Pinot Noir Category Remains Small But It Is Improving Fast, Report Finds

Although Pinot Noir remains small in South Africa, the category is improving fast the Prescient Pinot Noir Report 2021 reveals.

This year’s Pinot Noir Report sponsored by multinational financial services company Prescient attracted 28 entries received from 20 producers and these were tasted blind (labels out of sight) by a three-person panel, scoring done according to the 100-point quality scale.

The Top 10 emerged as follows:

94
Bosman Upper Hemel en Aarde 2020

93
De Grendel Op Die Berg 2019

Iona Kroon 2018

92
David Finlayson Camino Africana 2019

Jayne’s 2019

La Vierge Apogée 2016

Paul Cluver Village 2019

Catherine Marshall Pinot Noir on Sandstone Soils 2019

91
Catherine Marshall Pinot Noir on Clay Soils 2020

Shannon Rockview Ridge 2019

“As we all know, Pinot Noir is a notoriously difficult grape to work with and plantings of this variety remain small in South Africa – it makes up just 1.3% of the national vineyard,” says Christian Eedes, chairman of the tasting panel and Winemag.co.za editor.

“That said, there are a few dogged producers who have always been determined to make the variety work under local conditions and  their efforts finally seem to be paying off”.

To read the report in full, including key findings, tasting notes for the top wines and scores on the 100-point quality scale for all wines entered,