Module 12: Chapters 18 (after Australia)-20 - Oceania, Africa, and Asia Flashcards
What makes it impossible to grow wine in much of Africa?
Tropical climates, desert heat and aridity. There are some places in North Africa (mostly with a history of French occupation) that produce wine, but in general African wine production consists of the nation of South Africa.
Angola is a former Portuguese colony. What is surprising about it?
It is Portugal’s number one destination for wine exports.
When did South Africa become a producer of wine?
In the 17th century, when sailing ships had to sail around Africa, and had to stop at Cape Town to replenish supplies.
When were the first vines from Europe planted in South Africa?
1655, with the first wine made in 1659.
By 1709 there were 70,000 vineyard acres in Cape Town alone.
Concurrent with the development of Cape Town, Simon van der Stel, the governor, planted 100,000 vines just outside the colony. What was this area called?
Constantia. It became famous for dessert wines, and remains a notable production area to this day.
In the 1730’s a group of 150 French Huguenots fled religious persecution and settled in South Africa. Where?
In the Drakenstein Valley, in an area that became known as Franschhoek (French Corner).
By the mid 1700’s, wines from here, Constantia and Cape Town were being exported to Europe to great acclaim.
What struck in the 1800’s?
Phylloxera and oidium hit in the late 1800’s, severely crippling the wine industry in South Africa, particularly the export market.
What sustained the wine industry in South Africa in the early 20th century?
The KWV (Kooperative Wijnbouwaers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika Bpkt). It produced wine, made brandy, and stabilized grape prices, but also created a quota system that, for a time, emphasized quantity over quality.
With the end of apartheid in the early 1990s, where was the South African wine industry?
Possessed of a solid foundation in winemaking, but behind the times in technology.
How has South Africa moved to modernize?
They scrapped the KWV quota system, replanted vineyards, upgraded technology, and created a unique style blending the elegance of Old World wines with the accessibility and fruit-driven character of the New World.
Describe the climate of South Africa.
The interior has a a semi-arid continental climate, while the eastern coast is subtropical.
It is a long the southwest, around Cape Town, that the Mediterranean climate for winegrowing exists.
Where are the prime winegrowing regions, and why?
The areas directly influenced by the winds blowing off the chilly South Atlantic and the warmer Southern Ocean.
What is the current from Antarctica that reaches South Africa?
The Benguela Current. It brings moist fogs and cooling breezes.
What is the Cape Doctor?
A southern wind that dries the vines.
Describe the soils of South Africa.
Some of the oldest on earth, traceable to the first supercontinent a billion years ago. The soils include sandstone, granite, shale, and clay.
What is the leading grape of South Africa?
The country is evenly divided between reds and whites, but the single leading variety is Chenin Blanc, called Steen locally. It is widely planted and accounts for 18% of all grape production.
It is made in both oaked and unoaked table wines, sweet wines, and a variety of sparkling wines.
What two grapes make botrytis-affected wine in South Africa?
Chenin Blanc and Muscat de Frontignan. They make late-harvest, and botrytis-affected late-harvest (Noble Late Harvest)
What are the other leading white grapes of South Africa?
Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Colombard is also widely grown, but usually made into bulk wine or brandy.
Two widely planted grapes from the KWV years, Hanepoot (Muscat of Alexandria) and Crouchen Blanc (formerly Cape Riesling), are in decline.
What are the leading red grapes of South Africa?
Cabernet Sauvignon is the leader, followed by Syrah.
Also popular is Pinotage, and indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsault developed a century ago at Stellenbosch University.
Others include Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Cinsault, and Ruby Cabernet
What is a Cape Blend?
A uniquely South African blend of (unofficially) between 30% and 70% Pinotage, and the remainder traditional Bordeaux varieties.
What is the appellation system called in South Africa?
The Wine of Origin (WO) Scheme. Introduced in 1973, along New World lines, defines geographical areas as place of origin without specific requirements or major restrictions on what can be made there.
From largest to smallest, what are the categories of areas under the WO?
