when we do, we might as well make it coffee cake.

Color: This is a rich dark one. A deep purple monster that coats the inside of your glass with a sheet of ink, as if filled with melted blackberries.

On the nose: at first you get mostly berry - current maybe - with faint mineral and hints of that coffee, but that's when you first crack this sucker open. Give it a while. As the wine opens, breathes and relaxes, the fruit notes start to fall away into a supporting roll, and the true hero shows up.

The first sip: The current shines through, in my opinion. Along with soft, ripe berries and some dark cherry is there too. As the tannins start to do their thing you begin to taste a bitter sweet chocolate dryness, but hold the wine there for a moment or two and pull some air over it. By pulling the air over the wine while it's in your mouth you're going to get a preview of the full expression this grape has to offer.  When you're done aerating you'll taste that coffee in the murky, moist breath hovering over the pool of wine in your mouth, and lingering in your sinus.

The finish: A soft and silky mouth feel ends in a creamy coating as this wine goes down, releasing bits of chocolate and coffee onto your breath, along with the memory of the jam you might have been expecting, but never fully met.

Keep in mind that these tasting notes are all from when you first open this bottle. Take your time with this one, don't rush a wonderful thing and savor this wine. Talk about it. Forget about it. Drink it and enjoy, but give it that time it needs to get use to you.

Mid bottle: Like any shy thing, it needs to let its guard down. When it does, what you'll have is a nose that is every bit a shot of espresso with steamed milk and a spoon full of raw sugar; and you'll taste an espresso bean coated in dark chocolate then drizzled with blackberry syrup.

Pinotage is a South African grape that naturally has mild acid, coffee, chocolate and fruit notes. Not quite like this bottle, but their there if you really try to find them. The pronounced coffee in BARISTA (which is 100% pinotage) comes from a special yeast used in the fermentation process that enhances the coffee notes, so don't expect all pinotages to taste quite like this. This is a truly unique and wonderful wine.

PAIRING:

This wine is going to go great with something as simple as a burger. However, if you're looking for some ideas slightly more specific, try either a pork tenderloin or filet mignon wrapped with bacon, sauteed mushrooms and / or fried leeks. Or, try orange duck, or even better: Peking Duck.  Soft cheeses will be nice as well. And for dessert: lemon sorbet sprinkled with zest. Dark chocolate; fresh mango; even a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream will go nicely. For me, personally, I'm reaching for Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby.