Pinotage

Pinotage is a black grape bred in South Africa by crossing two existing varieties: pinot noir and cinsaut. In South Africa, cinsaut was long called hermitage, and the name pinotage is a contraction of pinot and hermitage.

According to the Pinotage Association, Professor Abraham Izak Perold of Stellenbosch University made the cross on 17 November 1924. He was looking for a grape that combined the finesse of pinot noir with the toughness of cinsaut. In 1925 he planted the seeds from his experiment. That year officially counts as the birth of pinotage, and the association therefore celebrated the grape’s centenary.

Pinotage nearly got lost. When Perold left for the KWV in Paarl in 1928, he left the seedlings behind. Dr. Charlie Niehaus, a young scientist, rescued them during a clear-out at the Welgevallen experimental farm and replanted them in Stellenbosch.

• 1941: CT de Waal, lecturer at Elsenburg, made the first pinotage wine.
• 1943: the first commercial planting, on the Myrtle Grove farm.
• 1950 and 1953: Uiterwyk (now DeWaal) and then Bellevue, Kanonkop and Meerendal planted the grape.
• 1959 and 1961: Bellevue and Kanonkop won the General Smuts Trophy.

The word Pinotage appeared on a label for the first time on the Lanzerac of 1959, released in 1961, with grapes from a vineyard at Bellevue dating from 1953.

Pinotage grows mainly in South Africa. In 2023 the Pinotage Association counted around 6,585 hectares, accounting for 7.21 percent of the South African vineyard. According to the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, it is the third most planted black grape in the country and the sixth grape overall.

Most of it is in the Swartland, followed by Paarl and then Stellenbosch. Some of the oldest red vineyards in South Africa are pinotage as bush vines, such as at Bellevue.

Outside South Africa the grape has also been planted: in New Zealand the first pinotage arrived in 1964 from Corbans, in California Dick Steltzner planted it in 1978, and later followed Virginia (1993), Canada (1996) and Israel (2001).

Pinotage is made in many styles. The Wine & Spirit Education Trust lists sparkling wine made by the bottle-fermentation method, rosé, lighter and medium-bodied red wine, and red wine made to age for years. There is even white wine in which pinotage is blended with chenin blanc.

Pinotage also often goes into a blend with other grapes. In South Africa, such wines with pinotage are called Cape Blends. The Pinotage Association, founded in 1995, has organised the Top 10 competition for pinotage since 1997, as well as separate competitions for pinotage rosé and for Cape Blends under the name of Perold.

At ’t Bockje all pinotage comes from South Africa, from six different houses. Some of it comes from Stellenbosch, the place where the grape was first crossed. Besides red wine there is a rosé, a blend with shiraz and two large formats.

• L’Avenir: L’Avenir Stellenbosch Pinotage, L’Avenir Horizon Pinotage and L’Avenir Provenance Pinotage in magnum.
• Boschendal: Boschendal 1685 Pinotage.
• Mooiplaas: Mooiplaas Classic Pinotage Stellenbosch.
• Aaldering: Aaldering Pinotage in jeroboam.
• Country Lane: Country Lane Grande Reserve (Stellenbosch) and Country Lane Reserve Shiraz-Pinotage.
• Buitenzorg: Buitenzorg Pinotage Rosé.

Looking for a bottle for a dinner or a large format for a party? Drop by at Brink 2 in Bathmen or call 0570 541 278.

The shop is at Brink 2 in Bathmen. Open Tuesday to Friday from 09.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 09.00 to 17.00. For advice, call 0570 541 278 or email info@bockje.nl.