Unknown to many people in the USA, South Africa has been making wines for many years. The first wines were produced in the Cape in South Africa in 1659. As a staging post for a major trade route, the Cape was settled by many different nationalities including the French, Germans, Spanish, Italians, Dutch, English and other Europeans. This brought a unique combination of wine making experience together which became the foundation of a wine industry in South Africa that is more than 300 years old. South Africa is currently the 7th biggest wine producing country in the world.

The main wine growing area in South Africa is in the Cape of Good Hope, at the very foot of Africa, a short distance from the majestic Table Mountain, which frames the beautiful city of Cape Town.

The Wine Industry Today

South Africa has 103,325 hectares under vine and about 60% of the crop goes into wine production. The remainder goes into quality brandy, distilling wine and grape juice concentrate. There are 304 major vineyards in the Cape.

All in all there are some 4,700 individual grape growers who work within the following industry structure:

Estate wineries – who can make wine only from grapes grown on their land. (78 approximately in number)

Independent cellars – which make wine from grapes grown on their land but can; also, buy in both grapes and wine to bottle under brand names. (150 approximately in number)

Wholesalers – who make wine from grapes grown on their land but can also, buy in both grapes and wine to bottle under brand names. (4 in number)

Co-operatives – who process the grapes of their grape farmer members into wine. (70 in number)

The main wine growing area in South Africa is in the Cape of Good Hope, at the very foot of Africa, a short distance from the majestic Table Mountain, which frames the beautiful city of Cape Town.

The Cape is blessed with spectacular countryside and a mild, Mediterranean climate and mountainous terrain all contributing to the making of fine wines. Rain falls mostly in winter and dry summers with low humidity levels allow grapes to ripen evenly and reliably, developing their full flavored succulence. In winter snow often brushes the highest peaks, but at nighttime, temperatures in winter seldom fall below freezing point and frost damage is rare.

The Cape wine lands, located mainly in the Western Cape province of South Africa are centered around the towns of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek in the “Boland” or “upper land”, but also extend westwards through Durbanville and into the Constantia valley on the Cape Peninsular; northwards to the middle and lower reaches of the Olifants River, southwards to Walker Bay and Hermanus; and eastwards along the Breede River and beyond.

The country’s vineyards have been revitalized and the wines have a much richer varietal character than when Nelson Mandela first emerged from his long incarceration and sanctions were lifted. A South African wine industry that was 10 years behind at that time, is now in the forefront of viticultural excellence! The quality of South African wines has blossomed since this country became the rainbow state.

By embracing a multiracial democracy, South Africa has opened up world markets that have been hungry for the next flavor of the month. The revenue received has funded the production of better wines.

At first, better quality meant stricter selection and where appropriate, a massive investment in new oak, but a significant part of the incoming funds was ploughed into the V.I.P. program. The scheme has developed around the clonal selection, rootstock development and a two-phase analysis of the suitability of terroirs. This program has essentially re-vitalized the country’s vineyards. The new wines are richer in varietal character and have greater complexity than ever before with South Africa right at the forefront in the world in viticultural research!

In past years Stellenbosch and Paarl were regarded as South Africa’s premier wine growing areas. Great Wines International represent some top performing vineyards from these environs but we have cleverly gone to a number of other regions where they have managed to extend their range and offer single-vineyard wines of superb quality.