Pinotage: The grape that nearly didn’t survive has become South Africa’s heritage wine
Pinotage is the unique grape varietal that defines South Africa’s wine culture.
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From a few forgotten seedlings in a professor’s garden to an icon poured around the world, the story of Pinotage began, as many great stories do, with a curious mind and a little experimenting.
A hundred years ago in 1924, Professor Abraham Izak Perold, South Africa’s first professor of viticulture, decided to play matchmaker.
He crossed two grapes that couldn’t have been more different: the elegant but temperamental Pinot Noir and the hardy, sun-loving Cinsaut, then called Hermitage.
The result was something entirely new - tiny seedlings that would later give the world Pinotage.
But fate almost ended the story before it began. Just four years later, Perold left his post at Stellenbosch University, and the neglected seedlings were destined to be ripped out.
In a twist worthy of a novel, a young lecturer, Dr Charlie Niehaus, spotted them during a garden cleanup.
Rather than see them destroyed, he replanted them at Elsenburg Agricultural College, and those rescued vines became the foundation of the Pinotage that we know today.
By the mid-1930s, the vines were grafted onto a stronger rootstock, securing their future.
The first Pinotage wine was bottled in 1941 by winemaker C.T. de Waal, and within two decades the variety was being noticed.
Bellevue Estate scooped the prestigious General Smuts Trophy in 1959 with its Pinotage, followed by Kanonkop’s win in 1961 - the first wine ever to proudly carry the name “Pinotage” on its label.
The journey wasn’t all smooth sailing
During the 1970s, Pinotage fell out of favour. Rushed production and bulk wines tarnished its reputation, leading critics to dismiss it as rustic and rough around the edges.
Some even called for it to be abandoned altogether. Dedicated winemakers such as Kanonkop and Beyerskloof proved the critics wrong, showing that, handled with care, Pinotage could become a star in its own right.
Today, a century after Perold’s first experiment, Pinotage is a proudly unique South African wine, with bold, earthy flavours, and sometimes even hints of coffee or chocolate.
It’s grown across Stellenbosch, Swartland, Breedekloof and beyond, finding a home in almost every corner of the winelands, and Pinotage has become more than just a grape; it’s part of our national identity.
In 2025, the variety marks its 100th birthday with festivals, heritage events and even a gold medallion minted in its honour, a tribute to a grape that was nearly lost but went on to define a country’s wine story.
From a few forgotten seedlings in a professor’s garden to an icon poured around the world, Pinotage is proof that sometimes the most remarkable things grow from chance, persistence, and a little bit of rescue at the right time.
IOL Lifestyle