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.

Let’s start with the conclusion made by almost everyone.  “The very old wines from the sixties, seventies and eighties were absolute fine, Pinotage wines mature well, while the young wines were brilliant and also showed a lot of potential to mature for many decades”.

Christian Eedes, wine judge and editor of WINE magazine, had the following to say: “Once again, it was extraordinary to note how long-lived Pinotage can be. What is worth pondering is if modern winemaking (riper fruit and hence higher pHs, small barriques, new oak) will result in wines that last as long.”

Neil Pendock, wine judge and wine writer for many publications in South Africa, especially carried on about the wines from the seventies, but also talked about the wines from the sixties. “Both the 1963 and 1969 were still in fine fettle. The ‘63 had a touch of rancio on the nose and umami was the overwhelming taste sensation. Reasonable acids and flavours of dried fruits, the finish was long and malty.” His favourite wines from the seventies were the Simonsig Pinotage 1978 and the Swartland Pinotage 1971.

Chairman of the Pinotage Association and internationally renowned cellar master, Beyers Truter, carried on about the wines from the nineties, especially the Kanonkop Pinotage 1994 and the Kanonkop Pinotage 1999.

“Many of the wines from the nineties still taste as if they are quite young. Time showed that Pinotage can mature very well with an excellent balance of structure and flavours. That is a very good sign and we will always look behind us to look into the future,” said Beyers.

It really was something special to taste all those wines  - 46 years old to only three years old - and the ones that did not show well were by far the minority, of not only one or maybe two.

Here are some of the wines that had more than one person raving about it and which stimulated positive conversations: Swartland Pinotage 1971, Simonsig Pinotage 1978, L’Avenir CIWG Pinotage 1988, Kanonkop Pinotage 1999 and Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage 2006.

Flavours that stood out among all the wines, from old to young, were dried fruit, vegetable oil, herbs, blackcurrant and custard.

Enjoy every sip of your favourite Pinotage wine and every moment of 2010!