.: A Century of Pinotage and the Top 10 Pinotage Awards at Meerendal

Friday, October 17, 2025

A Century of Pinotage and the Top 10 Pinotage Awards at Meerendal

The Awards Ceremony was held at Meerendal Wine Estate in Durbanville

This year’s competition drew 120 entries from 68 producers nationwide,

reflecting the enduring pride and innovation that continues to shape South Africa’s signature grape

20 exceptional Pinotages have reached these awards and 10 winners were picked from those wines

Red carpet on an arched pathway to the tasting venue

and a welcoming glass of Meerendal Pinot Noir Cap Classique Rosé

We were then given a tasting glass and could taste the in the marquee

Lynne tasted them all while John was busy photographing

It was interesting to see how many of the wines are featuring the Pinot clone side of Pinotage, some were exceptional

JD Pretorius and his wife with a Warwick The Black Lady Pinotage
Soft nose with good fruit and elegance
Followed on the palate with plum, cassis, and dark cherry flavours, very approachable

A taste of the Duke from Daniel Slabber of Wellington winery for Etienne Louw
Berry fruit on the nose, the wine had good depth with sweet and sour berry fruit and is very easy to drink

Johnny Calitz, Glen Carlou winemaker

The wine had incense oak, elegance and good fruit, a gentle amalgam

Rounded berry fruit filling the palate, so special, savoury notes and sappig (juicy) High score

Izele van Blerk with Meerendal owner Herman Coertze. She was showing her two KWV Pinotages

The Cathedral Cellar 2022 shows Pinot first with raspberry, cherry and violets

Tight tannins on the palate, built to last

Morello cherry then Black cherry, long flavours and promise, then the 35% wood shows support. High score

The Mentors Pinotage 2022 really impressed. It has a superb nose, intense, intriguing berry fruit and wood support

Lots of cherry on the silky palate, even a hint of amaretto

Soft and unctuous fruit in layers, soft chalky tannins and it ends with dark oak support

Pinot Noir character and Pinotage at its best. Lynne was convinced this was a top wine, one to win!

And told Izele that if it was entered at Veritas she would do very well....

A life changing canapé that paired perfectly with the Pinotages. So clever and it impressed around the room

A crisp macaron topped with beetroot jelly, roasted beetroot and some curd cheese

Wow! Thank you #GooseRoasters, the caterers for the evening

Michael Malan showing his Simonsig Redhill 2022 Pinotage made from 30 year old bush vines

Pinot notes, smoke and wood with good fruit on the nose

Rolling dark berry, cherry fruit on the complex palate, then spice and soft tannins with vanillin wood on the end

High score

Pouring Redhill Pinotage for Etienne Louw

and Beyers Truter

Diemersdal winemaker Mari Branders

The wine had herbal notes, then fruit and oak. Sweet berry fruit then some balancing acidity

Dr Alvi van der Merwe with his Alvi's Drift Verreaux 2023 Pinotage

Perfume and spice on the unexpected nose with dark fruit. Soft on the palate then widens with plum, rhubarb and berries

Abrie Beeslaar with his Beeslaar 2021 Pinotage

Interesting and enticing with spices and dark berries on the nose

Another silky and complex wine, juicy with layers of fruit and complexity, wood supporting. High score

Gerhard Swart, Flagstone

Truth Tree 2022 Pinotage went through some carbonic maceration and 18 months in 100 French oak (10% new)

Gravel soil minerality on the nose, fruit is way behind

Silky, with a strong hit of red and back fruit and 14% alcohol stays with dark oak end

Francois van Zyl with the Kanonkop 2016 Estate Pinotage

An attractive velvety nose, perfume of violets, savouriness and good wood support

Red berry fruit, chalky tannins and dark oak, all expected,

as this wine is built to last and has many more years to go. High score

Cape Wine Master Bennie Howard with JD Pretorius and a braised beef samoosa with a spicy dipping sauce

The marquee venue for the dinner

Taking advantage of some chairs

Our table

Jak de Priester and die Kaapse Lawaaimakers (noise makers) was the entertainment for the evening

