Halfway Round the World

Let’s talk about some badass women.

Let’s talk about S., who is my Constant Reader and high school bestie AM’s good friend from grad school.

Not only is she a full-time school superintendent in Pennsylvania, partner to the fabulous and hilarious K., loving mum to L., she also plays field hockey at the World Master level, among the 50+ year old women’s league.

So much so does she play field hockey, that this week she’s been in South Africa, representing the U.S. in the Hockey World Cup for over-50s!

You know, as any other 50-plus year old woman does!

Speaking of which, S.’s team is one of four U.S. women’s team at the World Cup, and the other teams are 50, 55, 60, and 65. Yeah. There’s 65+ year old women playing field hockey well enough to be in a world cup!

Bad ass.

And bonus: this gives me an chance to do a little deep dive on one of my favorite South African grapes, pinotage.

Pronounced pi-no-tazzhh — we get to take all that azzzhhh from when we were mispronouncing Meritage and drop it here — it’s a hybrid of pinot noir and cinsault (spelled cinsaut in South Africa), that was created in 1925, so just within the last century. It’s the third most planted grape there, after cabernet sauvignon and merlot.

This also gave me a reason to stop in at the new (to me) Bottle King near Princeton. They had a couple pinotages on the shelves, and I went with 2016 Dornier Pinotage.

This is another wine you’ll want to put a bit of chill on to tame the high alcohol a bit. It’s great on the palate. I get cocoa and a bit woodsy. This would be perfect with braised beef or mushroom and eggplant.

Congrats to S. and her teammates. I don’t know much about field hockey, but I’m 50, and running around after my dog will tire me out, so mad mad respect. Hope they got to taste some great wine after their tournament!