It Keeps Getting Better

South African Cinsault is poised for a breakout

Who doesn’t love an underdog story?

In the world of wine, Cinsault has had to fight hard for respect. Harder than it deserves. However, coming back from this past week’s Cape Wine conference in South Africa, I tasted so many examples that prove Cinsault is on the brink of something big. And it’s about time; it’s a grape I love, and all the factors seem to be in place for its ascent.

For much of its life, Cinsault played a partner role to other wines. In 1925, Cinsault, which was called Hermitage at the time, was crossed with Pinot Noir to create Pinotage. The resulting grape took on a life of its own and, for a long time, was positioned to be South Africa’s signature variety. In the discourse, Cinsault got lost in the shuffle.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Cinsault again served in a complementary role, this time to Cabernet Sauvignon. It wasn’t a stylistic choice; producers added inexpensive Cinsault to pricier Cabernet to pump up volume. Until the Wines of Origin system was created in 1973, a wine could be varietally labeled Cabernet with a mere 25 percent of the wine being actual Cab. Cinsault, a big-berried and juicy grape, served as a great filler. Some producers even went as far as to use Cinsault to flush out the presses and remove stubborn Cabernet skins, inadvertently adding Cinsault to blends. Ironically, it’s thanks to Cinsault that many Cabernets from this time aged beautifully, due to Cinsault’s high acid profile.

Over time, Cinsault vineyards lost ground to other popular varieties, especially one from Bordeaux. But in the past decade-plus, producers have been taking another look at Cinsault.