The Den Pinotage Rose
£12.49
£16.65 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 6 bottles available
Pinotage takes a walk on the lighter side. This Painted Wolf rosé is all about summer in a glass, tropical fruit, crisp melon, and a zippy citrus lift that makes it dangerously easy to drink. A South African rosé with personality, perfect for sunny afternoons, picnic blankets, and anyone who thinks rosé has to be predictable.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
UK wide delivery
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Our Verdict
We love this one because it does what so few rosés bother to do, it actually tastes of something. Painted Wolf has taken Pinotage, a grape known for swagger, and made it lift its skirt and dance. There's tropical fruit, there's grassy freshness, and there's a real sense of place behind it. Perfect for the rosé drinker who's grown tired of pale and polite, or anyone curious about Pinotage's softer side. The conservation story behind every bottle makes it even easier to pour a second glass.
Tasting Notes
A pale, summer-bright rosé that leads with tropical lift, pineapple, ripe peach, a twist of lemon zest on the nose. The palate is crisp and cleansing, all juicy melon and passion fruit, with a tangy gooseberry edge that keeps things lively. A whisper of cut grass on the finish gives it a herbaceous freshness that stops the fruit from tipping into sweetness. Light, dry, refreshing, exactly what Pinotage rosé should be.
About This Wine
Here's a rosé that doesn't play by the usual rules. Most pink wines lean Provençal, pale, delicate, whisper-quiet. The Den takes South Africa's signature grape and turns it into something altogether more vivid: a rosé with proper fruit, proper character, and a smile on its face. Expect a nose full of pineapple and ripe peach, with a squeeze of lemon zest cutting through. The palate is crisp and cleansing, melon and passion fruit upfront, then a snap of gooseberry and freshly cut grass on the finish that keeps you reaching for the next sip. It's pink without being precious, fruity without being sweet. The wine comes from Painted Wolf, a small Swartland operation founded by Emma and Jeremy Borg with a brilliant dual mission: making honest wines from low-yielding, mostly unirrigated vineyards across the Cape, and channelling proceeds into conservation work for the endangered African wild dog. The grapes are picked carefully and handled gently, blanketed with CO2 through crushing and pressing to lock in every drop of fresh fruit character. Serve it well-chilled with a summer salad, grilled prawns, or a plate of charcuterie on the patio. It's also a lovely thing to bring along to a barbecue, the kind of bottle that gets people asking what it is. We deliver across the UK, usually within a few days, so it can be on your table by the weekend. Sending it as a gift to a rosé-loving friend? You've just become their favourite person.
Food Pairing
This is a wine for sunshine and informal eating. Brilliant with a platter of charred prawns and lemon, or grilled chicken thighs marinated in chilli and lime. It also handles a Thai green curry beautifully, the gooseberry tang cutting through coconut richness. For something simpler, pair with a goat's cheese and watermelon salad, or just a plate of charcuterie in the garden.
- —Charred king prawns with garlic and lemon
- —Grilled chicken thighs with chilli and lime
- —Thai green curry with chicken or prawns
- —Goat's cheese, watermelon and mint salad
- —Charcuterie board with cured ham and olives
How to Serve
Decanting
No decanting needed. This is a fresh, aromatic rosé designed to be poured straight from the bottle, opening it up with air would only blunt the lifted citrus and tropical aromatics.
Ageing & Cellaring
Drink this young and fresh, it's built for early enjoyment, not the cellar. Aim to open bottles within two to three years of the vintage, while the tropical fruit is still vivid and the citrus snap intact. Older bottles lose their lift and the aromatics fade.
The Winemaking
Picking timing is everything for a rosé this lifted, and the fruit comes in at the moment when aromatics are at their peak. From there, the focus is on protection, a blanket of CO2 shielding the grapes through crushing and pressing, locking in those bright tropical aromas and that crisp, grassy lift on the finish. It's a gentle, oxygen-shy approach that keeps the wine fresh, fragrant, and honest to 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
Painted Wolf
Painted Wolf takes its name, and its purpose, from one of Africa's most endangered predators: the African wild dog, known to conservationists as the painted wolf. It's an unusual starting point for a wine label, but once you understand the story, it makes perfect sense. Founded in Paarl in 2006 by Emma and Jeremy Borg, this is a producer built on the idea that good wine and good intentions aren't mutually exclusive.
Jeremy learned his craft the hard way, working harvests and cellars across the US, UK and South Africa, including a spell at Fairview just down the road in Paarl. That well-travelled apprenticeship shows in the wines: confident, well-made, and refreshingly free of pretension. The Borgs source their grapes widely across the Cape Winelands, with a particular focus on the Swartland and other Coastal region vineyards, giving them the flexibility to chase quality and character rather than being tied to a single estate.
What sets Painted Wolf apart, though, is the conservation thread running through everything they do. A portion of proceeds supports wild dog conservation and social upliftment projects, and the packageing itself tells that story, each wine a small act of storytelling as much as winemaking. It would be easy for that to feel like a marketing gimmick bolted onto an ordinary wine business. It doesn't. The commitment runs deep, and the wines back it up.
We stock Painted Wolf because they prove that a wine with a conscience doesn't have to compromise on drinkability. The Den range, their most approachable line, is exactly what its name suggests: soft, juicy, unfussy wines built for everyday drinking rather than the cellar. Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinotage and a Pinotage Rosé all wear the Wine of Origin Western Cape or Swartland badge with quiet confidence, and all deliver more character than their easy-drinking style might suggest.
For UK customers curious about South African wine with genuine substance behind the label, Painted Wolf offers a way in that's both delicious and meaningful. It's a bottle you can open on a Tuesday and one you can talk about at a dinner party, which isn't a combination you find often.