Exploring South African Wine Without Booking a Flight to Cape Town
An approachable guide to the regions, producers, and grapes that make South African wine worth your time.
Written by Charlotte Adams Alsaadi
Artwork by Poan Pan
South Africa is the preeminent underdog of the wine world—a region that despite its rich history, terroir and talent, is persistently overshadowed. Walk into any metropolitan wine bar, and you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of South African wines on the list, if any at all. This is a shame. Not only is South Africa’s current wine scene a rich tapestry of honest winemakers blending New World energy with an Old World emphasis on terroir, but these wines punch far above their price point. These wines exist at an elusive sweet spot. They’re at once accessible and mystical, laid-back yet precise, innovative with an unmistakable homespun flourish. Where else in the world can you find a winemaker in Birkenstocks making the country’s best Syrah that doesn’t require a second mortgage to afford?
The following is a beginner’s guide to South African wine, but it may read more like a persuasive essay. At the very least, it is meant to inform your next wine hunt. Only by trying these wines for yourself will you start to understand South Africa’s allure, and, luckily for you, most of the country’s great wines are in the $30-40 range. Above all else, the hope is that through the exploration of this oft-overlooked region, you can become a more inquisitive drinker and reacquaint yourself with the spark that drove you to wine in the first place.
A Brief History
While South Africa is considered a “New World” region, it is older than many of its Old World counterparts—it started cultivating Chenin Blanc about 200 years before Bordeaux first planted Cabernet Sauvignon. At 366 years old, it is by far the oldest of the New World—about 130 years older than the wine industries in both California and Australia.
The Dutch were the first people to colonize South Africa in 1652, setting up a port at Cape Town for Dutch East India Company explorers to refuel before heading east. One of the main provisions at this trading hub was alcohol, so there was a strong market for grapes. It wasn’t long before vineyards started popping up across the South African capital. Over the next few centuries, the French and British arrived and each staked their claim over different regions. Vineyards doubled by the 1800s, but thanks to the rampant spread of phylloxera towards the end of the century, the majority of these plantings were rendered useless. Luckily, American rootstocks were brought into the country to help mitigate the disastrous situation.
Come the early 1900s, the government elected to help jumpstart the South African wine growing community by giving out loans to farmers so they could more easily start cooperatives. Finally, South African culture could pick up where it left off and continue to flourish, develop and expand. If it were only that simple. The production of wine in South Africa was indeed back up and running but the timing was all wrong. World War I brought the demand for wine to an all time low, triggering inflation and leaving producers with an excess of product that nobody seemed to want anymore.
The next few decades saw further challenges. The proliferation of table wines and a grueling production quota system curbed South Africa’s premium wine sector. In the early 20th century, it became nearly impossible to participate competitively in the global market. Hard economic conditions were made even more difficult under apartheid; up until the early 1990s, South Africa hardly exported any wine due to strict trade embargoes.
When Nelson Mandela’s 1994 election re-opened the country’s doors, the wine industry finally had an opportunity to pour resources and time into their premium sector. It underwent a much-needed revamp in the early 2000s when South African winemakers began traveling and studying in places like France and California. They returned home motivated to rewrite the narrative on South African wines, one that would be taken seriously on the world stage. Armed with an understanding of both terroir and style of the world’s greatest wine growing regions, they accomplished in 31 years what some industries took centuries to achieve.
The “It-Factor”
While the diversity found throughout South African terroir might be its greatest virtue on the surface, the real hero of the region’s winemaking culture is the fierce camaraderie amongst the country’s vignerons.
South African wine as we know it today would not exist without collaboration. There are many barriers to entry—start-up costs, land ownership laws, historical impediments to access—and in South Africa, there are little to no government subsidies for small business owners to help mitigate these concerns. Without foreign investment, small producers have no option but to bootstrap their own projects and lend a hand to those in the same boat. It is not uncommon to find many producers sharing cellar space. As if that wasn’t enough, South African law makes it nearly impossible to subdivide agricultural lands, meaning one can’t simply purchase a block of a vineyard. Out of sheer necessity, most winemakers purchase their fruit from larger growers.
Even if the myriad barriers to entry are overcome, South Africa is one of the hardest places on earth to actually make wine. Imagine being in the middle of harvest, literally knee deep in grapes, about to pump your juice to tank when the power shuts off. “Load shedding,” as this phenomenon of government mismanagement is known, refers to the power outages that occur when Eksom, the national power utility, is unable to meet the country's energy demands. Being forced to make wine without electricity would cause chaos in other countries, but to the ever-optimistic South Africans, they just grab a beer with their cellar-mates and wait it out.