Master of Ceremonies Johan Badenhorst, the producer and director of Voetspore, a travel documentary series,

opened proceedings

100 years ago, Professor Abraham Izak Perold developed Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Hermitage (Cinsaut)

Appointed in 1917 as the first Professor of Viticulture at the University of Stellenbosch and later its first Dean of Agriculture,

Perold planted the very first seedlings at Welgevallen. They were nearly lost when he joined KWV in Paarl in 1928

Those vines were saved by Dr. Charlie Niehaus and entrusted to Professor Chris Theron at Elsenburg,

who multiplied and selected them

Together, Perold and Theron chose the name “Pinotage,”

now inseparable from South Africa’s winemaking identity

Beyers Truter, chair of the Pinotage Association with his informative and amusing bilingual Pinotage Address

He said, "Pinotage is no longer the underdog

It is a grape that has proven its place in the world, and its future is brighter than ever

The wines we celebrate today, powerful, elegant, and age-worthy,

are proof of the extraordinary potential Pinotage still holds for the next 100 years"

Joachim Sa, South Africa MD of Amorim Cork, was at our table with his wife

Stonie Steenkamp of ABSA Agribusiness spoke about the long connection ABSA has had with the Pinotage Association

The menu and the programme

Note: "chicken as alternative for the no meat eaters" (it was a jest, there were very good vegetarian options)

The food was superb. Chefs Craig Cormack and Beau du Toit (Goose Roasters caterers) are a force to be reckoned with
and they are regularly employed as private chefs for wine industry events
Tender seared duck breast, rich chicken liver parfait, orange compote, a very good jus

The Main Course was tender fillets of Venison, on a roasted parsnip or celeriac purée,

a pear gastrique, carrot and gooseberry achar, apple crisp

The trophies

Elsabé Ferreira shows the Silver medallion weighing 1kg that has been specially made by The Cape Mint

to celebrate the Pinotage century. For the first time ever,

they have managed to encapsulate a small capsule of pinotage wine in this ground breaking medal

and in the smaller ones to be presented to the winners later

Elsabé with The Cape Mint team, Wendy de Vos and Mark Trout, waiting to stamp the angel mark on the medals

Beyers announces the winner of the first medal

The first medal was positioned by Wendy de Vos and Mark Trout

so that a small angel could be imprinted on each medal by the winner

and the winners were helped to stamp their own medals

Stamped with the angel over the glass

The wines we could taste with our dinner

Colour cast was a problem with all the red light around

We had the Beyerskloof Diesel and the KWV Mentors Pinotage, both superb wines, to pair with the food

Meerendal owners Aletta and Herman Coertze

Mini chiboust (crème patisserie lightened with meringue) on Millionaire's shortbread,

with a salted caramel swirl (amazing) and a dark chocolate mousse

The Top 10 Winners with their gold medals and framed certificates

The 2025 Top 10 Pinotage Winners

Producer	Vintage	Description	WO	Winemaker
Alvi's Drift Wines International	2023	Alvi's Drift Verreaux Pinotage	Scherpenheuvel	Dr Alvi van der Merwe
Beyerskloof Wines	2021	Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage	Stellenbosch	Anri Truter
Bruce Jack Wines	2022	Bruce Jack Heritage Flag of Truce Pinotage	Breedekloof	Bruce Jack
Diemersdal Wine Estate	2022	Diemersdal The Journal Pinotage	Durbanville	Juandré Bruwer and Thys Louw
Flagstone Wynkelder	2022	Flagstone Writer's Block Pinotage	Coastal Region	Gerhard Swart
KWV	2022	KWV The Mentors Pinotage	Stellenbosch	Izéle van Blerk
Le Grand Domaine	2022	Grand Vin de Stellenbosch Pinotage	Stellenbosch	Debbie Thompson
Simonsig Wines	2022	Simonsig Redhill Pinotage	Stellenbosch	Michael Malan
Warwick Wine Estate	2023	Warwick The Black Lady Pinotage	Simonsberg-Stellenbosch	JD Pretorius
Wellington Wines	2024	Wellington Wines Duke Pinotage	Wellington	Daniel Slabber