Pinotage is South Africa's own grape, made rather than found: in 1925 Abraham Perold, professor of viticulture at Stellenbosch, crossed Pinot Noir with Cinsault — then known locally as Hermitage, hence the name. He planted four seedlings in his garden and moved on; a young lecturer rescued them from the abandoned plot, and the cross was propagated.
The first varietal bottling came from Lanzerac, with the 1959 vintage. Dark mulberry, plum and smoke over a firm frame, the grape spent decades polarizing tasters — rustic, acetone-edged in careless hands — before modern winemaking refined it. It is now the anchor of the Cape Blend and the country's most distinctive calling card.