A sweet spot for Pinotage

It will always be emphasized that Pinotage is a versatile red grape variety, you can produce an absolute top quality full-bodied food wine, or medium-bodied wine to be enjoyed on its own, or rosé wine or sparkling wine. And now the Pinotage sweet spot has also shown top quality.

At the annual South African Young Wine Show wines from the current vintage are judged shortly after the harvesting, pressing and fermentation has been completed. Many of the wines entered are tank or barrel samples. The entries come from all the wine growing areas in South Africa and in 2009 the Stephan Smit Trophy for Other Red Cultivar was awarded to Namaqua Wine Cellar in the Olifants River region, for their semi-sweet Pinotage wine.

Although Pinotage is categorised as one of the noble varieties and therefore does not qualify for the Other Red Cultivar category, Namaqua could enter this Pinotage in that category because the sugar content is 21 g/l. And with that sweet spot it received a national trophy. Read more.


Decades of growing and showing

By Marius Labuschagne

We sat around the table, with the unobstructed view of the ocean from Beyers Truter’s home in Vermont, named Pinotage. And on the table were Pinotage wines from 1963 to 2006. All the serious wine lovers and connoisseurs who joined us could only smell, sip and talk about those wines, the view came second for quite a while. The main aim of the tasting was to celebrate and evaluate Pinotage wines as time goes by. The first ever bottled and branded Pinotage wine to hit the shelves was the Lanzerac Pinotage 1961. The wines we tasted were: 1963 Lanzerac Pinotage, 1969 Lanzerac Pinotage, 1971 Swartland Pinotage, 1974 Zonnebloem Pinotage, 1976 Meerendal Pinotage, 1976 Stellenryk Pinotage, 1978 Simonsig Pinotage, 1984 Zonnebloem Pinotage, 1988 Zonnebloem Pinotage, 1994 Kanonkop CWG Pinotage, 1997 L’Avenir CWG Pinotage, 1999 Kanonkop Pinotage, 2001 Kaapzicht Steytler Pinotage, 2003 Simonsig Redhill Pinotage, 2006 Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage. Read more.



Abraham Perold Trophy in the international arena

The trophy for the world’s top Pinotage wine at the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) in London this year was changed to the Abraham Perold Trophy for Best Pinotage, to give recognition to the father of Pinotage, Abraham Perold. The new sponsors are Absa and the Pinotage Association.

The IWSC is one of the world’s biggest and most authoritative wine competitions and South Africa’s homegrown grape varietal, Pinotage, was introduced as a category in this competition in 1995. Although Pinotage today is also cultivated in several other countries worldwide, South Africa as the true origin of this red grape variety has won the trophy every year in the past 14 years. This year the trophy was awarded to the Rijk’s Private Cellar Pinotage Reserve 2006.

Pinotage was developed by Professor Abraham Perold in 1925 at Stellenbosch University. His cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut (commonly called Hermitage in South Africa) produced the contraction ‘Pinotage’.

“Perold’s crucial contribution to South Africa’s wine industry with the creation of the Pinotage grape will always be simbolised by this trophy. It will therefore in the international arena play a major role in honouring wine producers who create absolute top quality Pinotage wines,” says Beyers Truter. Read more.

Pinotage comes out tops at WineX people’s poll

Pinotage received a resounding thumbs-up by Cape Town and Johannesburg wine lovers in the Best Wines on Show ballot conducted at RMB WineX held recently in both cities. In Cape Town, attended by 6 500 visitors with close to 900 wines on show by 154 exhibitors, the Diemersfontein Pinotage 2008, KWV Café Culture 2009 and Barista Coffee Pinotage received the most votes overall and took the top three places respectively as the best red wines on show.

In Johannesburg more than 16 000 wine lovers and members of the trade attended the show to sip and swirl over 1 000 wines lined up by 200 exhibitors and the Diemersfontein Pinotage 2009 was voted the best red wine.

RMB WineX Cape Town took place from 9 to 11 September at the CTICC. Both exhibitor numbers and show attendance figures reveal a decrease on previous years’ show attendance. However, the Shop@Show retail facility, managed for the first time this year by Picardi-Rebel, was very successful with a turnover of R235 000 in wine sales. Read more.

The Pinotage Rosé full of awards and delight

by Marius Labuschagne

After a very long wet and windy winter (the Cape winelands is not complaining, another good vintage should be on its way), we can now at last again braai outside barefooted with short pants while talking politics and sport. Now it is time for a good Rosé, especially if you want her to laugh at your jokes.

The annual Veritas Awards is South Africa’s biggest wine competition, mainly due to the very high number of entries and the whole industry that participates, there is a brotherhood among most of the people.

If you look at the results of this year’s Veritas Awards you are quite surprised at the small number of Rosé wines that were entered, only 15, of which 9 received bronze, 5 silver and only one gold, the Avondrood Blush Pinotage Rosé 2009. At the Veritas Awards that one gold awarded Rosé wine clearly stood out on the big screen. It is the same wine that this year received the National Certificate as the Top Rosé at the annual SA Terroir Wine Awards. Read more.






Pinotage civilization at 50

By Emile Joubert

Humanity has been enjoying wine for over 8000 years, but only 50 of these have been committed to the appreciation of Pinotage. And although 50 years may seem like a drop in the fermentation vat of wine culture, it is unlikely that any other variety has made such a profound impression on the wine world in such a short time.

Pinotage, South Africa's?national grape, creates wines that today simply count among the best in the world. Its merits and properties have led to countries such as America, Australia, New Zealand and even Israel making attempts in creating a Pinotage comparable to those made in South Africa.

Fortunately, these foreign attempts have thus-far seemingly failed. Together with biltong from the Kalahari, Charlize Theron and the Springboks aggressive techniques in the rugby ruck, Pinotage is one of those things that makes one proud to be South African.

This has caused Pinotage wallowing close to the heart of the South African wine-lover, something that can be expected. Read more.




A Pinotage gale force strikes Windmeul

Windmeul Cellar in the past three months totally rose to the fore with an array of wine awards, with especially Pinotage. The Windmeul Pinotage Reserve 2008 is the only wine that was selected as one of the Absa Top 10 Pinotage winners and also received a Double Gold Veritas Award.

In addition, it was the only Pinotage wine this year which was awarded a Diamond Trophy Winemaker's Choice, while it also received a Gold Michelangelo Award. This follows on almost the same extraordinary achievement with the Windmeul Pinotage Reserve 2007 last year. At the 2008 Winemaker's Choice Wine Competition, it was selected as the Best Red Wine overall as well as receiving a Double Gold International Michelangelo Award and a Double Gold Veritas Award. In 2007 the Windmeul Pinotage Reserve 2006 was an Absa Top 10 Pinotage winner.

It really is an exceptional achievement for one wine cellar to receive so many top accolades with one cultivar wine vintage after vintage.

With the recession that still lingers, the creative team at Windmeul Cellar decided to open a monthly farm market at this historic wine cellar's wine centre on the northern slopes of Paarl Mountain. The opening takes place on Saturday 7 November and coincides with the 2009 Windmeul Waterblommetjie Festival and the potjiekos competition with waterblommetjies as the theme. Fresh products can be purchased. Read more.