THE NUMBER of wines on the market that are made from seriously old Pinotage vineyards (way over 50 years) edged back up from three to four following the release of the 2023 Heritage Block Pinotage from Herman Coertze's Meerendal Wine Estate in Durbanville, Western Cape.
Meerendal was one of the Pinotage pioneers after the ‘birth' of this South African variety in 1925 – De Waal planting it at the Top of the Hill on their Stellenbosch Kloof property in 1950, Bellevue and Kanonkop of Bottelary- and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch respectively planting their first Pinotage vines in 1953, with Meerendal doing so in 1955.
The Heritage Block Pinotage has been produced on and off over the years, 2017 the last vintage released prior to the 2023 edition, which carries a label similar in design to that used for the 1969 bottling and heralds a new chapter in the history of top-tier Pinotage at Meerendal. With a renewed commitment to organic farming and sustainability, Meerendal has collaborated with Vititec vine improvement nurseries in a project that began in 2019 and involves the identification of any viruses that may exist in the 1955 Heritage Block followed by the required treatment and cleaning of infected vines. New plant material will be used to fill the gaps in the old block where vines have been removed, with the new plantings propagated in a manner to preserve the DNA of the original Pinotage vines.
After a stringent selection of the best barrels of the 2023 Heritage Block Pinotage, total production amounted to just 850 standard bottles (750ml) and 235 magnums (1.5L bottles), each individually numbered – the 750ml selling for R1250pb ex-cellar.
• For an update on all of South Africa's wines made using vines over 50 years old, click here.