Prescient Pinotage Report 2020: Top 10

Introduction

This year’s Pinotage Report convened by Winemag.co.za and sponsored by multinational financial services company Prescient is now out. There were 57 entries from 33 producers and these were tasted blind (labels out of sight) by a three-person panel, scoring done according to the 100-point quality scale.

Top 10

The 10 best wines overall are as follows:

B Vintners Liberté 2018
Price: R300
Wine of Origin: Stellenbosch
Abv: 13.5%

Beyerskloof Diesel 2018
Price: R850
Wine of Origin: Stellenbosch
Abv: 15%

De Grendel Amandelboord 2018
Price: R220
Wine of Origin: Durbanville
Abv: 14.33%

Kaapzicht Steytler 2018
Price: R550
Wine of Origin: Stellenbosch
Abv: 14.57%

La Cave 2018 (Wellington Wines)
Price: R200
Wine of Origin: Wellington
Abv: 14.5%

L’Avenir Provenance 2017
Price: R165
Wine of Origin: Stellenbosch
Abv: 14.5%

Lievland Bushvine 2018
Price: R150
Wine of Origin: Paarl
Abv: 13.5%

MAN Family Wines Bosstok 2018
Price: R75
Wine of Origin: Coastal Region
Abv: 13.5%

Môreson The Widow Maker 2018
Price: R280
Wine of Origin: Stellenbosch
Abv: 14.99%

Painted Wolf Guillermo 2019
Price: R230
Wine of Origin: Swartland
Abv: 14.77%

About the category

Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault (also called Hermitage, hence the contraction), was first engineered by Stellenbosch University’s Professor Abraham Perold in 1925. The first commercial bottling was released in 1961, namely the SFW’s 1959 Lanzerac Pinotage.

Today, Pinotage is the seventh most widely planted variety in South Africa, making up 7.2% of the total area under vineyard at the end of 2019.

What does top Pinotage go for?

Average cellar-door price of the Top 10 is R302 a bottle with MAN Family Wines Bosstok 2018 being the most affordable at R75 a bottle.

In-depth analysis

To read the report in full, including key findings, tasting notes for the top wines, buyers guide and scores on the 100-point quality scale for all wines entered, download the following: Prescient Pinotage Report 2020