Pronunciation – Pin-Oh-Targe
Pinotage is South Africa’s flagship grape. It’s a red wine varietal, created in 1924 by Professor Abraham Izak Perold, an esteemed viticulturist at Stellenbosch University.
It is the result of cross-breeding between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, which is known as Hermitage in South Africa. The name is a combination of the two parent grapes. According to legend, the cross-breeding was an accident, and Professor Perold promptly forgot about it and moved to a different university. A young lecturer at Stellenbosch saved the first young Pinotage plants from destruction, sometime after Perold moved away.
Pinotage is robust and easy to grow, much like Cinsaut. Its fruits are thick-skinned and almost black in color. Although it’s easy to grow, the vines have to be taken care of throughout the whole process and have a tendency to develop some volatile acids, which can give the wine an undesirable acetone flavor.
Pinotage is grown in extremely small quantities in New Zealand and the United States, but it is mostly cultivated in South Africa, where it’s the third most planted grape.
Pinotage Tasting Notes
Pinotage is deep red, full-bodied and dry. It is naturally high in tannins, with low acidity, almost the reverse of its Pinot Noir parent. It can be relatively high in alcohol, between 13% to 15% ABV.
A good quality Pinotage will contain ripe dark and red fruit flavors and floral and earthy elements. You should get flavors of plum, blackberry, raspberry, liquorice, and on particularly rich vintages, earthy “red” flavors like red bell pepper and rooibos tea. Occasionally, there will also be hints of banana and tropical fruit.
In lower-quality Pinotage there can be a taste of burnt rubber or acetone, which is generally viewed as a flaw, though some people might enjoy the taste. Ideally, a Pinotage will have a long finish, with a distinctive, uplifting sweet and smokey note.
Pinotage Styles
Pinotage is sensitive to the wine-making process and can be made in a huge variety of styles. Certain wineries even produce it as white wine, by minimizing skin contact.
As a white wine (also sometimes in sparkling form), Pinotage often features tropical fruit flavors. These are particularly tasty when they are oaked, as the barrels impart a creamy texture and nutty flavors, not unlike Chardonnay, that combine wonderfully with the flavors of banana in the grape.
Pinot Noir is also frequently made into rosés and fortified wines, such as port. Similarly to Pinot Noir, Pinotage rosé shows some concentrated and deep fruit flavors. As a fortified wine, it is often made in a sweet and dessert-like style.
Even as red wine, Pinotage is versatile enough to produce multiple styles. It can be made in an easy-drinking style that is more red fruit oriented and low in tannins, like Pinot Noir and Cinsaut. However, it can also be made in a more full-bodied and heavily oaked style, which is more likely to showcase distinctive smokey notes.
Blends Made From Pinotage
Pinotage is also frequently used in Cape Blends. There are no legal requirements for a Cape Blend, but Pinotage usually serves as the main grape, accounting for 30-70% of the wine. The remaining percentage is filled with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah/Shiraz. Cape Blends are usually serious, meaty wines, where Pinotage is used to add something fresh to international grapes and its own uniqueness is pushed to the background slightly.
Pinotage Classifications
In South Africa, they use a classification system called the Wine of Origin (WO) program. It is relatively simple, compared to some Old World countries. If you see “WO” on your bottle, it means all of the grapes used to make the wine came from a specific production area. These can range in size, from a single vineyard to an entire geographical region of South Africa. The names of these production areas, such as Stellenbosch, Paarl and Swartland, should be mentioned on the bottle.
When To Drink Pinotage
A classic Pinotage is a great wine to pull out at a barbecue, or any meat-heavy dinner. It’s similar to Zinfandel in a way, given its high tannins, low acidity and affinity for smokey meat flavors. It’s generally recommended that you decant Pinotage for an hour beforehand, to let the flavors open up.
Pair Pinotage with any barbecued meats, gamey dinners, or burgers. It doesn’t necessarily have to be paired with the main course though, it also goes quite well with chocolate or chocolate-rich desserts. If you get hold of a more easy-drinking style Pinotage, they can be paired with almost anything.
Serve it slightly below room temperature, at 60-68 ºF (15-20ºC).
Best Years To Drink Pinotage
The full potential of Pinotage is still in the process of being uncovered, but generally speaking, they are not made for extended aging. High-quality, full-bodied versions of the wine should last up to 10 years in a cellar, but most of the light, easy-drinking styles are meant to be consumed within a year. As it ages, the wine can develop a softer profile, with notes of prune, blackberries and ripe blackcurrants.
Pinotage Nutrition Facts
A glass of single-varietal Pinotage will contain approximately:
- 112 calories
- 3.3 grams of carbohydrates
- 0.1 grams of protein
Fun Facts About Pinotage
At the time of Pinotage’s creation, Professor A.I. Perold was attempting to create a grape with the depth of Pinot Noir and the robustness of Cinsaut.
There is an international Pinotage day, and it’s on the second Saturday of October every year.
The name Pinotage is a portmanteau of the names Pinot Noir and Hermitage- however, the grape was very nearly called “Herminoir”.
