Description
Tokara Limited Release Pinotage 2024 is a small-batch Stellenbosch red built around concentration, dark fruit, and careful oak maturation. The style is serious and structured, with enough freshness and floral lift to keep the wine balanced despite its depth and weight.
The nose opens with dark plum, black cherry, and violet, followed by baking spice, vanilla, dark chocolate, and subtle toasted oak. On the palate, the fruit is rich and generous, framed by fine, mouth-coating tannins that give the wine persistence without becoming hard. The finish is long and composed, with dark fruit and spice carrying through cleanly. It would pair especially well with roast lamb, braised beef, venison, or smoky grilled meats.
Already expressive, this is a cellar-worthy Pinotage with the concentration and structure to develop further over the next several years.
The nose opens with dark plum, black cherry, and violet, followed by baking spice, vanilla, dark chocolate, and subtle toasted oak. On the palate, the fruit is rich and generous, framed by fine, mouth-coating tannins that give the wine persistence without becoming hard. The finish is long and composed, with dark fruit and spice carrying through cleanly. It would pair especially well with roast lamb, braised beef, venison, or smoky grilled meats.
Already expressive, this is a cellar-worthy Pinotage with the concentration and structure to develop further over the next several years.
In the cellar
The bunches were hand-harvested into shallow trays and chilled overnight before destemming and hand sorting. The fruit was transferred to small concrete fermenters and partially crushed, followed by four days of cold maceration before natural fermentation began. Extraction was managed with twice-daily punch-downs and pump-overs. After fermentation, the free-run wine was separated before pressing and transferred to barrel for malolactic fermentation. The wine was then racked and returned to barrel, maturing for a total of 20 months in French oak, 50% of it new, with minimal intervention. Light filtration was used before bottling, with no fining.
Winemaker: Stuart Botha
Winemaker: Stuart Botha
About the Winery
South African Tokara winery, on the R310 outside Stellenbosch, is nestled among vineyards and olive groves on the crest of the Helshoogte Pass with sweeping views across False Bay and all the way to Table Mountain. With elevations of between 350m and 550m, soil profiles are of weathered sandstone and decomposed granite - the combination lending structure, perfume and longevity to their wines.
