Pinot Noir and its relatives Part 5

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Today we conclude our weeklong series on Pinot Noir and its relatives, by exploring a distant sort of relative to Pinot Noir a grape named Pinotage.

Pinotage is a grape variety resulting from a cross of the two grapes Pinot Noir and Cinsault. The grape was created in 1925 in South Africa. The objective of the cross was to retain the flavor and character of the famous Burgundian Pinot Noir and hopefully overcome its finicky growing problems by crossing it with Cinsault. Cinsault being a very sturdy vine, is resistant to many of the ailments that plague Pinot Noir, and seemed a good choice for the cross. At first the results were disappointing and consequently the experiment was left behind. But there were those who had planted it, and eventually a wine producer from South Africa entered Pinotage in England’s prestigious International Wine & Spirit Competition where he became the first South African to be awarded “Winemaker of the Year”. This has obviously caused winemakers to take another look at the crossbreed. Pinotage is versatile and is made in many different styles, including young and fruity like Beaujolais, dark and rich like Syrah or Zinfandel, or as restrained as Bordeaux. The history of making Pinotage is short, and its perfect style, is most likely yet to be determined. Thank you for joining me this week as Vine to Wine explored Pinot Noir and some of its relatives.