Nederburg unpacks Pinotage to explore South African wine heritage with Chef Jacques Erasmus of Hemelhuijs

Pinotage, South Africa’s home-grown grape was created in 1925 in Stellenbosch by Abraham Izak Perold,

when he crossed Hermitage (aka Cinsaut) and Pinot noir, but it took almost another four decades before a wine made from Pinotage vines was launched commercially. Although there are now many examples of Pinotage made in many parts of the world, the cultivar is considered uniquely South African.

So for one night only during South African Heritage Month, Nederburg’s new cellar-master Andrea Freeborough teamed up with the inventive, original and rule-breaking chef, Jacques Erasmus of Hemelhuijs restaurant in Cape Town, to lead a select group of guests on a heritage journey by unpacking Pinotage. First the diners tasted Pinotage’s French-origin parents, Pinot noir and Hermitage, to experience what each brings to Pinotage and then they tasted Nederburg’s expression of the grape in the newly released 2014 vintage wine in the Winemaster’s Reserve range.

Erasmus, known for his imaginative interpretation of South African heritage food, devised an exciting menu to match.

The 2015 Pinot noir was paired with white asparagus served with bone marrow, Pinot noir butter sauce and shaved black truffle, and also some blackened fresh line fish with biltong dust, white pepper and braised fennel. The 2015 Hermitage/Cinsaut was matched with thyme-roasted pear salad, walnut praline and local cured ham, followed by toasted mosbolletjies, shaved raw carrots with light citrus mayonnaise and seared tuna. Pan-fried lamb kidneys with Marmite toast and fresh tomato concasse, and soft white mieliepap with tomato, juniper and caramel oxtail superbly complemented the 2014 Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve Pinotage.