Geographical Units
Regions
Districts
Wards (Defined by soil, climate, and geological factors)
What organization administers the WO?
The South African Wine and Spirit Board. It certifies all wines that list a specific place of origin, grape variety, or vintage date on the label.
Certification requires that 100% of the wine come from the geographical area, estate, or vineyard listed on the label, or multiple areas adding up to 100%. If vintage or grape variety is stated, 85% of the wine must be from year or variety. The board must sample and approve.
Certified wines receive a white paper seal across the top of the capsule.
What is South Africa’s primary geographical unit?
The Western Cape, home to the majority of the country’s regions, districts, wards, and vineyards.
How much vineyard land lies outside the Western Cape?
5%, mostly well inland in the valley of Orange River in the Northern Cape geographical unit.
Where is the Coastal Region within the Western Cape?
Along the western coast of the Cape, extending inland and encircling the original colony and current city of Cape Town.
How many districts is the coastal region divided into?
- Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Paarl, Tulbaugh, Darling, Franschhoek Valley, Wellington, Swartland, and Lutzville Valley.
Describe the Stellenbosch District.
Just east and slightly south of the city of Cape Town. One of the oldest and most respected winegrowing regions of South Africa. Cab Sauv is the leading red, while Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, and Sauvignon Blanc are prevalent whites.
Where is the Paarl District and what does it do?
North of Stellenbosch, and a bit warmer, though still reasonably close to the ocean. Produces a full range of wines and is home to some of the more familiar South African brands.
What is made in the Franschhoek Valley?
Showing its early French influence, the primary grapes are Chardonnay, Semillon, Syrah, and the red Bordeaux varieties.
Where is the Constantia Ward, and what does it make?
Located on the peninsula south of Cape Town, it has a cool maritime climate and decomposed granite soils and has been home to the first vines of South Africa since the 1600s. The area is being revived as a site for dry white and red table wines, but was once famous for Vin de Constance, a luscious Muscat-based dessert wine that faded out of existence after phylloxera. It is currently being revived by several wineries including Klein Constantia and Groot Constantia.
Describe the Swartland District.
A very rugged area an hours drive north of Cape Town. It has a Mediterranean climate of dry summers days and cooler nights, with soils that permit deep roots (allowing for dry farming and untrellised bush vines). Primarily planted to Chenin Blanc and Rhone varieties, this area is gaining critical acclaim as growers and winemakers reestablish vineyards in the district.
What comprises the Cape South Coast Region?
6 districts - Cape Agulhas, Elgin, Overberg, Plettenberg Bay, Swellendam, and Walker Bay (as well as some standalone wards) - extending some 250 miles along the south and southwestern coasts of South Africa.
Describe the Elgin District.
An up and coming in the hills southeast of Stellenbosch, where the altitude provides for cooler temps and slower ripening of grapes. Pinot Noir and Chenin Blanc.
Where is Walker Bay, and what does it produce?
In the southernmost part of the country, close to the shore and subject to the winds off the Southern Ocean. It is one of the most maritime-influenced areas of South Africa, and therefore one of the coolest winegrowing regions, ideal for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Proximate to the sea at Cape Agulhas and Hermanus.
Where is the Breede River Valley Region? What is known for?
About 100 miles east of Cape Town, in the warmer interior, irrigated by the waters of the Breede River. Initially best known for its fortified and dessert wines, but more recently for its Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
What does the Robertson District produce?
Also known as the Valley of Vines and Roses, its began as a red wine project in the 1990s that has brought the region’s Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon to prominence.
What is made in the Worcester District?
Approximately 25% of the nation’s wine, and a good portion of its table grapes, along with a high-quality brandy.
What are the primary challenges to winegrowing along the North African coast?
Lack of water on the northern fringes of the Sahara and the absence of maritime cooling, as the Mediterranean Sea does not get as cool as most ocean waters.
What are the most active wine producers in North Africa?
Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. All areas under French control in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Algeria has been independent since 1962. What does it produce?
Once a major source of blending wine and basic table wine, though that industry is now in decline.
