It was pale and would have benefitted from keeping a while longer because it seemed its acidity overwhelmed its fruits.
But it was much better with food where its mouth drying tannins made one want another glass. There were some floral notes, maybe violets, but one felt the declared14.5% abv.
If I had more, I'd keep them for a few more years to soften tannins and let the fruits out.
My Wine of The Month for March is Alvi's Drift '221' Pinotage 2022, WO Scherpenheuval.
It came about because I was wanting to buy a cook's apron. On Amazon the one I purchased had a series of pictures of the apron, and a video of it in action*.
*Link to video - https://amzn.eu/d/35QBtia
My Wine of The Month for February is Doran Vineyards Family Reserve Pinotage 2023, WO Voor-Paardeberg.
It was in September 2016 that I had my first and, though I didn't then know it, last Doran Vineyards wine when I met owner Edwin Doran at a wine show. (see here)
So I was pleased to see this wine in an independent wine shop, all being at more than three times the cost it is in South Africa.
In the intervening years the wine has acquired a smart modern front label and a well-designed informative rear label. But what about the contents?
This is so drinkable, light red berry fruits to the fore. It lightly wears its 16 months stay in older oak casks; it doesn't taste oaked. I remember wine industry guru Duimpie Bayley saying that oak aging should be like a dance floor, offering support without its presence being noticed.
The bottle had emptied before we noticed.
Beykush Winery in Ukraine has Pinotage. It's currently a component on its Artahia blend.
According to Wineland magazine, 2,470 vines were planted in 2012, sourced from Voor Goenberg Nurseries in Wellington, because Beykush were looking for early ripening varieties.
Beykush Winery is about 35 minutes drive south of Odesa on the Black Sea.
My Wine of The Month for January is a Cape Blend, Heron’s Nest Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinotage 2020, WO Western Cape.
The label is coy; it doesn’t name the producer or the component proportions. But the A Number belongs to S A Pritchard who is the owner of Clos Malverne in Devon Valley. Clos Malverne’s flagship wine is Auret which is a Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinotage blend, but as that is more expensive in the Cape than I paid for Heron’s Nest in the UK I don’t think they are the same wine, but it’s one made in a similar way from bought in grapes.
It’s a very enjoyable wine; the Cabernet calms down Pinotage’s exuberance and the Pinotage gives fruit and sweetness to the Cabernet. Thoughtful winemaking shows – there were no shortcuts as they used the basket presses beloved by Clos Malverne and aged in French Oak barrels. I’d buy more, unfortunately for me they quickly sold out.
2025 is the 100th anniversary of the planting of the first Pinotage.
In South Africa’s autumn, at the beginning of 1925, Professor Abraham Izak Perold picked grapes from a Cinsaut vine whose female flowers he’d fertilised with Pinot Noir pollen the previous spring.
He planted seeds from those grapes in the spring of 2025. While all the subsequent vines had the same parents they were not identical. Most were unsuitable for use as commercial grape vines, but one was, and it was named Pinotage after its parents, Hermitage being the South African name for Cinsaut at that time.
It took time for grape farmers to plant the new variety, but early growers started winning wine-show awards with their Pinotages.
However the public had to wait until 1961 for the first commercially available Pinotage, a 1959 vintage released by Stellenbosch Farmers Winery under their Lanzerac label.
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Learn more about my new book telling all about Pinotage and read sample pages at
A Year in Paarl
A I Perold's
A Treatise
on Viticulture
A I Perold (1880-1941) was South Africa's first Professor of Viticulture and Oenology. He dedicated himself to improving the quality of grapes for wine, brandy and the table. He studied wine and brandy production in Europe, imported more than 60 varieties to the Cape and bred new ones. Perold said this book “is intended to serve both the student and the practical grape-grower. There are in it technical passages that will appeal more to the student, e.g. the chapters dealing with the biology of the vine, its external and internal morphology, the theory of grafting. My remarks on the practice of viticulture, such as those dealing with the propagation, manuring and pruning of the vine, the production of table grapes for export, will, it is hoped, assist the practical grape-grower as well as the student.” This is a newly typeset reprint, not a photocopy. Text on the 712 pages have been aligned to match the original pagination so any external references to pages in the Treatise will be valid in this edition
Available in paperback and hardback editions. 712 pages
with
A I Perold
Dr Perolds report on his Paarl experiments 1915 - 1916 reprinted with glossary, introduction and brief biography. Fascinating historical document on viticulture for wine and table grapes, wine and brandy making.
