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South African wine: past and present

The very first vineyard planted in South Africa coincided with the arrival in southern Africa of the settlers from Europe.

In 1655, three years after his arrival in Table Bay, commander Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company planted the first vines. In 1659 he wrote his famous report: "Today, praise the Lord, wine was pressed from Cape grapes for the first time."

After Van Riebeeck, it was governor Simon van der Stel who firmly established the wine industry in the Cape. He built the model farm Constantia and founded the town of Stellenbosch. Both are still considered focal points of quality winemaking.

During the 18th century, Constantia's famous dessert wines established the Cape as a premium wine producer and its reputation was romantically global.

Meanwhile, Stellenbosch grew as a hub of viticultural endeavours, including being home to experiments that led, in 1925, to cinsaut and pinot noir grapes being grafted together into pinotage, a "local" variety well suited to indigenous conditions.

By the end of the 19th century, South African vineyards and production were in decline. As in Europe, phylloxera had taken its toll. To control production and the market, a large farmers' co-operative, the KWV, was established in 1918.

In 1925, Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery was founded. This merged with another large producer, Distillers Corporation, in 2001, and Distell is today, size-wise, a competitive player on the international stage.

After apartheid

During the apartheid years, South Africa's wine industry was turned inward and international trade diminished as sanctions took hold.

With the advent of democracy in 1994, the wine industry, which had been largely in the hands of white owners and producers, was forced to adapt.

The KWV was dismantled into a commercially driven venture in 1997 and, together with other players, formed the South African Wine Industry Trust in 1999 to promote transformation of the wine industry.

Most owners are still white, but recent years have seen black partnerships and others coming into the industry. In 2001 a hands-on project, the Vineyard Academy, was launched to provide vineyard workers with skills training in various fields.

Although consumption of wine in South Africa has not increased for some years, there are now positive signs that some of the bigger brand producers are looking at the potential of the urban black market.

The story continued ...

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