South Africa is an amazing country! Full of nature, history and great wines!
South African wine has a history dating back to 1659 with Constantia, a vineyard near Cape Town, being considered one of the greatest wines in the world. Access to international markets has unleashed a burst of new energy and new investment. Production is concentrated around Cape Town, with major vineyard and production centres at Paarl, Stellenbosch and Worcester. There are about 60 appellations within the Wine of Origin (WO) system, which was implemented in 1973 with a hierarchy of designated production regions, districts and wards.
The Cape winegrowing areas, situated in the narrow viticultural zone of the southern hemisphere, mainly have a Mediterranean climate and the mountain slopes and valleys form the ideal habitat for the wine grape Vitis vinifera, the products of which have given pleasure to man for many centuries. Long, sun-drenched summers and mild, wet winters contribute to the ideal conditions for viticulture at the Cape.
Noble varieties which have been cultivated increasingly in the past few years include Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, which produce top-class white wines, and Shiraz and Pinot Noir.
Although most of the vine varieties cultivated here today were originally imported, up to now six local crossings have been released. The best known of these is a red variety, Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Hermitage (Cinsaut), which more recently is being cultivated locally on a fairly large scale.
I had the fortune to be hosted by Delaire Graff, a great estate in the Stellenbosch area, and taste their wonderful wines
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery gallery_type=”thumbnails” theme_id=”1″ gallery_id=”7″ sort_by=”order” order_by=”asc” show_search_box=”0″ search_box_width=”180″ image_column_number=”5″ images_per_page=”30″ image_title=”none” image_enable_page=”1″ thumb_width=”180″ thumb_height=”90″ thumb_click_action=”undefined” thumb_link_target=”undefined” popup_fullscreen=”0″ popup_autoplay=”0″ popup_width=”800″ popup_height=”500″ popup_effect=”fade” popup_interval=”5″ popup_enable_filmstrip=”1″ popup_filmstrip_height=”70″ popup_enable_ctrl_btn=”1″ popup_enable_fullscreen=”1″ popup_enable_info=”1″ popup_info_always_show=”0″ popup_enable_rate=”0″ popup_enable_comment=”1″ popup_hit_counter=”0″ popup_enable_facebook=”1″ popup_enable_twitter=”1″ popup_enable_google=”1″ popup_enable_pinterest=”0″ popup_enable_tumblr=”0″ watermark_type=”none” watermark_link=”http://web-dorado.com”]