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. It is, after all, the grape developed in our own soil by a South African. A grape producing wine to which local palates relate with joy and one making inroads into discerning foreign palates.

The first commercially bottle of Pinotage bears the Lanzerac 1959 label, but the seed was – literally – planted cultivated in 1925.

The father of Pinotage was Abraham Izak Perold, a name pronounced in hushed tones of reverence throughout the winelands. Perold grew up in these winelands, but was seemingly not seduced by the intoxicating powers of the grape. He was a brilliant scholar, obtaining a doctorate in chemistry from the University Halle an der Saale in Germany in 1904.

Upon his return to South Africa in 1906 the Cape Government dispatched Perold to Europe, his mission being to investigate grape varieties which could possibly adapt to South African conditions and, in the process, make passable wines. Perold quickly became known as the country’s expert in the field of viticulture, and became the University of Stellenbosch’s first professor on the subject.

During the 1920s Perold experimented with the crossings of various grape varieties. The one leading to this story was the experiment with Pinot Noir and Hermitage. (Pino+Tage).
The choice of these two cultivars was a strange one. Pinot Noir is one of the world’s royal varieties, known for producing the great wines of Burgundy. Hermitage, on the other hand, is high-yield workhorse, providing cheap wine that contributes to keeping the working classes of Southern France in an almost perpetual state of inebriation. In South Africa, Hermitage is especially known for its role as the base for the popular Tassenberg brand.

Perold left no notes motivating this experiment of crossing Hermitage with Pinot Noir. All that remained were four seedlings of this “new” plant. These were planted in the garden of Perold’s Stellenbosch home, and when he embarked for Paarl to take up a position with the KWV, the plants were almost forgotten.

A team of garden workers in the mood for plucking and chucking was busy clearing the garden of the now-empty Perold homestead. Before they could throw them on their rubbish pile, a lecturer from the University of Stellenbosch by the name of Charlie Niehaus happened to be in the vicinity and saved Perold’s neglected legacy.

Yet, nobody really knew what to do with these plants. But they ended up being planted on the grounds of the Elsenburg Agricultural College outside Stellenbosch.

A few pioneering wine farmers began looking at these strange “mongrel” plants, and some even obtained plant material for experimental wine-making purposes. The Stellenbosch estates of Bellevue and Kanonkop, who are today still renowned Pinotage producers, were the first farms to plant vines from Pinotage. In 1959 grapes from Bellevue were used to create the famed Lanzerac 1959 Pinotage, the first commercial bottling.

“Pinotage could not have found a better home than South Africa,” says Beyers Truter from Beyerskloof and arguably the world’s foremost Pinotage expert. “The grape is just as opinionated, thick-skinned and full of nonsense as a true South African!

“The vine itself is a tough bugger. It grows like hell and to control this vine and to prepare it for the production of good grapes is like diving into a loose maul where Bakkies Botha is waiting for you on the other side,” says Truter.

But, he says, just as untamed and tough Pinotage is in the vineyard, “so full of finicky nonsense the grapes are when you’ve got to start making wine from them.

“It is as if Pinotage has its own set of rules – it doesn’t march to the same tune as other red varieties,” says Truter. “Other red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot can ferment on the skins for 21 days, but after a week, maximum, Pinotage has finished its fermenting. This requires a lot of manhandling, punch-downs, and so on, to extract colour. And in-between all this punching down and watching your temperatures and sugar, you still have to contain all the volatilities, of which there are many.

“Of all red grapes, Pinotage provides the winemaker with the biggest set of challenges. But man, the reward – a glass of smooth, soft, fruity Pinotage – this makes it all worthwhile.”
Although he does not flaunt it, Truter has largely been responsible for Pinotage’s reputation as a fine wine variety.

During the 1980s, when wine consumption and wine availability boomed, Pinotage struggled to muster any credibility as a good wine.

The “boer grape” from South Africa was described in unflattering terms – “nail varnish”, “rusty nails” and “farm-yard” being among the choice descriptions used.

This changed in 1991. Beyers Truter was crowned Best Winemaker in the World at the International Wine Challenge in London. For what wine? Kanonkop Pinotage 1989.
Today Pinotage is recognised as South Africa’s greatest contribution towards the international wine culture. A good Pinotage does not have to bow to any other wine, although a few opinionated wine snobs still refuse to accept this.

“The new wine markets in the Far East as especially fond of Pinotage,” says Johann Krige, co-owner of Kanonkop, still to my mind the top Pinotage producer around. “Pinotage’s unique flavours, including a hint of sweetness on the mid-palate, is very popular in the East, probably because these flavours complement their cuisine.”

Pinotage people, like Truter and Krige, are also living proof that Pinotage is a people’s wine made for enjoyment rather than lofty and clinical analyses. “This is not a wine for smelling, gargling and writing poetry about,” says Krige. “You drink Pinotage as you like it, when you like it. It’s not uncommon to find a few winemakers enjoying chilled Pinotage with bacon and eggs on a sunny Stellenbosch morning.”

Well, after 8000 years of civilisation, you probably have the right to drink your Pinotage as you deem fit.