Grape Gossip - Wine in South Africa

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When I first opened the shop 5 years ago we stocked a very small range of South African wines and I have to confess that I never got overly excited by this wine producing region. However, as time has gone I haven't just warmed to their wines I have become an ardent fan. Over the past few years I've been introduced to some outstanding wines made by brilliant winemakers and they just keep coming! We've just had the wonderful Gerrie Wagner over for a tasting a couple of weeks ago (who is this month's wine hero by the way) He's has been involved in the South African wine industry for quite some time - have a look at out Wine Hero section to get the lowdown on him.
So this month I thought it might be nice to explore this Southern hemisphere wine producer in a little more detail.

The background:
South Africa is currently the world's seventh largest wine producer, however it has only about 1.3% of the world's vineyards (ie it ranks the 20th in terms of area under vine). For many decades the quality conscious minority has been completely swamped by the quantity driven majority. The Cape has been a huge distiller, with much of the annual harvest destined for distillation or non table wine products such as grape spirit or grape concentrate. A lot of the wine production and distribution came under the authority of the Ko-operatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereeniging van Zuid-Afrika, (KWV) which was founded in 1918 and until 1998 could set quotas and control the market, creating a system that favoured the bulk grape grower yet handicapped the private wine producer. But in the late 1990's things started to look up and although the 'bulk' market is still very much a part of the industry, increased demand for better quality products has opened up new ventures in new wine growing regions and we're witnessing a whole new world of innovation revolutionizing the wine scene.

What's the weather like?
I imagine many of you have been to this delightful country. A friend of mine lived there for a few years, a couple of us went to visit him and we were seriously tempted to buy the campervan we'd 'borrowed', jack our jobs in back home and stay there. It was just so beautiful. The climate is more or less Mediterranean - the summers are long and hot, the winters cold, wet and blustery. However, the key wine regions are scattered all over the Western and Northern Cape so you can imagine there is some variation between them.

The key grapes?
South African vineyards have been dominated by white wine grape varieties but the trend is moving towards a more even split between red and white. Chenin Blanc has long been the dominant white variety but in the past few years both Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay have become increasingly popular. On the red front Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted international variety, the other Bordeaux varieties Merlot and Cabernet Franc have also become more prolific. Other varieties on the up include Shiraz, Pinot Noir and the Cape's very own crossing of Cinsault and Pinot Noir, Pinotage. Many of the red wine vineyards are currently very young.