The design for this picture has various Pink Floyd album covers painted on the backs of a row of young women. It came about when we were commissioned to advertise the back catalogue of Pink Floyd in 1996. There’s an incredible sense of humour in the Floyd camp, and they decided that the back catalogue should be literally “the catalogue on the backs”. Dangerously moreish, the 1996 Valdivieso Malbec is a rich, almost chocolately number with a smooth-as-silk texture and sumptuous blackcurrant fruit flavours. At under pounds 5, drink as an everyday alternative to claret.White of the week 1996 Salice Salentino Bianco, pounds 3.99, Tesco’s 188 top stores; pounds 4.49 Somerfield.

‘Independent’ readers can order a copy for only pounds 6.99 (p&p free) by telephoning 01206 255800Red of the week1996 Valdivieso Malbec, pounds 4.99, Thresher Wine Shops, pounds 4.49, Fuller’s, Wine Rack, Bottoms Up. From Mr Pinotage himself, the 1996 Beyerskloof Pinotage, Oddbins, pounds 5.49 Victoria Wine, pounds 5.99 (aka Tesco Beyers Truter Pinotage, pounds 4.99), is one of the best value examples on the market, a fragrant, mulberry-rich red made from old vines balancing sumptuous fruit with the stylishness of French oak’Grapevine 1998′ by Anthony Rose and Tim Atkin is published by Ebury Press at pounds 8.99. One of its virtues is its easy-going lack of aggression or tough tannin and the capacity to be enjoyed young. Among the Cape’s best estate Pinotages, Warwick’s is consistently good, the 1996, pounds 7.99 Wine Rack, Bottoms Up, Waitrose, is an enticingly perfumed, raspberry fruity example, while the 1996 Clos Malverne Pinotage, Stellenbosch, pounds 6.49, Oddbins, is supple, richly oaked and redolent of black fruit flavours.For good value, try the 1996 Swartland Reserve Pinotage, pounds 5.49, Oddbins, a wine full of oaky aromas and attractive strawberry-like fruitiness. On a more commercial level, the 1996 Culemborg Unwooded Pinotage, pounds 4.29, Waitrose, has the typically exuberant wild strawberry and raspberry jam character of the unoaked style.Young Pinotage tends to be a very deep red-purple, typically with flavours of red, sometimes black, fruits and, occasionally, a strange, almost baked banana-like character.

American oak, according to Truter, is gaining ground as the best medium for maturing the wine, although for his own Kanonkop, he himself prefers French.In the hands of a top producer like Simonsig, however, eschewing oak altogether can produce a vibrantly fruity red such as the delicately perfumed, loganberry-like 1996 Pinotage, pounds 7.49, from the South African Wine Centre, 70 Wigmore St, London W1 (0171-224 1994). “Bush vines keep the crop levels down and the grapes are nearer to the soil which helps them to ripen faster,” says Truter.Traditionally, Pinotage wasn’t given the oak treatment normally reserved for fine reds, but largely thanks to Truter’s influence, small new oaks barrels add a genuine touch of class to this exuberantly fruity grape. “I’d rather drink a half-bottle at 13.5 per cent alcohol than a bottle and a half at 11.5 per cent,” he says.And to achieve that sort of juicy ripeness and full-bodied fruitiness, Pinotage needs to be planted in bushes and not trained on wires. Only two-thirds of the 3,200 hectares under vine is made up of old bush-vine material – from which the lower- yielding grapes and most of the quality wines come.

According to Truter, Pinotage can only produce a good wine when it’s medium or full-bodied. And he took the Winemaker of the Year title, the first South African winemaker to do so Suddenly, Pinotage was as sexy as New Labour. But it still took until two years ago for demand to catch up with supply.Not surprisingly, there’s now something of a mad rush to plant Pinotage, but it could be too little too late. So much so that as recently as 1993, Pinotage had fallen from just under three per cent of South Africa’s vineyards to 2.2 per cent.In 1989, Beyers Truter produced a Pinotage from the Kanonkop Estate under the Cape Independent Winemaker’s Guild label, which in 1991 was awarded the Roberto Mondavi Trophy at the International Wine & Spirit Competition.