ONLY FIVE wines scored better than 92 and termed Outstanding, i.e. one rated 93 (low silver?), three 94 (high silver?), one scored 95 and none rated Extraordinary or Profound (96+). No. 1 in the 2025 Prescient Fund Services Pinotage Report published by Winemag.co.za was illimis Pinotage 2024, WO Polkadraai Hills-Stellenbosch, but apart from the top five or six, there was nothing else that “genuinely stirred excitement”. To the point that they dispensed with applauding a Top 10 as per the norm and settled for a Top 6.
Pinotage “remains a category fraught with challenges,” wrote panel chair Christian Eedes. “Too many producers continue to push extraction and oak, resulting in wines that are course and clumsy.” Of the 48 entries assessed for the report, “too many examples appeared malty, excessively earthy and simply fatigued.”
Also on the panel: Ndaba Dube, director of operations at the President Hotel in Cape Town, and “wine and hospitality specialist” Francois Rautenbach.
95 – illimis Pinotage 2024
R313pb ex-Karibib cellar, Polkadraai Hills-Stellenbosch
94 – Allée Bleue Pinotage 2023
R235pb ex-cellar, Franschhoek
94 – Hasher Batrachella Pinotage 2023
Only available to Hasher club members, cellar in Upper Hemel-en-Aarde
94 – Springfontein Terroir Selection Pinotage 2022
R320pb ex-cellar, Stanford
93 – Charles Lang & Sons Pinotage 2023
R65pb approx retail, Cape Town brand owner
92 – Warwick The Black Lady 2023
R600pb ex-cellar, Simonsberg-Stellenbosch
