Why Wines From South Africa
A brief history of South African Wine
The South African wine industry was established in 1655 when the first Commander of the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town today), Jan van Riebeeck, imported the 1 vine cuttings from France to be planted at the foot of Table Mountain in the Cape.The first South African wine was produced on 2 February 1659, establishing South Africa as the second “oldest” New World Wine Country in the world, after Chili. In 1688 the first French Huguenots arrived in the Cape sharing their wine culture and knowledge of wine making with the Dutch.
In the latter part of the 18 century, South Africa already produced in the region of 4½million liters of wine.
“Today the South African industry cultivates 110 200 hectares of land through 4435 grape farmers whose product is processed by some 505 cellars, compromising co-operative cellars, estates, private cellars and producing wholesalers.”
Source:SA Wine Industry Directory 2004/05. Wineland Publications.
The South African terrior
This French terminology refers and describes where the specific vineyard is geographically situated as well as the special characteristics that will influence the wine.
” It is a group of agricultural sites in the same region which share the same soil, weather conditions and farming techniques, which each contribute to the unique qualities of the crop. It can be very loosely translated as "a sense of place" which is embodied in certain qualities, and the sum of the effects that the local environment has had on the manufacture of the product”. Source Wikipedia
The main difference here is that the so-called “farming techniques” which represents vini-culture (establishing and caring of the vineyards) and viti-culture (wine making) will differ and vary in South Africa due to the individualistic and creative approach of the different wine producers.
“The concept of terror developed through centuries of French wine making based on observation of what made wines from different regions, vineyards or even different sections of the same vineyard so different from each other. The French began to crystallize the concept of terroir as a way of describing the unique aspects of a place that influences and shapes the wine made from it.”Source Wikipedia
“Terrior” in SA wine terms refers mainly to the influence of nature (and not man) on the quality and characteristics of the vineyard.
Smith Wines aims to source wines from different and diverse terriors within South Africa to create a diverse and highly desirable wine product basket for the US market.
You will notice that one single wine “estate”/producer can experience different terrior/climatic elements that influences the characteristics of the wine, i.e. height above sea level, angle of the slopes, the direction that the slopes faces, exposure to cool breezes, natural irrigation etc.
