South African Wine, Wines of South Africa

Wed, Jul 23rd 2008, 00:00

Few people realise that wine has been made in South Africa since the 1600s when the Dutch arrived at the Cape to set up a refreshment station.


The Dutch planted vegetable gardens and the first governor, Jan van Riebeek, planted a vineyard in 1655. 1659 saw the first wine made from these grapes but Van Riebeek was no viticulturalist. He was replaced as governor by Simon van der Stel who was knowledgeable about winemaking. The Constantia Estate was established in 1685. Soon it was world famous for its wine. Their Vin de Constance became a favourite of everyone from Napoleon to Frederick the Great.

The arrival of many French Hugenots to South Africa brought a wealthy of wine making knowledge to Africa and wine making has been popular ever since. South Africa now has over 100,000 hectares of land used for grape cultivation and the wine industry is thriving. South African wines are generally classified as New World wines though they blend Old World styles in their winemaking.

South Africa even boasts her own grape variety – Pinotage. Pinotage was developed by a professor of viticulture in 1925 when he experimented with combining the Pinot Noir grape, full of aroma and flavours, with the Cinsaut (locally known as Hermitage) grape which produces good grape yields. Pinotage is a unique and earthy wine.

The Cape Winelands are situated outside Cape Town, though the area of Walker Bay near Hermanus is growing in popularity as many award winning world class wines emerge from there. There is a great variety of wine growing regions in South Africa which produce a great spectrum of wine to suit every budget.

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