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Perold Wine Cellar Limited
The Uk's No 1 South African Wine Specialist, Online Sales, Wine Tastings & Talks, Trade Sales & Events You can buy our wines from The Mendip Pantry, Village Shop
Perold Wine Cellar Limited
Established in March 2017 from heritage and passion, a hobby business that started off with a first order of 85 cases. Gerhard have taken on a world of unknown. Cold Saturday Farmers markets & local country shows has giving him the opportunity to test the waters and to find the right path of marketing South African wine. With lots of hard work and dedication we found ourselves in a place such so that in June 2019 Perold Wine Cellar registered as a limited company that keeps on growing.
At Perold Wine Cellar Limited we go out of our way to provide our UK customers with a range of wines from all over South Africa. Working closely with our wine friends, always on the lookout for more interesting wines that have a story or connection. We also offer a range of services including: Wine tastings & talks, (Private, Corporate, Charity or bespoke), Wine club, Trade supply, Online Sales, Events, Wine tours, Weddings and so much more.
My name is Gerhard Perold, the great grandson of Abraham Izak Perold. I was born on the 8th of January 1980 in the beautiful wine country, the Cape of good Hope with its salty sea air, high mountains and slopes of vines & fynbos.
But it wasn’t there, where I fell in love with my culture & my heritage.
Abraham Izak Perold developer of the Pinotage grape variety. In 1924 he combined Hermitage(Cinsaut) and Pinot noir plants from France to create the Pinotage grape Varity. The first Pinotage wine was made in 1941. Today is grown widely all over south African wine regions given the world the Pinotage we know today.
My obsession about Perold’s work is driving me to bring the world the famous Pinotage and other divine wines from South Africa. I am a South African Wine specialist bringing the wine from our home to yours.
In a short period of my life, I fell in love with the thunder & lightning, the green hills, waterfalls & rivers and the wild animals of the Highveld. Sabie, Kruger park and surroundings, the place that gave me my love for wild animals and conservation that goes hand in hand.
I spent my school years, educating myself in Jacaranda City with its beautiful purple flowers dropping onto the sidewalks like snowflakes. Pretoria, the place where I made my first tackle and gave me that try scoring fever of Rugby. Alongside rugby I also have a very keen interest in cooking. This is what makes wine pairing so interested to me.
Abraham Izak Perold was born in the Cape on 20 October 1880. He obtained first class B.A. degree in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in 1901. Perold’s results were good enough to earn him a bursary to study overseas. He obtained a Ph.D in Chemistry (summa cum laude) from the University of Halle an der Saale in Germany in 1904. He then went to Paris to explore his French origins and fulfill a promise to his father to learn French. Not only did Perold add fluent French to the fluent German he’d picked up at university, but two years of European travels added conversational Italian, Spanish and Portuguese to his linguistic repertoire.
Perold returned to South Africa in 1906 to a post as temporary professor in Chemistry at the University of Cape Town. But it wasn’t long before he was off overseas again. The Cape government wanted to extend the range of grapes planted in the region. They recognized Perold as the most qualified candidate to send on a scouting mission. He eventually returned with 177 varietals which formed the core of a collection which still exists at the Welgevallen Experimental Farm of the University of Stellenbosch.
On his return, Perold became the first professor of Viticulture at Stellenbosch. He later became Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the university. He joined the KWV in 1927 and made a huge contribution to the wine industry during his time there. He died on the 11th December 1941.
It was nearly 100 years after Pinotage was born, that I truly developed my passion for wine and my Heritage, Although I have been introduced to wine in my teen years, with a small snifter of wine alongside our Sunday roast. Visiting the vineyards on family holidays and learning the big part that my great grandfather played in the world of wine.
Pinotage, a crossing of Pinot noir and Cinsaut, has seen its plantings rise and fall due to the current fashion of the South African wine industry. Today it is the second most widely planted red grape variety in South Africa. While there are supporters who want to make the grape South Africa’s signature variety, critics of the grape note that hardly any other wine region in the world has planted the variety due to its flaws. In the early 1990s, as Apartheid ended and the world’s wine market was opening up, winemakers in South Africa ignored Pinotage in favour of more internationally recognised varieties like Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. Towards the end of the 20th century, the grape’s fortunes began to turn, and by 1997 it commanded higher prices than any other South African grape. It is a required component (30–70%) in “Cape blends”. Here it is made into the full range of styles, from easy-drinking quaffing wine and rosé to barrel-aged wine intended for cellaring. It is also made into a fortified ‘port’ style, and even a red sparkling wine. The grape can be very dependent on the style of winemaking, with well made examples having the potential to produce deep coloured, fruity wines that can be accessible early as well as age.
For the last 17 years, UK has been the place that shaped me into the business owner I am today and therefore completing the wheel of the grape varieties.
Promoting South African wines, Pinotage and all the other grape varieties that my Great Grandfather introduced into South Africa from around the world. Giving the public of Britain the change to taste.
The dedication and passion that South African winemakers put into making exquisite & award-winning wines.
South Africa, the country that I love, have so much to offer to the world
My love, My passion, My culture