KWV Classic Pinotage
£10.59
£14.12 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 7 bottles available
Pinotage the way it should be: bold, juicy and unmistakably South African, without the price tag of the famous names. KWV's Classic pours dark and generous, blackcurrant, plum and a curl of sweet spice, and slips down beautifully with a midweek steak. An easy gateway into the Cape's signature grape, ready for UK doorsteps.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
Our Verdict
We keep coming back to the KWV Classic because it does the one thing a sub-£12 Pinotage really needs to do: it actually tastes like Pinotage. Plenty of cheap versions strip out the smoke and the wild edge until you're left with anonymous red wine. This one keeps its character, that savoury, bramble-fruited Cape signature, while staying friendly enough for any midweek table. It's the bottle we recommend to anyone curious about the grape for the first time, and one of our most consistent sellers among customers exploring South African reds. Honest, characterful, properly priced.
Tasting Notes
Classic Pinotage character, served straight. The nose leads with blackcurrant and ripe plum, lifted by dark wild berries and a soft vanilla warmth from oak. On the palate, the fruit stays generous and juicy, woven through with clove spice and the gentle smoulder that makes Pinotage unmistakable. Tannins are ripe and rounded rather than grippy, carrying everything to a soft, easygoing finish that invites the next sip.
Blackcurrant and plum
Ripe, juicy dark fruit fills the glass, blackcurrant up front, plum behind it, with wild berry depth running through the palate.
Clove and warm spice
A whisper of clove threads through the mid-palate, giving the fruit savoury definition and stopping it from tipping into sweetness.
Vanilla oak warmth
Eight to ten months in oak adds a soft vanilla note that frames the fruit without ever taking over the conversation.
About This Wine
Some Pinotages try to prove a point. This one just wants you to pour another glass. KWV have been making this grape longer than almost anyone, and their Classic bottling is the result of nearly a century of knowing exactly what Pinotage should taste like, generous, smoky-edged, and full of personality without ever tipping into the rustic territory that gives the grape its mixed reputation.
Expect a dark, inviting glass: blackcurrant and ripe plum up front, wild bramble fruit underneath, and a lift of vanilla and clove spice from eight to ten months in oak. The tannins are soft and sweet rather than gripping, which makes this a brilliantly easy red to drink, the kind of bottle that empties itself on a Friday night without anyone quite realising.
KWV draw their fruit from a network of 72 growers across the Western Cape, which means this is a true regional snapshot rather than a single-vineyard statement. That's part of the appeal. It's consistent, it's reliable, and it punches well above its price point.
Pour it with a fillet steak, a slow-cooked beef short rib, or a mushroom risotto with plenty of parmesan. It's also a friendly partner for a Sunday roast or the first proper barbecue of the British summer. Delivered across the UK, and an easy choice when you want to introduce someone to South Africa's own grape without spending a fortune.
Food Pairing
Built for proper red-meat cooking. A pan-seared fillet steak with a peppercorn sauce is the obvious move, but it's just as happy alongside a slow-braised beef shin or a rich mushroom and beef risotto. For something simpler, try it with a Sunday roast topside or a sticky barbecue sausage hot off the grill.
- —Pan-seared fillet steak with peppercorn sauce
- —Slow-braised beef shin with mashed potato
- —Wild mushroom and beef risotto
- —Sunday roast beef with all the trimmings
- —Sticky barbecue pork sausages
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool room temperature. Twenty minutes in the fridge before serving keeps the fruit bright and the alcohol in check.
Decanting
No need to decant, but give it fifteen to twenty minutes in the glass before diving in. A quick swirl coaxes out the vanilla and clove notes hiding behind the fruit.
Glass
A standard red wine glass with a generous bowl works beautifully, enough room for the dark fruit aromas to lift.
Cellaring
Store on its side somewhere cool, dark and steady. Drink within two to three years for the best of the fruit; this isn't a wine built for long ageing.
Ageing & Cellaring
Made for drinking now while the fruit is fresh and the tannins are at their juiciest. If you'd rather hold a bottle back, it'll happily rest for two to three years, gaining a touch more savoury depth as the oak and fruit knit together.
The Winemaking
Eight to ten months in oak, just enough to soften the edges without smothering the fruit. That's the trick with Pinotage: too much wood and you lose the grape's distinctive personality; too little and the tannins stay raw. This middle path lets the blackcurrant and dark berry character come through cleanly, while the oak adds a whisper of vanilla warmth and a fine grain to the tannins. The result is approachable now, with enough structure to reward a few years in the rack.
The Western Cape Region
Le Domaine draws its fruit from vineyards scattered across the Western Cape, from coastal sites cooled by Atlantic breezes to warmer inland slopes, all planted between 50 and 300 metres above sea level. This broad sourcing is deliberate. By blending components from different microclimates, the cellar builds a consistent house style that balances the crisp acidity of cooler sites with the ripe generosity of warmer ones. It's the Western Cape's extraordinary diversity captured in a single glass.
About the Producer
KWV
KWV isn't just a producer, it's practically an institution. Head to Paarl in the Cape Winelands and you'll find one of the largest wine cellar complexes on earth, sprawling across more than 22 hectares. That scale tells you something about the role this co-operative has played in shaping South African wine as we know it.
Founded in 1918 to bring order and quality to a fragmented industry of independent farmers, KWV spent much of the twentieth century as the organising force behind South African wine. Quotas, pricing, export rules; for decades, if you were a Cape wine farmer, KWV touched your business in some way. It's a history unlike almost any other wine producer in the world, and it explains why the name still carries real weight in Paarl and beyond.
Today KWV has evolved into a producer in its own right, making wines, brandies and spirits from that historic Paarl base, drawing on fruit sourced across the Western Cape. What we love about KWV is the reliability. The Classic range covers the varietals UK drinkers already know and enjoy, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Pinotage, Shiraz, made accessible and consistent without cutting corners. These are honest, well-made wines for everyday drinking, the kind you can pour on a Tuesday without a second thought.
Then there's Roodeberg, KWV's most storied wine. First released in 1949, it became something of a Cape institution itself, a red blend so sought after in South Africa that it was once rationed among loyal customers. That's the sort of detail that tells you a wine has earned its reputation the old-fashioned way, through generations of drinkers rather than marketing.
We stock KWV because it offers UK customers two things at once: a genuine piece of South African wine history, and wines that are simply good value, easy to enjoy, and true to their place. Whether you're new to South African wine or you grew up with a bottle of Roodeberg on the family table, there's something here worth exploring. Every bottle carries Wine of Origin Western Cape certification, a straightforward guarantee of where it's really from.