To David Brennan from Indooroopilly in Queensland is flying a bottle of fine South African Pinotage. It’s becoming rather a thing in the Australian trade to depreciatingly suggest that no such thing exists but believe me, it sure does. Well made old bush-vine pinotage is right up there with Australian old-vine shiraz and grenache. As David correctly identified, pinotage makes red wine, while arneis, pinot gris and viognier do not. In 1925 a Professor A.I. Perold of Stellenbosch University crossed pinot noir with cinsault (which was commonly called ‘Hermitage’) back then in South Africa. It’s no longer a mainstream variety there, which is something of a shame. The next quiz concerns Australia’s indigenous sparkling red wine, which many people believe should be our first-choice beverage when seeing in the new millennium. My question is this: which winemaker is credited with making the first ever sparkling burgundy in Australia? Furthermore, what state did he make it in and when did he do it? Naturally any disputes arising from this quiz will be settled by Captain Spurgle, himself, known to his friends as Ian Loftus, founder of Australian National Sparkling Red Day. Post your answer to Reply Paid 243, OnWine Quiz #13, Jeremy Oliver OnWine, 565 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122, Australia. The deadline for entries is November 19