Camaraderie is the secret sauce. It is seen everywhere, from the formal Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé program to the informal mentorships born in the cellars of Eben Sadie or Peter-Allan Finlayson. As wine writer Tim James avows, “[South Africa’s] winemaking ‘avant garde’… is one of the strongest in the world, and there’s no doubt that one of the reasons for its continued joyful growth is the solidarity and mutual support of the many young winemakers involved. There’s no jealous guarding of grapes, of secrets, or marketing and winemaking tips… From what I’ve seen, offers of help are easily made, requests for it never refused.”
A Land of Innovation
Just like the system incubates camaraderie, the laws allow for innovation. While in Europe, appellation systems define where grapes can be planted, South Africa is like the U.S. in that it doesn’t have such stipulations. Pinot Noir is being planted in the breezy, high-altitude vineyards of the Swartland, skin-contact wines are on the rise everywhere from Piekenierskloof to Walker Bay. To confront climate change, growers are planting Portuguese grapes like Touriga Nacional and Tinta Barroca.
Amidst all this freedom, there is still some structure. The quickest and easiest way to think of the South African Wine of Origin appellation system is like a Russian Doll. Within regions are districts, and within districts are wards. For example, Polkadraai Hills is a ward within the district of Stellenbosch, both of which are within the Coastal region. For a wine to carry the place designation on its label, 100% of the grapes in the wine must be sourced from that location. This is much stricter than United States AVAs, which only require 85% of the grapes to come from the stated appellation.
If you’re just starting to explore South African wine, forget the rules. Focus on producers that you like. Google their names and find out who they’re mentoring today. Notice the importer on the back of the bottle and seek out their other South African cuvées. Not all wines of the same place are created equal. Still, here is a broad-strokes guide to some of the main appellations that you’ll encounter on a wine label:
Western Cape
This is the catch-all appellation and is often found on multi-regional blends. These blends are every bit profound as their monovarietal, single vineyard counterparts. The Cape White Blend category is fantastic and is often made with some blend of Chenin Blanc and Rhône varieties, like Grenache Blanc or Roussanne.
Wines to try: Alheit ‘Cartology’ Bush Vines (a category leader) or Rall Wines ‘White’ (texture galore)
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch is the OG, drumming the steady beat of South African wine and culture, with its rich history and strong Viticulture & Oenology program at the University of Stellenbosch. Located about 45 minutes east of Cape Town, it’s known for Cabernet Sauvignon but you can also find great Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Syrah, and Cinsault from areas like Helderberg, Faure, and Polkadraai Hills. Freshness in the wines from these areas is thanks to the cooling winds off the False Bay.
Wines to try: Boekenhoutskloof ‘Cabernet’ (if you like new oak) or Great Heart Cabernet (if you don’t), but don’t miss out on Syrah from the Polkadraai Hills––Damascene Vineyards ‘Syrah’
Swartland
Swartland is the dark horse of the bunch. Back in 2008, winemakers Eben Sadie, Adi Baadenhorst, Callie Louw, Chris & Andrea Mullineux, and Marc Kent formed the Swartland Independent Producers coalition and sparked a revolution. They recentered the story away from bulk wine towards honest wines that celebrate Swartland’s unique terroir. Today, it is still known as the boundary-pushing land of Syrah and Chenin Blanc. Swartland is hot, but shaded pockets can be found in some of the valleys on the Paardeberg Mountain, and much cooler temperatures are found up north on the Piketberg Mountain.
Wines to try: A.A. Badenhorst ‘Secateurs’ Chenin Blanc (a great entry point into South African Chenin Blanc), Sadie Family ‘Columella’ Syrah (oh baby!), or Mullineux ‘Granite’ Syrah (stunningly perfumed)
Paarl
Located just north of Stellenbosch, Paarl offers otherworldly views of the Drakenstein and Simonsberg mountains, sleeping giants of Table Mountain sandstone. In Paarl, you’ll find the main heavy hitters: Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinotage, Chenin Blanc, and Chardonnay.
Wines to try: Duncan Savage 'Never Been Asked to Dance' Chenin Blanc (think Chenin made like lees-y, barrel-aged Burgundy Chardonnay) or Brookdale Estate ‘Mason Road’ Syrah (savory and spicy)
Walker Bay
Walker Bay is located about an hour south of Cape Town and is home to many cooler-climate wards that make some of the country’s freshest, most aromatic wines. In Botrivier, Rhône varieties thrive. In the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, you’ll find Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the best of which make a mockery of Burgundian prices. Sondagskloof, further east, makes crisp, mineral Sauvignon Blancs.
Wines to try: Restless River ‘Ava Marie’ Chardonnay (wonderfully vibrant and mineral) or Hamilton Russell ‘Pinot Noir’ (pure structure from a Hemel-en-Aarde Valley pioneer)