Prescient Pinotage Report 2020

 

WineMag.co.za,  the online incarnation of the print magazine WINE has held a series of variety specific tasting competitions, sponsored by multinational financial services company Prescient. This month it was the turn of Pinotage results to be published.

 

It’s interesting to note the results compared with those for the ABSA Top 10 Finalist’s, also just announced.

 

The Prescient competition had slightly more than  a third of the number entered for Top 10,  57 entries from 33 producers.

 

These were scored on the 100-point scale by a panel of three with Christian Eedes (WineMag ) in the chair. The others were Roland Peens and James Pietersen, both of Cape Town wine merchants Wine Cellar.

The panel rated 33 or 60%, of the entries 90-plus, which illustrates “that in basic quality terms Pinotage easily holds its own against single-variety Cab, Merlot and Shiraz.

Perhaps the variety’s greatest attribute is the depth of fruit it delivers while its most considerable drawback is its awkward, sometimes bitter tannins, careful vinification required if rustic, inelegant wines are to be avoided.”

 

Especially interesting is that all the entries and their scores are given, so one can see which wineries  entered- and which didn’t.

 

The ten highest scoring wines were:

B Vintners Liberté Pinotage 2018, Stellenbosch

Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage 2018, Stellenbosch

De Grendel Amandelboord Pinotage 2018, Durbanville

Kaapzicht Steytler Pinotage 2018, Stellenbosch

Wellington Wines La Cave Pinotage 2018, Wellington

L’Avenir Pinotage 2017, Stellenbosch

Lievland Bushvine Pinotage 2018, Paarl

MAN Bosstok Pinotage 2018, Coastal Region

Môreson Widow Maker Pinotage 2018, Stellenbosch

Painted Wolf Guillermo Pinotage 2019, Swartland

 

The Prescient Pinotage Report 2020 can be read here.