You wouldn’t be able to ask me the question above…because I do and I am biased. But luckily there are a quite a few of my kind who do love good Pinotage, and with an better understanding of the grape and the vine, a whole new generation of wine lovers will be seeing much more of these examples.

Abraham Izak Perlod was born in the Cape and schooled here in our own home town, Wellington. His life story sounds like something between Indiana Jones and Darwin. Imagine being asked by the government to go and expand the Capes range of grape varieties… After a scouting mission he brought some varieties back from overseas (a whole 177), but then he also started establishing new ones. Pinotage was borne from a crossing between Pinot noir and Cinsaut. Unlikely parent to this special local grape.

I have always felt that we have a very special connection with Pinotage here in Wellington. We have ample sunlight and a long growing season that fits Pinotage very well (not taking away that there are some awesome cool climate Pinotages out there). The vineyards that we use for the production of our Bosman Family Vineyards Pinotage, is from the farm Lelienfontein in Wellington. It is the same vineyard that is used in the production of the Wellington Wines La Cave Pinotage (a connection that we are very proud of).

We went to the vineyard on Monday to have a look at the grapes before harvest. I`ve added a video of Heinie Nel, our viticulturist, on his thoughts about the 2012 growing season in regards to the Pinotage. Will keep you updated on the harvest itself in the next post.

*Disclaimer: For more lovely news and facts on Pinotage please consult the new South Africa Pinotage Wine Guide published by the Pinotage Association and also Peter May`s book “Pinotage : Behind the Legends of South Africa`s Own Wine”