Because the region produces some of the best bottles out there at incredible prices — bottles so good, even some of the most expensive wines of Burgundy couldn’t beat them in a recent blind tasting.
Winemaking has a very long history in South Africa — and the quality continues to rise. If you haven’t yet tried their wines, now is definitely the time.
An incredible turnaround
South Africa’s been growing vines since the 1650s, when Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company brought grapes to the Western Cape from France. Winemaking expanded through the 17th century, such that by the late 18th century, European glasses were full of South African wine.
But new tariff laws in 1861 hiked prices. Then came phylloxera in the 1880s, which destroyed about a quarter of the Cape’s vines. Growers eventually replanted, but they overdid it, causing a surplus of wine and a fall in quality. And, because of apartheid, many countries refused to buy South African wines — it wasn’t until their first democratic elections in 1994 that the export door opened again. Even then, barely 30% of the country’s wine grapes were used for bottled wine. Most grapes were used for brandy or were sold as grape juice and table grapes.
Today, however, the entire wine sector has been transformed from top to bottom, as ambitious winemakers have found ways to express the country’s extraordinary climate and terroir to its fullest potential.
Regions to know
Many of South Africa’s vineyards can be found in the spectacular Western Cape, the southernmost point of Africa itself. One of the most important regions is Stellenbosch, home to flagship wineries like Kanonkop Wine Estate, Reyneke Wines, and Glenelly Estate. It’s also the birthplace of South Africa’s signature red grape, Pinotage, a thick-skinned cross-breed between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, born in 1925.
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