Picture this: An eight-acre garden in leafy Newlands. Light, live music floating on a gentle breeze. Blankets spread and umbrellas dipping over the rolling lawns. And more than 20 of the Cape’s finest Pinot Noir producers pouring sips of their beautiful wines…
This is, of course, is the Pinot Noir Festival at The Vineyard in Newlands.

Pinot Noir Festival at The Vineyard

Perhaps because it is such a challenging grape to cultivate and vinify, this relative of Chardonnay has become something of an obsession for many of the wine world’s heavyweights.

It has also developed a cult following among wine lovers. And Pinot’s mutable style only feeds the fascination.

The grape, which is also used to produce bubblies and Rosés, is highly influenced by the terroir where it finds itself growing. The Vineyard’s annual festival, therefore, offers an intriguing opportunity to experience the differences between Ceres-grown Pinots and those from Walker Bay; Constantia-nursed wines and those from Stellenbosch.

Explore how the textures, flavours, even colour and bouquets can differ, with aromas running the gamut of cherry, raspberry, red currant and other berry fruits.

Or just relax, enjoy and don’t think too hard about it.

Romance in the Air

Pinot Noir was described by Joel Fleischman of Vanity Fair as “the most romantic of wines, with so voluptuous a perfume, so sweet an edge, and so powerful a punch that, like falling in love, they make the blood run hot and the soul wax embarrassingly poetic.”

It also has lower sugars than other grapes, which (usually) means lower alcohol levels. Cheers!

At The Vineyard’s 2019 Pinot Noir Festival, you will discover the famous Pinots of Hamilton Russel, Newton Johnson, De Grendel, The Drift, Klein Constantia, Creation, Paul Cluver, Meerlust, Sutherland by Thelema and Iona, among scores of other great estate names. For wine lovers, this is a day not to be missed.

Location: The Vineyard Hotel, Colinton Street, Newlands
Hours: Sunday 28th April 14h00 – 17h00
Tickets: R250 per person
Contact: 021 657 4500 or email

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