South African wine industry – when the Dutch East India Company established a supply station in the area that is now Cape Town, the idea was to grow fresh fruit and vegetables to supply ships on their way from Europe to the East Indies. Scurvy was a problem for the sailors on these long voyages and the ability to take on fresh supplies at the Cape.
Jan Van Riebeek was appointed as the manager of this supply station and he planted, amongst other fruits, grape vines and in 1652 the first grape harvest took place. Later when Simon van der Stel succeeded Van Riebeek as governor of the Cape, he established vineyards in Constantia and improved the quality of the wines being produced. After that large amounts of wine were exported to England after Britain took control of the Cape.
During most of the 20th century South African wines were mostly ignored by the world and only after the end of Apartheid did the South African wine renaissance begin.
Today the wine industry of South Africa produces around 264 million gallons of wine annually and is frequently on the list of the 10 top producers of wine in the world.
The heart of South Africa’s wine producing areas is still centred around the historical wine growing parts of the Cape Peninsula such as Constantia, Stellenbosch and Paarl.
There are wineries through much of the Western Cape and parts of the region of the Northern Cape. South Africa is gradually gaining more and more recognition for the quality of the wines of all types that are produced in ever increasing quantities.
