Ayama "Baboon's Cuddle" 2020 Pinotage - South Africa

Pinotage is the emblematic grape variety of South Africa. It is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault - previously known as Hermitage, hence the word Pinotage, a contraction of the words Pinot and Hermitage. It was created in 1925 by Abraham Perold, then a researcher at Stellenbosch University. Well adapted to its terroir of origin, it combines the robustness of Cinsault with the finesse of Pinot Noir.

Medium-bodied, Baboon's Cuddle offers an harmonious balance and flavours of plum, cherry and blackcurrant, with hints of cocoa in the background. 

Michela Sfiligoi and her husband, both Italians, bought in 2004 Slent, a historic mountainside farm in the Paardeberg region outside Cape Town, home to vines and orchards of plums and pears. The couple added olive groves and worked on creating a unique offering of Italian and South African wines. Some of the vines were imported from Italy, then grown in South Africa. Ayama’s fine Chenin’s was joined by Shiraz and Pinotage, wine cultivars for which the Voor Paardeberg region is renowned. 

In November 2014, they planted two hectares of the very FIRST Vermentino in South Africa, a Sardinian clone going through 6 years of waiting between quarantine and vines to be made.