The Pinotage, a coffee wine with no actual coffee in it

One of the hot—and, to some, unfortunate—wine trends these days is adding coffee or coffee flavoring to wines. But one of the hottest wines at the recent New York Wine Expo was one that had coffee characteristics without actually containing any java.

Instead, The Pinotage, from South African winery Diemersfontain, possesses a distinct coffee aroma, winery owner David Sonnenberg told me, through the way the wine is made, including the selection and handling of the grapes and type of oak barrel used in its aging.

However it's done, the end result was delicious. To me, The Pinotage came across as a powerful red in which the coffee "note" is strong on the nose but doesn't overpower the rest of its complex flavors, including berry and chocolate. Despite the 150 or so wines available to taste at the show, I found myself going back for more of The Pinotage, as did other attendees.

It isn't a unique wine. At least a dozen other wines from South Africa are billed as so-called "coffee pinotages," all of them also supposedly coffee-free. The pinotage varietal, a cross of pinot noir and Cinsaut (formally called Hermitage) grapes, is unique to South Africa.

After years in which many pinotages were rather rough and unpleasing, our wine experts say the varietal is now yielding consistently better wines. Those include many "non-coffee" pinotages, including one that Diemersfontain was pouring at the show. I liked this second wine, but found that it lacked the special character of its coffee cousin.

The Pinotage is available in number of states, including New York, Texas, and California (and online wine stores in some of those states can ship it to more than 30 other states). While many South African wines are very inexpensive, this wine costs $20 or so. But to my palate, this distinctive wine is a great value at that price.

We have no plans to have our wine testers rate The Pinotage anytime soon, since our coverage focuses on widely available wines, mostly in popular varietals including cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and sauvignon blanc. But we do evaluate up-and-coming varietals such as rosé, especially when they offer many bottles that are fine values. Who knows? A test of pinotages might be a future possibility.

—Paul Reynolds