“This is a classy Pinotage with great pedigree and heritage,” says Morkel. “Its nose is packed with aromas of plums and maraschino cherries. This follows through on the palate, showing serious refinement, purity of fruit and great complexity and length. The mouthfeel and finish convey integrated, fine-grained tannins partnered by concentrated fruit flavours which linger.”
12 November 2017
Bellevue's Pinotage from 1953 Planted Block
Bellevue Estate have
released a single vineyard Pinotage made from their old bush
vine Pinotage block planted in 1953 by Pinotage pioneer P K Morkel.
Previously fruit from
this old vineyard had gone into the PK Morkel and other bottlings.
The wine is called 1953
after the year PK planted 2.58 hectares of Pinotage. The following
year he added another 3.23 hectares. In those days wines made at
Bellevue were sold to Stellenbosch Farmers Winery. It was in 1961 SFW
released Bellevues 1959 vintage Pinotage label under their Lanzerac
brand, and the rest is, as they say, history.
PK's nephew,
viticulturist Dirkie Morkel, looks after the vines today and Wilhelm
Kritzinger is the winemaker.
The grapes for the “1953” Pinotage 2016 were
hand-picked from the 63 year old bush vines at optimum ripeness. After fermentation and regular pump
overs in stainless steel tanks, the wine was matured for 18 months in
small French oak barriques.
The wine costs R545 at the cellar.
Bellevue is the last of the four oldest Pinotage
vineyards to release such a wine. Uiterwyk has long made 'Top of the
Hill', Meerandal were the first to officially register a single
vineyard, 'The Heritage Block', and more recently Kanonkop has their
'Black Label' Pinotage.
I've walked Bellevue's original Pinotage block
with Dirkie and now I'm looking forward to tasting it.
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