Over the last 300 years the vineyards of South Africa have both contracted and expanded. At the moment they exceed 93,000 hectares/230,000 acres, and stretch between Table Mountain in the West to recent plantings at Mossel Bay on the Garden Route in the Eastern Cape, and north through Malmesbury and Tulbagh towards the border with Namibia. In addition, separated by mountain ranges and the forbidding Karoo Desert, are the vineyards of the Orange River, 563 kilometers/350 miles northeast of Cape Town.

The story of the grape begins in 1656, with Jan Van Riebeeck, the first commander of the Cape Colony and tentative planting of vine cuttings at the foot of Table Mountain.

The arrival, nearly thirty years later, of French Hugenots fleeing persecution at home, brought to the Cape another level of expertise. Descendants of some of those families, the Jouberts, Malans, Nels, Rousseaus, de Villiers and others are still making wine in the area of Paarl and Stellenbosch.

Although the initiative of establishing vineyards on Table Mountain was Van Riebeeck's, the reputation of the Cape's wines was founded by Simon van der Stel with the planting and construction of Constantia in 1686. In subsequent years visits by Europeans to the cellar at Constantia increased the worldwide reputation of the wines in Europe. Aristocrats and princes, including Frederick the Great, Louis Philippe of France and Napoleon, were among the purchasers of this legendary wine. But by 1859, when oidium arrived, followed by phylloxera seven years later, the decline in the fortunes of both Constantia, and Cape wine in general, was almost complete.

By 1904 the seemingly insurmountable crisis of phylloxera had given way to a massive glut of wine. Vineyard plantings were three times what they had been before the louse had struck. Over-production went unchecked, and there was little incentive to improve quality. It was 1918 before the message got through to the farmers.

The cooperative and protectionist system that they were forced to accept then has existed ever since. At first the powers of the all-embracing K.W. V. (Kooperatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika) were limited to the disposal of its members' produce, hammering the merchants to pay a higher price. Over the next two decades legislation was passed giving the K.W.V. the power to fix minimum prices for distilling wine, and to force growers to deliver to the K.W. V. a proportion of their surplus crop. Licences were required for any vineyard planted on a quota basis. These restraints on overproduction were admirable in theory but in practice they have become generally counter-productive. Today the K.W.V., having saved the wine industry, must allow progress.

The winemakers of the Cape have a lot on their side. Climatically the Cape is ideally suited to the cultivation of the vine, with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Cool maritime breezes offset the extreme heat of some almost desert regions. Irrigation is generally accepted as an essential, but does not so cosset the vine that the roots do not reach deep into the soil for nutriment. More farmers are aware of the importance of soil, aspect, climate and of planting the correct clone for their particular farm. The days when a large spread of grape varieties were planted on every farm are disappearing.

The most widely planted grape is Chenin Blanc (locally known as Steen), which since 1960 has more than doubled in planting and now accounts for about one-third of total production. The wine it produces varies in style and flavor according to the soil, microclimate and the extent of irrigation, from dry, fruity, still or sparkling to the generously sweet. Of the other white grapes, the Chardonnay, which

has received enormous publicity of late, accounts for less than 0.5 percent of all plantings. Colombard and Palomino comprise about 8 percent each, but the latter is declining as the demand for fortified wines has diminished. Other white varieties, in order of importance, are Muscat' d'Alexandrie (known locally as Hanepoot), Cape Riesling (alias Cruchen Blanc), Clairette Blanche for the cheaper sparkling wines, the popular, though relative newcomers Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Weisser or Rhine Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Ugni Blanc. Plantings of red grapes declined in the 1970s as demand fell and account for about 14 percent of the total. About half of this total is Cinsault (known as Hermitage locally), which makes an ideal blending wine. Then follow Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Shiraz with minute plantings of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Gamay and Grenache. The oddly titled Pinotage is a variety peculiar to the Cape, originating in 1925 from a cross of Cinsault and Pinot Noir. As a wine it needs a minimum of three years in bottle, developing marvelous plum pudding aromas, but styles vary, with some having a marked acetone nose.

