First Vintage for The Perold Vineyard

The Perold Vineyard which was planted in October 2008 is now bearing its first crop due for harvest in the next week or two. The crop will be small owing to the youth of the 1,000 Pinotage vines but it is hoped that one barrel of wine will be produced.



I received news of the vineyard planting as I was finalising my book and it made an appropriate Epilogue because one of the books themes was the lack of public recognition Perold received.

I had not seen the vineyard myself however, something I put right aided with directions from the ever helpful Pierre Loubser who has now retired as manager of the Pinotage Association.

The vineyard occupies a triangular shaped piece of land at the junction of two roads in Stellenbosch, near the university, in thegrounds of a historical buidling called Mosterdrift.


The land is owned by the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study who are using the vineyard to research row positioning in relation to the sun. The vine rows are laid out like the ribs of a lady’s fan, radiating from a central point.


Inserting trellis poles and planting vines proved unexpectedly difficult as a considerable bed of large sandstone boulders were found just underneath the surface soil, and the photo’s show some that were uncovered. The vineyard is being farmed organically, indicated by the grass growing between rows.


The vineyard is clearly visible from the street, from where my photographs were taken through a fence, on the corner between Marais and Jonkershoek.