Pinotage’s new era: lighter, livelier, food-list friendly
News24’s June feature, with voices such as Calow and Erasmus, frames new-wave Pinotage ordered more like Pinot Noir on tasting menus. Labels like Illimis and Selma show how sommeliers now list the grape for lift and food, not only for heavy braai stereotypes.
Pinotage used to mean muscle in many export minds. A new wave is rewriting the pour.
News24’s 5 June 2026 Eat Out industry piece, drawing on Calow, Erasmus and peers, describes Pinotage that is lighter, livelier and proudly South African without the old tar-and-coffee caricature. On tasting menus the grape is increasingly ordered in a Pinot Noir lane — freshness, red fruit, and food flexibility. Names such as Illimis and Selma appear as sommelier-friendly proof points: bottles that sit beside cuisine rather than crushing it.
Mini-concept: list-friendly means alcohol, extraction and oak stay in scale with the plate. When Pinotage behaves like a mid-weight red, restaurants can sell it by the glass to diners who fear “big SA red.” That is category rehab through style, not through slogans.
For Gen Z diners, this is permission. You can choose South Africa’s signature grape without signing up for a heavy night. That intentional glass beats a random sweet mixer when the meal is the point.
Keep one pattern: lighter Pinotage like Pinot on menus, Illimis/Selma as somm cues — new era over old muscle myth.
Source: News24