Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition Judging
The Standard Improves Every Year


This year’s Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition was judged on 13 August at Longridge Wine Cellar – the beautiful winter’s day was further enhanced by the graceful setting.

There were 133 entries this year, a slight drop from last year’s 139 due to the lack of overseas entries and the Soccer World Cup™. The oldest vintage submitted was a 2005, with seven wines from 2006. The majority of wines were from the 2008 vintage with the balance split evenly between 2007 and 2009. This proves that Pinotage can be at its best across a wide age spectrum. Forty eight out of the 133 wines submitted were from Stellenbosch, 11 from Paarl, 5 from Robertson, 3 from Olifantsrivier, 12 from Wellington and 13 of generic Western Cape origin.

From left back row: Dave Hughes, David Molyneux-Berry, Hannes Storm, Gert Boerssen, Duimpie Bayly
In front holding the trophy Susan Erasmus and Jonathan Steyn

The judges were impressed with the quality of the wines. The international judge David Molyneux-Berry, currently based in Egypt while training hotel and restaurant staff said: "I have not been in South Africa for about six years. Although I have judged Pinotages at international competitions, I am very impressed at how the standard of Pinotage wines has improved and is now exceptionally high. The wines that we tasted presented some interesting variation in style. The wines had good tannin structure where these were a bit rough and ready before. The fruit is definitely of better quality and the acetone-like taste that sometimes appeared has disappeared completely. My guess is that this is the result of better management of the vineyards either picking earlier or later. The wines are presenting a lovely fresh character with lots of fruit and the oak, where present, is very subtle. There were a number of full-bodied serious wines but I hope a few of the charming easy drinking wines also gets selected, as after all, wine is for drinking."

Jonathan Steyn co-owner of Balthazar and Balducci restaurants in the Victory & Alfred Waterfront concurred that the quality has improved considerably. This is proof that the viticulturists and wine makers were getting a handle on Pinotage grapes and have learnt how to produce some lovely wines. The wines presented showed purity of fruit with some power underneath providing a ripe style of wine with lots of red and dark fruit. The different styles also now represented the various areas where Pinotage is grown and not only the traditional Stellenbosch area.

Once again Absa's Top 10 Pinotage Competition has contributed to the ongoing improvement of Pinotage wine and this contribution should not be underestimated said De Wet Viljoen Vice Chairman of the Pinotage Association: “This competition is very important as winemakers strive to get into the Top 10, but it is the entire process of viticulture from the terroir to the harvesting and the handling of the grapes and wines in the cellar that has improved and is providing the excellent quality wines we have seen in this year’s Competition.”

The results of the top twenty wines and final top ten will be announced on 9 September at a gala event at Kronenberg.