Vine growing in South Africa

the Vine growing in South Africa developed as from the 17th century. It in particular developed thanks to the arrival of 200 Huguenot S French.

Currently, the quality of the Vin S is very unequal and the outputs vary from 20 to 350 hl/ha.

History

See also: Huguenots of South Africa

  • Jan van Riebeeck, first governor of South Africa ordered the Dutch plantation of vines.
  • the first vintage took place in 1659. South Africa east one of the rare wine countries to be able to date with precision its first vintage. However the first colonists do not know large-thing in vine growing there.
  • It is the new governor Simon Van der Stel who will allow the qualitative development of the South-African vine growing.
  • Simon Van der Stel created the field of Constancia which gave rise to a famous liqueur-like white wine in the courses European of the end of XVIIIe and of the XIXe centuries.
  • the arrival of 200 huguenots towards 1690 resulting in particular from the Luberon and of Charente driven out France after the revocation of the Edit of Nantes come to settle in the valley of Franschhoek. They gave a decisive impulse to the vine growing of the Cape.
  • the first imports towards Europe go back to 1761 (at the beginning, primarily of the transferred wines (of type Oporto).
  • About 1880, the Phylloxera devastates the South-African vineyard.
  • 1918: creation of the co-operative KWV (Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Bpkt) which gathers 95% of the producers. The KWV will fix the outputs at the hectare and the price of the wine since 1924: output particularly not very coercive (up to 350 Hl/Ha during the Apartheid).
  • During the Apartheid and the international Boycott of the South-African products, the vine growing was enlisée for truly reappearing as from the years 1990, after the release of Nelson Mandela.

Owners of origin French like Pierre Jourdan in Cabrières estate, Alain Moueix in Ingwe, Anne Cointreau, downward of the ex-owner family of of the same liquor name installed with Stellenbosch (Morgenholf field) and especially Benjamin de Rothschild, associated with the Ruppert family with Fredericksburg, perpetuate the French presence with wines which reach European standards in red as in white. For proof, Nadine Baroness, white wine resulting from the chardonnay, are proposed in London at prices which equivalent to those of best windfallen woods.

Some wine exploitations always belong to the descendants of these families.

Figures

  • In 2005, South Africa is the ninth world wine producer.

  • the vintage 2005 is estimated at 593,1 million liters.
  • It lays out of 100.200 hectares vines (a little smaller than the vineyard of Bordeaux)

Climate and soil

  • the African southern vineyard is one of most septentrional of the southern hemisphere.

  • the vine growing could be established to with it thanks to the marine Running of Benguela: coming from the Antarctic, it allows the cooling of the west coast of South Africa.
  • the vineyard is primarily located on an eroded old solid mass of the Cambrien. The vineyard is planted on zones of Granit, Schiste and in the alluvial plains (Geologically, one could compare it with the vineyards Muscadet, of Oporto or Massif Central).

Encépagement

(Principal type of vines/proportions gone back to 2003)

Red

White

Hierarchy of names

One distinguishes four types of names (of more extended to smallest):

  • " Regions" (Coastal Area, Boberg area, Breed To rivet Area, Orange To rivet Area)
  • " Districts" (Stellenbosch, Paarl, Constantia, Durbanville, Worcester…)
  • " Wards" (Franschhoek, Helderberg…).
  • " Estates" : as in the of Bordeaux one, the properties are at the top of South-African names.

A bicephalous production

Caricaturalement, one distinguishes two types of wine producers:
  • the co-operatives (more than 4000 producers), of which the powerful KWV, are specialized in the production of " wine easy with boire" (easy drinking wines) vinified at low temperature. These co-operatives developed rather aggressive policies marketing which allowed a spectacular development of South-African exports in direction of the Europe (Great Britain and Germany mainly).
  • the independent producers and the 90 properties (Estates), carry out wines more typified and concentrated with less low outputs.

Vineyards of the Area of the Cape

Oldest vineyards of the country.

Vineyards of the Valley of Breede

  • Vineyard of Robertson

Other vineyards

  • Vineyard Douglas
  • Vineyard of Little Karoo
  • Vineyard Olifants To rivet
  • Vineyard of Overberg
  • Vineyard of Picketberg

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