My Wine of The Month for March is Bellevue '1953', vintage 2016.Bellevue are a Pinotage pioneer, making the wine that was the first to be sold commercially under the Stellenbosch Family Winery brand 'Lanzerac'.Now the old vineyard, with its twisted bush vines growing on sandy soil is having its grapes bottled separately under the year '1953' it was planted. It is one of the worlds oldest ..read more

 My Wine of The Month for February is DeWaal 'Top of the Hill' Pinotage 2015. This is from the world's oldest Pinotage vineyard, literally at the crown of a hill. The vines were planted in 1950, so they were 65 years old when this wine was made.I've stored it since buying in 2018 and at nine years of age the wine has thrown off the fruits of youth and developed a fine Claret-like ..read more

    My Wine of The Month for December is The Society’s South African Pinotage-Syrah 2023. This is made, labelled and bottled for UK’s The Wine Society by Ben Radford and Alex Dale at The Winery of Good Hope.   I remember, many years ago, Guy Webber at Stellenzicht Winery making an equal blend of Pinotage and Syrah he thought was the best wine he’d produced, and I agreed the two ..read more

 Pierre in 2019I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Pierre Loubser, retired Manager of The Pinotage Association. He had a bad fall in his home and died in hospital on 22 December 2023.As Manager of  newly formed Pinotage Association he was very good to The Pinotage Club,  gaining entry to otherwise closed wineries and arranging meetings with winemakers.& ..read more

Platter's South African Wine Guide 2024  Pinotage of the year is L'Avenir Single Block 2020 and its Cape Blend is Beyerskloof Faith 2020.The following Pinotages got the top 5 Star ratingFairview Primo 2021Francois van Niekerk 2021Kanonkop Black Label 2021Kanonkop 2021Lanzerac Commemorative 2019L'Avenir Single Block 2020Survivor Reserve 2021The following Cape Blends got the top ..read more

My Wine of The Month of October is Laibach 2018.The previous vintage was my wine of the month in July 2022 and at that time I noted that the owners had sold the winery in April 2022 and retired to Germany. Near neighbours Kanonkop Estate are the new owners and they immediately renamed the place Ladybird VineyardsI thought that 2017 vintage would be the last Laibach I would have and I was a little ..read more

 My Wine of The Month of September is Niel Joubert 'Patrysbult' Pinotage  2018.Pale red, bright fruit flavours, but overbalanced by alcohol.This wine doesn't appear in Platter or Niel Joubert's web site which has an 2018 Estate Pinotage, but that is unwooded and only 13.03% abv while this is wooded . Maybe it's an export label, but it's not the most enjoyable Niel Joubert Pinotage I've had ..read more

My Wine of The Month of August is Rijk's Pinotage Reserve 2016It is a mature wine recently released; I bought it at Wine Village in Hermanus in March 2023. It spent 22 months in 60% new French oak barrels and was made by the skilled Pierre Wahl. The Reserve is taken from the 20 best barrels.While capable of great aging, this wine is drinking beautifully now, with intense black plum fruit flavours ..read more

My Wine of The Month for July is Grangehurst Pinotage 2009. One might reasonably think I had aged this 14 year old wine in my cellar, but it's the current release and  I bought it only this March, in Wine Village, Hermanus.Jeremy Walker, winemaker and co-owner of Grangehurst doesn't like to market his wines until they are ready. And ready this was. A delicious mature wine, ripe with deep plummy ..read more

 My Wine of The Month for April is Beyerskloof Kriekbult Pinotage 2020. Taking its name from the farm the vineyard is planted on, it comes from their 27 year old bush vines. I had this with lunch at the winery in March and bought a bottle to have with dinner the following week. Then I went back to buy two more bottles to bring home, and I opened the first this month, shared with a fellow Pinotage ..read more