Very first Pinotage to go on sale had its roots at Bellevue back in 1953
1953 was ‘a big year’. Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Tibet became the first people to summit Mount Everest, the highest point on the planet. 1953 saw the crowning of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. And it was the year that one of South Africa’s first Pinotage vineyards was planted with a view to production on a commercial scale – this after years of propagation and nurturing that followed the crossing of Pinot Noir and Hermitage (Cinsaut) at Stellenbosch University in 1925.
This vineyard at Bellevue was a source of grapes for the first Pinotage wine to go on sale – a 1959 vintage released in 1961 – and some 60 years later its fruit is used to make the flagship on the estate, a single-vineyard wine from the oldest Pinotage plantings on record (see here). Back in 1953, it was a case of history in the making, the beginning of a significant chapter about the most successful South African grape, with Pinotage having grown to rank third among the most-planted red wine varieties in the country, after Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
Bellevue 1953 Pinotage 2016
WO Bottelary, Stellenbosch. From a single block, very low yield. Malolactic fermentation in both cask and tank. Matured for 18 months in 225-litre French oak barrels (new and second-fill). Total production just 600 bottles.
Alc 14.1 | R/S 1.8 | TA 5.5 | pH 3.6
Producer’s Tasting Notes: maraschino cherry and plum on the nose, silky tannins, lingering finish. Ageing potential of at least 10 years after vintage.
R545 pb from the cellar.
