While South Africa’s world-renowned viticulturists cultivate roughly 90 different grape varieties, only one of them was created in Mzansi: Pinotage, which is loved abroad and at home.

The story begins in the heart of the Cape Winelands, where Stellenbosch University viticulturist Professor Abraham Izak Perold crossed Cinsault, known locally as Hermitage, and Pinot Noir, two French grape varieties, in November 1924.

This was done by placing the pollen of the Pinot Noir flower onto the Cinsault flower.

Perold sought to combine the elegance of Pinot Noir with the resilience of the Cinsault grape, creating a blend adapted to South African conditions. A year later, he planted the seeds at his residence at the University of Stellenbosch’s Welgevallen farm research facility.

However, his experiment was not seen as a significant breakthrough at the time and drew only academic interest.

In fact, Perold completely forgot about his experiment and eventually left the university for a job at KWV in 1928. Fortunately, young academic, Dr Charlie Niehaus, managed to save the seedlings during a clean-up at Welgevallen farm.

It took another seven years for the grape to flourish after it was eventually grafted onto rootstocks, which are stems with developed root systems.

In 1941, a lecturer named CT de Waal from the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute produced the first-ever Pinotage wine. Unfortunately, Perold died that year and did not live to taste the final product of his experiment.

Two years later, Myrtle Grove farm, at the foot of the Hottentots Holland mountains in Somerset West, made the first commercial plantings of the crop in 1943.

After it caught the attention of prominent figures, such as Gerrit Nieuwoudt from Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery, major farms in the Cape Winelands were encouraged to start planting the variety.

This included Meerendal, Kanonkop, Uiterwyk, and Bellevue. According to Bellevue manager Dirkie Morkel, his uncle first planted the Pinotage cultivar on the farm in 1953 after he was unable to find enough young Gamay Noir vines.

These farms helped put Pinotage on the map after Bellevue and Kanonkop took home the General Smuts Trophy at the National Young Wine Show in 1959 and 1961, respectively, for wines made from the grape.

Within a matter of years, Pinotage had gone global, with New Zealand-based Corbans winery producing its inaugural Pinotage vintage in 1964.

Despite international critics saying in the early 1970s that the cultivar “had no future”, Pinotage was being planted in California by the end of the decade.

Back home, farms in the Cape Winelands continued to earn international recognition, with Kanonkop’s Beyers Truter earning the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year award in 1987 for his Pinotage wines.

In 1991, Truter was named Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine & Spirits Competition in London, further cementing the cultivar’s reputation.

By 2001, the variety had been planted in Canada, in Virginia in the United States, and in Israel. When the Pinotage Top 10 Competition was held in 2008, a record 136 entries were received.

While French varieties, such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chenin Blanc continue to dominate South Africa’s wine exports, Pinotage is making headway in establishing itself in foreign markets.

As of 2023, Pinotage vineyards covered 6.6 thousand hectares, with total Pinotage exports for the year sitting at 13.2 million litres, or 4.5% of total exports, according to the South African Pinotage Association.

Total domestic consumption of Pinotage in 2023 amounted to 5.4 million litres.

Not bad for a humble South African grape.