Bellevue’s Pinotage History

Prof A.I. Perold, known as the father of Pinotage, completed the development of this South African grape at Elsenburg. He made a cross between pinot noir and hermitage to obtain the ultimate success he was looking for. Prof Perold apparently left no notes to explain his choice of cultivars, but legend would have it that he was attempting to combine the quality of Pinot noir and the production capacity of Hermitage.

In the early 1950’s P.K. Morkel was attempting to obtain Gamay, to add to the Bellevue vineyards. Unable to find any, he approached the Stellenbosch Agricultural College at Elsenburg for advice on possible alternative varieties to plant. The new variety developed by Prof Perold was suggested. At that stage Pinotage has only been planted on a trial basis by Elsenburg.

In 1953, P.K. Morkel took the bold step, along with Paul Sauer of Kanonkop, to plant this unknown variety on his farm. His boldness borne fruit, when in 1959 his wine from this almost unknown variety, Pinotage, took the General Smuts trophy, for the best wine on the Cape Wine Show.

We at Bellevue, salute P.K. Morkel for making Bellevue an integral part of the Pinotage history of South Africa and we hope we can honour this memory, by using the God-given factors and all the human ability and knowledge we have to produce the best possible Pinotage for the public to enjoy.