Beeslaar: Pinotage
By David Keck
This week we’re going to start off with a little big of a grape variety history…
In 1925, the South African scientist, Abraham Perold, crossed the grape varieties Pinot Noir and Cinsault to create Pinotage. The crossing of grapes was happening all over the world at the beginning of the 20th century, so this wasn’t a new thing, but the result was quite unexpected. The goal was to take the light, floral, beautiful character of Pinot Noir, and the productivity of Cinsault (also known in South Africa as Hermitage at this point in time… very confusing for many reasons), to create a new grape that would grow well in the sometimes-tricky South African climates. The result was sort of like if Anna Kendrick (pretty and talented and not very tall) and Tom Cruise (good looking in the right conditions and also not a giant) had a weird baby that grew up to be The Rock.
Pinotage has an unfortunate reputation that grew from too many producers over-cropping, over-extracting, and basically exacerbating the less pleasant character of Pinotage—namely its intense tannin and color (where did that come from?! Not from its parents!), the fact that it can be prone to volatile acidity (that nail-polish remover smell), and the famous burnt rubber smell that comes when it is fermented too hot and is allowed to get over ripe.
But the second-most-planted grape variety in South Africa doesn’t really deserve its negative reputation. Those who treat the grape more like its parents, don’t overcrop, allow it to ferment slowly and gently, and basically make it like Pinot Noir, end up with a beautiful, still rich, but floral and delicious wine.
Thus we come to Abrie Beeslaar. Abrie has been the winemaker at the esteemed Kanonkop estate in Stellenbosch since 2003—Kanonkop being one of the first properties to fully realize Pinotage’s potential with multiple award-winning wines in international competitions (most famously in 1991, winning best red wine at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London). He took over the winemaking from the ‘King of Pinotage’ and maker of the award-winning Pinotage just discussed, Beyers Truter. Abrie began producing wine under his own Beeslaar label in 2011 from a property that is ‘about two kilometres from Kanonkop in the direction of Bottelary Road’ according to the man himself.
Abrie is a truly charming and humble man, who speaks brilliantly about Pinotage and the winemaking culture in South Africa (in his equally charming Afrikaans accent). The Beeslaar Winery is a full-on family affair with his wife, Jeanne, running the books, and children Ben and Emma helping to prepare orders.
We have two wines from Beeslaar:
Beelaar ‘Taj’ Pinotage 2020
This is a new wine from Beeslaar that is extremely well priced and allows everyone to try Abrie’s wines without shelling out quite as much as the flagship wine demands. It is similarly rich and concentrated, while also having bright acidity and solid structure to allow for beautiful pairings with braised and grilled meat dishes or roasted veggies. A great everyday drinking wine that still shows the beauty of which Pinotage is capable!
Beeslaar Pinotage 2018
Grown on the 2.5ha vineyard, planted in shale and granite soils, these are 25 year old traditional bush vines of Pinotage. The vintage was super dry, so there is even more than usual intensity and concentration. The grapes were handpicked, fermented in open-top concrete, and aged in 40% new French Oak. The wine is silky, with beautiful dark fruit character, firm but not aggressive tannin, and a long dry finish. Drinking nicely now, this wine will age for a decade or more. It is not inexpensive, but as numerous critics have noted, wildly underpriced for what it is.