Pinotage came under scrutiny in a recent article by Cyril Meidinger from Robinson & Sinclaire. While we appreciate his perspective, it is a skewed and, we feel, misguided telling of the story.
While we could list all the factual inaccuracies, such as the 5% decline in exports actually representing the smallest percentage of decreased exports for South African red varietals , it is not our intent to serve a blow by blow rebuttal.
Instead, we think it far more constructive to focus on what makes South Africa compelling as a country brand. We agree that a narrow focus is required for a country brand, but would like to point out that world renowned wine areas like Burgundy have red and white varietals as their flagship varietals. We are a country with a diversity of terroirs which lends itself to producing a range of expressive wines. It would therefore be unwise to be a one-trick pony relying solely on a single signature wine varietal. Pinotage is certainly one arrow in its quiver and ultimately no one can deny it is a varietal brand with integrity and authenticity unique to South Africa.
The overall quality of Pinotage wines has improved tremendously over the last decade. Moreover, those of you who have had the privilege of tasting Pinotages from the ‘60s and ‘70s will know how they favourably compare to likes of Burgundy, Rioja and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. With competitions like the Absa Top 10 Pinotage, the winning producers have reaped numerous financial, retail and marketing rewards. At the top end of the market, where some SA wines have struggled to establish their offerings, producers were able to successfully position single varietal Pinotage wines exceeding R500 per bottle on numerous global markets.
South Africa produces a wide variety of excellent wines. We must embrace this variety in order to establish Brand South Africa on the international scene. We applaud the work and efforts done by the other associations, and support WOSA and other initiatives that strive to establish South African wine as an exciting and premium product on the global stage.
The industry needs to manage the perception of our collective identity in order to protect and grow the overall SA wine industry. The Pinotage Association accepts part of this responsibility and our primary purpose is to serve and grow the South African wine industry. What we do not need is misrepresentation of perceived truths for the sake of setting a negative tone. We can either succeed together or die alone.