South Africa; An Excellent New World Wine Country

South Africa is known as one of the new world wine countries , the country has a tradition of more than 3 centuries of wine growing. Remarkably enough, it can be said that the Netherlands played a small, but nevertheless essential role in this . It was the Dutch governor Jan van Riebeeck who produced the first wine at the time, which cautiously led in the following years to a real wine industry that was also appreciated on a global scale. The famous wine that was produced in Constantia was long considered one of the greatest wines in the world. Unfortunately, the wine fell prey to a devastating parasite that decimated the plantations and even greater damage was caused by criminal wine merchants who introduced inferior clones of Constantia on the market. In 1656 Jan van Riebeeck planted the first grapevines.

Apartheid slowed the development of South African wines , but since the early 1990s it has flourished again. Not only wine is produced, but also “port”, “sherry” ("sjerrie"), sparkling wines and dessert wines. Due to the climate, the production of South African wine is concentrated in the Cape Province; the rest of the country is much too warm. The influence of the ocean on the wine regions is very great. Mainly the area of Elgin, on the south coast, but also well-known areas such as the Coastal Region are continuously affected by it. Other well-known wine regions such as Swartland , Stellenbosch , Franschhoek , but also Robertson , Wellington and the Coastal Region are well-known names.
The Netherlands is considered the second largest buyer of South African wine.