Wild Garden Pinotage
£10.59
£14.12 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 6 bottles available
South Africa's signature grape in its most cheerful, easy-drinking guise. This unoaked Pinotage delivers a mouthful of bright plum and bramble berry, soft tannins, and a lively fruity finish. No wood, no fuss, just pure varietal character. Perfect for weeknight suppers, summer barbecues, or introducing curious friends to what Pinotage is really about.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
UK wide delivery
Our Verdict
We put this in the range because everyone deserves an easy, affordable Pinotage that actually tastes of Pinotage. The unoaked approach is the making of it: nothing gets in the way of that vivid plum and bramble fruit, and the tannins stay soft and welcoming. It's the bottle we reach for when friends drop round unannounced, or when we want to prove to a Pinotage sceptic that the grape can be pure, joyful drinking. Brilliant value, and a proper little ambassador for the Cape.
Tasting Notes
Pour this and the glass fills with bright, brambly berry fruit: dark plum, mulberry and a lick of black cherry, all lifted and juicy rather than brooding. The palate is soft and rounded, with more of that plummy fruit up front, a whisper of sweet spice, and none of the smoky, tarry weight some Pinotages carry. Tannins are gentle, acidity keeps things fresh, and the finish is clean and fruit-driven. Easy, honest, and unmistakably Pinotage.
About This Wine
If you've been curious about Pinotage but wary of the heavier, smokier examples, start here. This is South Africa's home-grown grape in its friendliest form: juicy, plummy, and built for pure enjoyment rather than solemn contemplation. One sip and you'll understand why Pinotage divides opinion less when it's made like this. The fruit comes from carefully chosen vineyards in the Swartland and around Piketberg, a warm, dry stretch of the Western Cape roughly 20 miles inland from the Atlantic. That ocean breeze is the secret. It sweeps across the rolling hills, cooling the vines just enough to preserve freshness, while the ancient patchwork of shale, granite and ironstone soils gives the wine its layered brambly character. Fermented in stainless steel and matured entirely without oak, everything you taste is pure fruit: bright plum, blackberry, a whisper of red cherry, and a soft, rounded finish that keeps you coming back to the glass. Pour it with grilled sausages at the next barbecue, a Friday-night pizza, or a proper roast chicken with all the trimmings. It also handles a mildly spiced bobotie or a tomato-rich pasta beautifully. Try it lightly chilled when the weather warms up. Delivered to your door anywhere in the UK, this is the sort of honest, characterful bottle that earns its place in the weekly rotation, and makes a lovely, unpretentious introduction to Cape reds for anyone new to South African wine.
Food Pairing
This is a wine built for casual, generous food. Think weeknight suppers and weekend grilling: a plate of pork and herb sausages, a proper cheeseburger, or a bubbling tray of tomatoey pasta bake. It handles a little spice well too, so a mild lamb bobotie or a chorizo pizza works nicely. Serve with a light chill on warmer days and it becomes even more refreshing.
- —Grilled pork and herb sausages with mustard mash
- —Classic cheeseburger with caramelised onions
- —Tomato and basil pasta bake with mozzarella
- —Roast chicken thighs with paprika and lemon
- —Cape-style bobotie with yellow rice
How to Serve
Decanting
No need to decant. This is unoaked, soft-tannined and made to drink straight from the bottle. If anything, a quick swirl in the glass is all the air it wants.
Ageing & Cellaring
This is a drink-young Pinotage, made for immediate enjoyment rather than the cellar. Its charm is fresh, brambly fruit, and that fades with time rather than developing complexity. Drink within two to three years of the vintage, while the plum and berry notes are at their most vivid.
The Land
The vineyards sit at around 140 metres, high enough to catch cool air spilling in from the Atlantic. Underneath, the soils are a patchwork of shale, schist, granite and iron-stone, each with its own balance of clay and minerality. That mix is what builds the layered, brambly fruit into the wine, and the coastal winds keep the canopies healthy with minimal intervention needed.
The Winemaking
Everything here is set up to protect the fruit. Fermentation happens in temperature-controlled stainless steel, which locks in the bright, primary character of the grape rather than pushing it toward anything heavier or more brooding. And crucially, no oak. Not a stave, not a chip. That decision is what gives this Pinotage its clean, unforced quality: pure plum, pure bramble, nothing standing between you and the variety itself. It is winemaking as restraint, letting the grape do the talking.
The Western Cape Region
Le Domaine draws its fruit from vineyards scattered across the Western Cape, from coastal sites cooled by Atlantic breezes to warmer inland slopes, all planted between 50 and 300 metres above sea level. This broad sourcing is deliberate. By blending components from different microclimates, the cellar builds a consistent house style that balances the crisp acidity of cooler sites with the ripe generosity of warmer ones. It's the Western Cape's extraordinary diversity captured in a single glass.
About the Producer
Wild Garden
Wild Garden is a small, own-label range put together specifically for us: two wines, one white, one red, both showcasing the classic South African grape varieties in an honest, everyday style. The name is a nod to the wild, wind-swept stretch of fynbos and vineyard that runs up the Cape's west coast, where the fruit is grown. There's a Pinotage in the range too, but this Chenin Blanc is the one that gets poured most often. Carefully selected, blended and bottled with a clear brief: keep it fresh, keep it fruity, keep it drinkable. It's the kind of bottle you open on a Tuesday without a second thought, and reach for again on Wednesday.