The incredible series of coincidences, which is at the heart of the history of this uniquely South African grape, is becoming increasingly well-known. But it is always worth telling one more time.

The creation of Pinotage is attributed to Abraham Izak Perold. Perold was born in the Cape on 20 October 1880. Perold's outstanding academic results took him to Europe, where he studied and lived in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. He returned to South Africa in 1906 to a post as temporary professor in Chemistry at the University of Cape Town. The Cape government recognised Perold as the most qualified candidate to send on an overseas scouting mission. He returned with 177 varietals, which formed the core of a collection, which still exists at the Welgevallen Experimental Farm of the University of Stellenbosch. On his return, Perold became the first professor of Viticulture at Stellenbosch. He later became Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University. He died on the 11 December 1941, after a long career with KWV. Perold experimented with many varietals. He physically brushed a male Hermitage (Cinsaut) flower against a pollen donor Pinot Noir (also described as the Prince of French varietals.) This he did in the garden of his official residence at Welgevallen Experimental farm in 1925. The experiment created four seeds that he planted in the same garden, rather than in the university's nursery. What is less clear is why Perold tried to create offspring from two seemingly mismatched parents. He left no notes at all on the experiment, so we are left to guess. The generally accepted theory is that he was trying to create a baby with the best characteristics of mum and dad - the classic Pinot taste of Burgundy with the easy-to-grow, disease-resistant quality of Cinsaut.

The seedlings seem to have spent the next seven years largely ignored. In 1935, material was grafted from the seedlings on newly established Richter 99 and Richter 57 rootstock at Welgevallen.

Perold used to make regular visits to Welgevallen. It was on one of these visits that he was shown the four grafted vines to his predecessor. Perold rekindled the enthusiasm of ten years previously, and suggested the new variety be propagated immediately. According to legend, it was during that visit to the vineyards of Welgevallen that the name Pinotage was born. It had previously been known as Perold's HermitagexPinot. (One source says that the name Herminoir was seriously considered.)

The graft that performed significantly better than the rest was chosen as the mother material of this new vinous trend. It is generally accepted that Elsenburg was the site for the first experimental vineyard of Pinotage. Lecturer CT de Waal is credited with making the first Pinotage wine in small casks at Elsenburg in 1941. The farm Myrtle Grove near Sir Lowry's Pass will go down in history as the place where the first commercial planting of Pinotage was made.

The first real recognition came in 1959 when a Bellevue red wine made from Pinotage was designated the champion wine at the Cape Wine Show. The feat was repeated in 1961 by a Pinotage from Kanonkop Estate. Stellenbosch Farmer's Winery (SFW) was first to use the name Pinotage on a label when, in 1961, they marketed the 1959 champion Pinotage wine, from Bellevue Estate, under the Lanzerac brand.

This success, and the knowledge of how robust and early-ripening the variety was, inspired more and more farmers to plant Pinotage. However, initial lack of skill amongst the wine farmers resulted in Pinotage nose being labelled as 'hot and horrible' and the flavour as 'rusty nails', by a group of visiting British Wine Masters in 1976.

But few producers did keep the faith. They continued to look for ways to improve the quality of the grape. More particularly, they concentrated their efforts in the cellar. It was a lonely row to hoe, until another wine competition re-energised the Pinotage industry. The Diner's Club Winemaker of the Year focuses on a specific varietal or wine category. The 1987 competition was dedicated to Pinotage. The winning wine was made by Beyers Truter at Kanonkop. Wine lovers went back to their cellars and opened the old bottles of Pinotage that they had stored right at the back. They were very pleasantly surprised at how well the wine had aged. Pleasant berry, banana and chocolate flavours had developed.

Four years later, the same winemaker put South African Pinotage on the world wine map once again. Kanonkop's Beyers Truter was named International Winemaker of the Year at the 1991 International Wine and Spirit Competition. He was the first South African winemaker ever to win this prestigious competition. It's very apt that he did so with a wine variety, which is quintessentially South African, at a time when political developments were ending the country's economic isolation.

In 1995, James Suckling, the editor of American Spectator, visited the Cape for a tasting of old Kanonkop Pinotages. He declared: "What the hell is going on here? These are spectacular, spectacular!" At last, after seventy years, South Africa's home-hero wine was receiving the kind of acclaim for which it had been waiting for!