Diemersdal kept the flag flying for Pinotage at the Global Fine Wine Challenge by securing a Double Gold accolade for the Diemersdal Pinotage Reserve 2022.
Durbanville family-owned wine estate Diemersdal kept the flag flying for Pinotage at this year's Global Fine Wine Challenge between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA by securing a Double Gold accolade for the Diemersdal Pinotage Reserve 2022.
Held annually in Sydney, Australia, the Global Fine Wine Challenge sees 120 wines from each of these participating New World countries being scrutinised by a panel of judges aimed at selecting the best of what this segment of the wine world has to offer.
Diemersdal was one of 90 participating wines to win a Fine Wine Challenge Double Gold, and delivered the only Double Gold for Pinotage, South Africa's signature red grape variety.
Thys Louw, sixth-generation owner-winemaker at Diemersdal, says he is pleased that Diemersdal could sneak in a Pinotage Double Gold for South Africa at this prestigious competition for New World wines, proving this variety's ability to make class wines with obvious universal appeal.
"Although Pinotage is a part of Cape wine industry tradition, in world terms, it is still a young variety, with the first commercial wine made from this cultivar being made in 1959," he says. "The better we get to understand the vineyards and the way the variety responds to fermentation methods, skin-contact and aging, the more captivating Pinotage is going to become for consumers locally and internationally. Any international award for Pinotage is proof that the variety deserves a place on the international wine stage, and Diemersdal is honoured to have achieved this for Pinotage and South Africa this year."
Diemersdal Reserve Pinotage 2022 originates from 26-year-old unirrigated vines growing on decomposed granite soils exposed to the maritime airflow off the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The grapes were fermented in open fermenters with punch-downs and pump-overs commencing every three hours. Aging was done for 14 months in French oak barriques, of which 40% are new.