South African wine history

The early history of the South African wine industry (also known as New World wine) can be traced to the founding of a supply station at the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company. Jan van Riebeeck was given the task of managing the station and planting vineyards to produce wine and grapes in the Wijnberg (Wine mountain Area); that could be used to ward off scurvy for sailors continuing on their voyages along the spice route.T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' pg 442-448 Dorling Kindersley 2005 In 1685, another Cape Governor, Simon van der Stel, purchased a large estate, founding what later became the world-renowned Constantia wine estate.J. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 162-163 Oxford University Press 2006 In the 19th century, South Africa fell under British rule which proved lucrative for the wine industry as South African wine flowed into the British market. This prosperity lasted until the 1860s when the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty signed by the Palmerston government and France reduced the preferential tariffs that benefited South African wine in favor of French wine exports.

Following the devastation from the phylloxera epidemic in the late 19th century, many vineyards were replanted with high yielding grape varieties such as Cinsaut. By the early 1900s there was a large glut of wine, creating a wine lake effect which led some producers to pour their unsaleable wine into local rivers and streams. The depressed prices caused by this out-of-balance supply and demand dynamic prompted the South African government to fund the formation of the Koöperatieve Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Bpkt (KWV) in 1918. Initially started as a co-operative, the KWV soon grew in power and prominence, setting policies and prices for the entire South African wine industry. To deal with the wine glut the KWV restricted yields and set minimum prices, encouraging the production of brandy and fortified wines.

For much of the 20th century, the wine industry of South Africa received very little attention on the worldwide stage. Its isolation was further deepened by boycotts of South African products in protest at the country's system of Apartheid. It wasn't until the late 1980s and 1990s when Apartheid was ended and the world's export market opened up that South African wines began to experience a renaissance. With a steep learning curve, many producers in South Africa quickly adopted new viticultural and winemaking technologies. The presence of flying winemakers from abroad brought international influences and focus on well known varieties such as Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The reorganization of the powerful KWV co-operative into a private business further sparked innovation and improvement in quality. Vineyard owners had previously relied on KWV's price-fixing structure, that bought their excess grapes for distillation. Now they had to shift their focus to quality wine production in order to compete. In 1990, less than 30% of all the grapes harvested were used for wine aimed at the consumer market, with the remaining 70% being discarded, distilled into brandy or sold as table grapes and juice. By 2003 these proportions had reversed, with more than 70% of the grapes harvested that year reaching the consumer market as wine.

Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope

When Bartolomeu Dias and other Portuguese explorers first encountered the Cape of Good Hope in the 15th century, they found little motivation to colonize the sparse and empty land around the Cape. In the early 17th century, the Dutch trading port of Batavia, in what is now Indonesia, grew to such a size that trading vessels were regularly dispatched on the long voyage from the Netherlands to Asia. The managers of the Dutch East India Company began looking for a logical midway point on the voyage to build a supply station that would serve the sailors making the voyage to and from Asia. In 1652, a Dutch surgeon named Jan van Riebeeck was commissioned with the task of building both a fort and farming community in the Cape.H. Johnson ''Vintage: The Story of Wine'' pg 236-242 Simon and Schuster 1989

One of van Riebeeck's tasks include planting a vineyard, falsely believing the consumption of grapes and the wine produced from them is effective in avoiding scurvy among sailors on long sea voyages.A. Domine (ed.) ''Wine'', pp. 752–769, Ullmann Publishing, 2008 In 1654, the Dutch East India Company sent van Riebeeck grapevine cuttings from the Rheingau. These vines were packaged in damp pieces of sailcloth which negatively affected their ability to take root in the Cape's vineyards. During the following year a larger quantity of cuttings arrived from Bohemia, the Canary Islands, France, Germany and Spain. Among these were the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains (known as "French Muscadel") and Muscat of Alexandria, known variously as "Hanepoot", "Hanepop" and "Hanepoot Spanish". In 1659 the first South African wine made from French Muscadel grapes was successfully produced.

As production was small, the wine produced in the Cape settlement was initially intended solely for export to the trading port of Batavia. Gradually the Dutch East India Company allowed freed Company employees or ''vrijburghers'', released from service to the company, to buy land and grow wine grapes for their own consumption. As the market for Cape wine grew, the Company brought in a winemaker from Alsace along with winemaking equipment and a cooper to make oak wine barrels. A makeshift winery was built on the Company-owned farm of Rustenberg as the South African wine industry took root.

Founding of Constantia

In 1679 Simon van der Stel was appointed to succeed van Riebeeck as governor of the Cape Colony. Against Dutch East India Company regulations he orchestrated a deal for a land grant near Table Mountain for a estate – a grant 15 times larger than the company's normal provision. He named this estate Constantia. Legend has it he named the estate after his wife, although her name was actually Johanna. Other theories are that the name derives from one of the Dutch East India Company ships or possibly in honor of the virtues of constancy and faithfulness. Van der Stel took a keen interest in the wine production of the Cape and recruited more French winemakers to the colony. Around his estate and vineyards he planted rows of European oak trees that would shield the vines from the strong gale

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