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California Wine Atlas

Pinotage

Red wine grape · reported 2000–2025

Further reading: VIVC catalog entry

Pinotage is a South African crossing of Cinsaut and Pinot Noir, bred in 1925 and rarely grown outside its home country. California's plantings are small and fading: 52 bearing acres as of 2019, the most recent year reported, up from just 5 acres in 2000, concentrated in San Joaquin County, which holds 62 percent of the statewide total. It produces a dark, sometimes smoky red. In California it remains a curiosity planting rather than a commercially significant variety.

What kind of grape this is

Species
VITIS VINIFERA LINNÉ SUBSP. SATIVA (DE CANDOLLE) HEGI
Berry color
NOIR
Country of origin
SOUTH AFRICA
Parentage
CINSAUT×PINOT NOIR

confirmed by DNA markers

Synonyms
1

names this grape is known by elsewhere, per VIVC

Approved on a US label
Pinotage

the names TTB permits on a bottle

FPS selections
1

distinct clones and selections held at UC Davis

What is published

Counts describe what this atlas holds for Pinotage, not what California grows. A zero is a published answer: it means the source names the grape and reports nothing under it, or does not name it at all.

98

county-years of acreage

9 counties

159

district-years of crush

10 of 17 crush districts, 26 crop years

159

district-years of Brix

tonnage-weighted at the crusher, Crush Report Table 3

0

producers in this atlas

producers whose curated wine list names it — a curated roster of 2,772 producers, not a census of California

regions with a maturity date

not one of the eight cultivars with a

Acreage in California

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Counties and concentration

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Where it is planted

Reported by county — never by AVA

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Share of each county's vineyard

Reported by county — never by AVA

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The counties

Reported by county — never by AVA

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Tonnage and price by district

Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA

All 10 districts on one axis →

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Brix at the crusher

Reported by crush district — never by county or AVA

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