Heralded as “the best party on the wine event calendar”, the fest celebrates the cult of Original Coffee Pinotage, produced by Diemersfontein Wines. The boozy celebrations are usually confined to Johannesburg, Durban and Wellington.
May 26 – 27
Pinotage on Tap
Poynings, West Sussex
Special offer to TNT readers: For every group booking of 12 tickets – the organiser will give them a complimentary case of Pinotage (Value of £120.00) – that’s almost two tickets worth of wine!!! To claim your complimentary wine for your group booking, please email event organiser Rene May at online@diemersfontein.co.za
The Pinotage Story
Often spoken of as the “story of coincidences” Pinotage is proudly South Africa’s very own grape varietal, and is fast becoming one of the most popular varieties around the world. A creation by Cape-born Abraham Izak Perold, who was the first Professor of Viticulture at Stellenbosch University.
It was during the 1920’s that Prof Perold experimented with crossing various grape varieties and then ingeniously fused the most unlikely pair of cultivars namely Cinsaut (also known as Hermitage) and Pinot Noir to create this rather bold and sometimes even controversial hybrid. Pinot Noir is considered an elegant and graceful beauty, whereas Cinsaut may even be considered the “common Joe” of red varietals.
He planted just four seeds in the garden of his official residence at the Welgevallen Experimental farm, in Stellenbosch, of which he forgot about when relocating to Paarl. Years later, those vines were re-discovered and saved by total coincidence, when a young lecturer, Charlie Niehaus, who knew about the seedlings passed by on his bicycle as a gang of labourers were cleaning and weeding the old forgotten garden. He stopped, got off his bicycle and saved the seedlings from destruction. They were then relocated to the safe grounds of the nursery at the Elsenburg Agricultural College.
Today, this wine has become synonymous with everything that is uniquely South African – the diversities of culture, the typical South African cuisine – especially braais (bar-b-ques), social gatherings, music and great times spent in the good company of others! Seen as a year-round wine, you can enjoy your Pinotage around the pool in the sweltering hot summer sun, and be just as cosy enjoying it around the log fire in winter!
