
AFTER assessing 46 wines for Winemag's 2024 Prescient Pinotage Report, panel chair Christian Eedes remarked on the appealing “new wave” entries led by the 2023 vintages of Black Elephant Vintners' Rumble in the Jungle and illimis, compared to the “more traditional” examples that impressed with “depth of fruit and all-round power” such as Flagstone's 2021 Writer's Block, a 95-pointer at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in the UK.
Top score in the report was 95/100 for the 2022 Fairview Primo (not the 2020 as Winemag initially reported). “Cherry, plum, fynbos, earth and spice on the nose, while the palate is dense and textured, fresh acidity lending balance, a saline quality to the finish.” Earlier in the year, the wine was judged Best in Class at the National Wine Challenge.
On the panel of judges together with Winemag's Christian Eedes were sommelier Ndaba Dube (Operations Director at Cape Town's President Hotel) and Francois Rautenbach (founder of Singita Premier Wine Direct). For more about their favourites – including Best in Class at the Trophy Wine Show, Durbanville Hills Collectors Reserve 2022 – see below. For the full competition report, click here.
‘OUTSTANDING' PINOTAGE
Black Elephant Rumble in the Jungle 2023
R415pb ex-cellar, Franschhoek
Durbanville Hills Collectors Reserve 2022
R155pb ex-cellar, Durbanville
Fairview Primo 2022
R550pb ex-cellar, Paarl
Flagstone Writer's Block 2021
R412pb ex-cellar, Somerset West
illimis 2023
R295pb ex-producer, Stellenbosch
2 Responses
Regarding the top-rated wine in the 2024 Prescient Pinotage Report: “Due to a series of logistical complications, the vintage of Fairview Primo entered was [initially] incorrectly captured as 2020 when it is in fact 2022. The error is regretted.”
Congratulations to Stellenbosch Family Wines on the impressive Carlo Pinotage 2022 [included among the Top 10 in Winemag’s 2024 Pinotage Report]. A remarkable achievement for a first vintage.