Kanonkop Pinotage 2021, Stellenbosch

Matured in mainly new 225 litre French Nevers barrels for up to 16 months, this wine has intense purple hues and a beautifully aromatic nose, with scented aromas of red currants, macerated cherries and cinnamon spice. The palate displays a silky tannin structure, backed by a fine seam of acidity. Subtle vanilla undertones from the integrated oak profile are juxtaposed against a fruit explosion of wild bramble, plums and black berries. An elegant wine with lingering flavours of juicy, dark plums on the finish.

Kanonkop derives its name from a kopje (hillock) from which a cannon was fired in the 17th century to alert farmers in outlying areas of the Boland that sailing ships plying the waters between Europe and the Far East had entered Table Bay for a stopover at Cape Town. In those days the Cape was, first and foremost, a replenishment station and the farmers would load their wagons and set off for the harbour town to barter their produce, mainly fresh fruit and vegetables, to the sailors and other travellers.

Kanonkop is a fourth generation family estate, which was purchased by J.W. Sauer, who served on the Cabinet of the original Cape Provincial Council after the Union was established in South Africa. His son Paul O. Sauer, who became a Cabinet Minister with the portfolio of Railways and Harbours and then became a senator, took over the reigns from his father and was joined by one of the characters of his day, winemaker Danie Rossouw.

In 1967 former Springbok rugby great, Jan Boland Coetzee, joined the team as a young graduate winemaker from the University of Stellenbosch. Mary Sauer, daughter of Paul Sauer, married Jannie Krige, a rugby administrator at the University of Stellenbosch, and he took early retirement to run the estate. Together with Coetzee they made the first estate bottled wines at Kanonkop in 1973.

With the departure of Coetzee in 1980, Beyers Truter, also of Beyerskloof winery, joined the estate as winemaker and together with Johann and Paul, sons of Mary and Jannie, they continue the traditions developed on this highly prized estate.