'Off the Charts' Pinotage
£14.20
£18.93 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
Out of Stock
If you want South Africa in a single glass, start here. This is Pinotage with the volume turned up: black cherry, dark chocolate and a curl of toasty oak smoke, all from Bruce Jack's brilliant 'Off the Charts' range. Bold, generous and seriously good value, it's a crowd-pleaser that overdelivers well above its modest price.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
Our Verdict
We listed this because it's one of the most honest introductions to Pinotage we've found at this price. There's no rough edge to apologise for here: it's plush, dark-fruited and confidently made by a team that genuinely understands the grape. We love it for anyone curious about what Pinotage can really do, and for expats who just want the real thing in their glass again. It's quietly become a customer favourite, and with only a little left in stock, we wouldn't wait too long on this one.
Tasting Notes
The nose pulls you in with black cherry and dark plum, layered over cocoa and a lick of warm spice. On the palate it delivers what it promises: a generous rush of black forest fruit, ripe and rounded, with chocolatey, toasty oak filling in the edges rather than dominating. The tannins are fine and well-judged, giving structure without grip, and the finish carries that dark fruit and gentle spice through to a soft, savoury close. Smooth, bold, unmistakably Pinotage.
Black Forest Fruit
Ripe black cherry and dark plum at the core, juicy and concentrated, giving the wine its generous, mouth-filling weight.
Dark Chocolate Depth
A cocoa-rich seam runs through nose and palate, adding a rounded, indulgent edge that softens the dark fruit.
Toasty Oak
Twelve months in a mix of new and old barrels lends a gentle toasted warmth, supporting the fruit rather than masking it.
About This Wine
Here's a wine that does exactly what Pinotage should: it tastes unmistakably, proudly South African. Bruce Jack named his 'Off the Charts' range after the idea that human culture began at the tip of Africa, and there's something fitting about pouring a glass of the country's own grape from a label that celebrates exactly where it comes from.
In the glass, it leads with black cherry and ripe plum, then opens into darker territory: cocoa, baking spice and a whisper of black forest fruit, all wrapped in gentle toasty oak. That structure is no accident. A four-day cold soak draws out colour, flavour and fine, supple tannins, with twice-daily pump-overs keeping everything in balance, before a portion of the wine spends time in a mix of new and older barrels to round off the edges. The result is smooth, layered and far more polished than the price suggests.
This is a wine built for sharing. Pour it alongside a charcoal-grilled steak, a slow-cooked lamb shoulder, or sticky barbecue ribs when the British summer finally turns up. It's just as happy on a wet weeknight with a good Cheddar and a fire on.
And as a gift? For a homesick South African in the UK, this is a proper taste of home, delivered to their door anywhere in Britain.
Food Pairing
This wants smoke and char. Pour it alongside a chargrilled rib-eye or sticky barbecue ribs and the dark fruit and toasty oak come alive. It also handles a slow-cooked beef and mushroom stew beautifully, the savoury depth meeting the wine's chocolatey core. For something simpler, a mature Cheddar after dinner does the job nicely.
- —Chargrilled rib-eye steak
- —Sticky barbecue pork ribs
- —Slow-cooked beef and mushroom stew
- —Venison sausages with red onion gravy
- —Mature farmhouse Cheddar
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool room temperature, around 16 to 18 degrees. If it has been in a warm kitchen, give it twenty minutes to settle.
Decanting
No long decant needed. Open it fifteen to twenty minutes ahead, or pour into a decanter briefly to let the dark fruit and chocolate aromas lift and the oak ease back.
Glass
A generous, large-bowled red-wine glass gives the ripe fruit and toasty oak room to open and breathe.
Cellaring
Best enjoyed within three to four years of the vintage. If keeping it a year or two, store cool, dark and on its side.
Behind the Wine
This is a wine shaped by patience. Cool summers and gentle early autumns let the Pinotage hang long on the vine, ripening slowly rather than racing to sugar in the heat. Cold, wet winters set the vines up well, and the long, unhurried ripening builds deep, dark fruit while holding on to a natural seam of acidity. That balance is exactly what you taste: generous black cherry and plum that never tips into jammy heaviness, kept fresh and lifted right through the finish.
Ageing Potential
Made to be enjoyed young. It is approachable straight away and will hold its fruit and gentle spice over the next three to four years, the fine tannins softening a touch with time. There is no need to cellar this; it is at its generous best now.
The Land
These are well-drained, stony slopes where vines have to work for a living, sending roots deep in search of water and keeping yields naturally low. Mountain shadows shorten the day and cool the nights, and that wide swing between warm afternoons and cold evenings is the secret behind the wine's ripe, concentrated fruit and its bright, balancing acidity.
The Winemaking
The fruit is hand-picked in the cool of early morning, then destemmed but left uncrushed, so whole berries go gently into open-top stainless steel. A four-day cold soak before fermentation draws out colour, flavour and supple tannins, with twice-daily pump-overs keeping everything in contact. After fermentation the wine sits on its skins for a further two weeks before a soft pressing. Around a fifth then spends a year in a mix of new and older barrels, just enough to thread in that chocolatey, toasty oak without burying the fruit.
The Swartland Region
Swartland, 'the black land' in Afrikaans, named for the renosterbos that darkens after rain, rolls out north of Cape Town across the hills around Malmesbury and Riebeek-Kasteel. It's hot, dry, and stubbornly characterful: a place of old bush vines, granite and koffieklip soils, and a community of growers who've made it the most quietly thrilling corner of South African wine. Concentration, freshness, and a wild streak you don't find elsewhere, that's Swartland in a glass.
About the Producer
Bruce Jack
Bruce Jack runs a small, tight-knit team out of South Africa, with head winemakers Bruce himself and Marlize Beyers working side by side for more than two decades. Between them they've made wine across several continents, but the through-line has always been authenticity, wines that taste of where they come from, made by people who actually know the vineyards. The 'Off the Charts' range, which the Tumbleweed wines belong to, is their love letter to South Africa's classic grape and region pairings, with labels nodding to the Basotho blanket and the wide, untamed landscapes of the Cape. Bruce Jack has appeared four years running in Drinks International's World's Most Admired Wine Brands, recognition the team has quietly earned, bottle by bottle.