published on: Monday, 14 September 2015
This week South Africa sees the huge Cape Wine event pouring over 5000 local wines for the world of wine fans journeying to Cape Town’s International Convention Centre.
Wine has been made in this corner of Africa since 1659 which today exports some 450 million litres of wine from its 100,000 hectares of vineyards.
But which bottles from the Cape’s new frontier of fine wine should you be buying here at home?
I’m excited by the potential of red grapes such as Cabernet Franc, Cinsault, Syrah, Malbec and more adventurous plantings such as Tinta Barocca.
The possibilities for whites encompassing Rhône varieties are brilliant along with decent examples of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Chardonnay, even Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Verdelho, Gewürztraminer and Riesling which all reflect South Africa’s extraordinary patchwork of soils and meso-climates.
You can even find fizz and world class sweet wine here – step forward Vin de Constance from Klein Constantia which is a must-taste ‘sticky’ that rivals the world’s finest dessert wines such is its concentration, complexity and sheer deliciousness.
But let’s take a step back for a moment and reflect on the headliners that South Africa is most famous for.
At the forefront, Chenin Blanc is the most widely planted variety in South Africa and there are plenty of top end producers to choose from.
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Not for sale to persons under the age of 18. Enjoy Responsibly.