WINE-COUNTRIES SOUTH AFRICA

1 - Regione Costiera (Coastal)
2 - Boberg
3 - Breede River Valley Wineries
South Africa

Vineyard area: 93 thousand hectares

Total production: 10 million hectolitres

Annual consumption
total: 3.52 million hectolitres
per capita: 8.9 litres

Exports: 220 thousand hectolitres

Imports:6 thousand hectolitres

Principal grape varieties: chenin blanc, colombard, sultana, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, gewürztraminer, shiraz (syrah), cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, pinot nero, pinotage, hanepoot, bukettraube, malbec.


South Africa

The dramatic political change in South Africa over the last few years has opened up a whole cornucopia of possibilities for its wine industry. These changes, however, have also exposed many of the weaknesses that were inherent under the old regime. Suddenly South Africa has been thrust into the hurly-burly of the highly competitive world market, and it has had to face the demands of this new but testing arena. The South African response however has been very positive, even though in certain areas expectations have been unrealistically high. Many believed naively that South Africa could immediately become the next "new" source of endless volumes of good quality, but inexpensive, wine. The realities are sometimes different. To understand how and why, it is necessary to go back to the origins of the wine industry.

South Africa is very proud to be the oldest "New World" wine producer- records date the country's first vintage as 1659. Wine growing however often had a bumpy ride through history. It was in order to bring stability to the sector that the Kooperatiewe Wynbourersvereninging van Sud-Afrika Beperrk (KWV) was founded in 1918. Set up as a growers' co-operative, it gained official recognition in 1924 and quasi-legal powers to regulate the industry. This structure still largely dominates South Africa wine and although it has made an invaluable contribution to the industry, in many people's eyes it has been over conservative, tending to hamper the growth of more dynamic quality wine producers. Its regulation of new plantings for example has been seen as favouring sub-standard vineyard at the expense of top-quality varietal wine production.

In recent years however all this has changed. The result has been a dramatic increase in the planting of premium varieties, which has started a major transformation of the Cape wine scene. Foreign investment and support which has come in the wake of the reform can only be beneficial.

South Africa may only rank 19th in the world in terms of the area under vines suitable for wine production (just over 93,000 hectares or 1,3 per cent of the world's total) but it comes a significant 8th (3.7 per cent) in terms of actual wine production, even if almost half of this, due to lack of demand, goes for distillation or ends up as grape juice. In the Western Cape there are 4,648 wine farmers, 70 co-operatives, 80 or more estates and a total labour force of over 46,000 people engaged in the wine industry. .

The KWV is still responsible for recommending minimum prices, but a more liberal policy on this issue has encouraged producers to go for quality. This is already discernible in new plantings, with premium varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc taking a greater share of the total, although Chenin Blanc is still king with around 30 per cent of all Cape plantings and both Sultana and Colombard hold on to around 10 per cent.

The most important red variety is Cabernet Sauvignon, which has doubled its plantings to 5 per cent of the total in the last dozen years, putting it just ahead of the previous leader Cinsault. Red varieties however account for less than 20 per cent of the total production. Even the home-grown Pinotage, which seemed to be facing extinction but is now staging a comeback in response to international demand, accounts for only 2.2 per cent of the vineyard area.

Easily the most important sector is white wine, which is dominated by Chenin Blanc, or Steen as it is also known locally. Both this and Colombard are being planted extensively and can provide the market with pleasant, dry fruity wines at highly competitive prices. Chenin is also capable of making sweet late-harvest wines of great intensity and quality at a fraction of the price of those produced by most other countries.

Over the years of political isolation, when foreign markets were out of reach, many estates produced extensive ranges of wines made in small volumes from different grape varieties. Such a policy is now counter-productive as foreign markets demand fewer wines, but in larger quantities. It will take some time before this message is fully understood.

As for the regional break-down, Robertston, one of the Cape's eight wine Districts, has become the centre of significant development recently. With its outstanding climate, excellent chalky soil and plentiful supply of water this could soon become the most important quality volume area, especially for Chardonnay and Shiraz. Stellenbosch, already famed for its reds, has significantly increased its plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and varieties like Merlot, which hardly existed in 1980, are now commonplace. Paarl too has seen massive changes, with old sub-standard vines being replaced by quality material. Although it will take some time for the country get to grips with the enormous task ahead, with a large and increasing number of qualified, young, well-travelled winemakers supported by the dynamic oenology department at Stellenbosch university and with increasing investment from abroad, there is no doubt that South Africa will take its place amongst the great wine producing nations of the world. In the meantime it is worth searching out some of the best that the country offers: in particular Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinotage and increasingly Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and the numerous variations on the Bordeaux blend. In general the wines do not have the up-front, almost exotic fruit of Australian wines but they do display a true African character coupled with a European elegance. Perhaps they are more closely related to the wines of New Zealand, but they have a greater range of styles and greater complexity.