It can be good, but... SA Pinot Noir contentious as ever |

It can be very good, but… Top SA Pinot Noir as contentious as ever

09/2020 Mike Froud One comment

DE GRENDEL, Iona, Kershaw, Lothian, Shannon… The Top 10 in Winemag’s 2020 Prescient Pinot Noir Report include a number of vintages from South African cellars with a history of good reviews in this category, most of them WO Elgin. On the other hand, most of the notables absent from the report, let alone the Top 10, are associated with appellations in the area outside Hermanus – the same producers who host the only festival in the country that is focused on this variety, namely the annual Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir Celebration.

According to Winemag editor and tasting panel chair Christian Eedes (whose fellow judges included fine wine merchants Roland Peens and James Pietersen), the outcome is a great result for Elgin. Eedes feels that the home of SA’s best Pinot is still up for debate and, referring to expressions such as Op die Berg and Sovereign of the Seas, he says “it’s exciting to see relatively new areas such as Ceres Plateau and Outeniqua starting to feature”.

Regarding the category benchmarks, it’s unfortunate that a number of these producers only feel confident about subjecting their wines to certain blind-tastings or choose to rest on their laurels altogether.