The vineyards lie in three main regions: Coastal, Breede River Valley and Boberg, with seven secondary districts of Overberg, near Hermanus on the coast, Olifants River, Piketberg, Klein-Karoo, Benede Oranje, Douglas and Andalusia. These last three, which are the furthest inland, require considerable irrigation in the extremely arid conditions. The Coastal Region includes the oldest farms at Constantia, Durbanville, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Swartland and Tulbagh. Further east over the Franschhoek and Du Toits mountains is the Breede River Valley, with the towns of Robertson and Worcester, where most of the fortified wines have been produced. Now many of the wineries are making excellent dry white and red table wines.

There are about seventy private wine estates in all and the number is increasing. Many are small, producing two or three thousand cases a year or less. But the idea of improved quality has spread rapidly, and efforts are now being directed at producing wines with more individuality.

Ten times larger in investment terms are the seventy cooperatives, spread throughout the wine regions, to which about five thousand farmers bring their grapes for crushing, vinification, bottling and sale. Here much depends upon the quality of the grapes that are delivered, and it is variable. A good deal of the production ends up being distilled or added to good blends held in reserve at K.W.V.'s headquarters in Paarl.

There are, though, several cooperatives with young winemakers who are out to break with the dull image of the past. Already they are making themselves felt. Among the best are Bolandse Koop. (Paarl), Botha (Breede River), Bottelary (Stellenbosch), Franschhoek (Paarl), Nuy (Worcester), Robertson, Simonslvei (Paarl), Rooiberg (Robertson), Velmoed (Stellenbosch), Vredendal (Olifants River) and Vlottenberg (Stellenbosch).

Then there are the equivalent of the négociants of France. Grapes are bought from estates or cooperatives, fermented, matured and bottled at a central winery and then marketed under a brand name. Acting in this way are Bertrams and Gilbey's; Bellingham and Union Wines; Douglas Green of Paarl; la Rochelle; K.W.V. at Paarl, which is by far the largest; the Oude Meester Group, Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery and Southern Cape Cellars. Next in size to the K.W.V. is the Oude Meester Group, selling under the Fleur du Cap label and at Western Province Cellars. It also controls several estates through its Bergkelder operation, which has contracts to provide all the expertise from grape to market place. The estates grow the grapes, harvest and make the wine, which is collected by tanker truck for central bottling and held for maturation. Some estates under the Bergkelder umbrella have a greater degree of autonomy. The best are Jacobsdal, La Motte, Le Bonheur, L'Ormarins, Meerlust and Middelvlei.

The other giant is Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery or "Farmers," as it is known locally. It led the way in producing table wine in the 1920s, when all other producers concentrated on sweet, fortified wine. Public demand grew rapidly and forty years later one brand alone, Lieberstein, was selling over 31 million liters/9,184,000 U.S. gallons per annum. In 1966 the group acquired the Nederburg estates, but before that, in the 1940s, Farmers had launched what became their flagship brand, Zonnebloom. These companies are encouraging the growers to provide the highest quality grapes and are paying a premium to boot.

Many of the most innovative strides in the vineyard, the winery and in marketing have come from research by these last two groups. However, earlier and continuing experimental work of sometimes greater significance has been carried out at Stellenbosch University and at the headquarters of the Research Institute of the Department of Agriculture. In the 1920s cold-fermentation was being developed and put into practice, before most people in Europe had even heard of the idea. The isolation of the flor yeast, which produces the finos of Jerez, took place in the 1930s, as a result of experimentation by Professors Niehaus and Theron. There is a continuing, international cross-fertilization of ideas and practice.

So what of the future? Greater specialization seems likely, with certain areas making a reputation for certain grape varieties. There are already several wineries making excellent "Bordeaux blends" from Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Cabernet Franc and this trend will certainly develop. A lot depends on political change. If this is without acrimony and at the right pace, the wine industry of South Africa will have a great future.
 

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