south africa Flashcards
what is the climat of South africa ?
1) the winegrowing regions are located at an lattitude of: 27-34° south of the equator
2) south africa needs to have a hot climate
– inlands it can be hot
– the cooling influences comes from the oceant
— cooling benguela currant comming from antarctica
pass thrue the tip up at cape town and up to the west coast of africa cooling coastal areas
—- this current is magnifiend (versterkt) by the south easterly cape docter these bring cooled air further to the inland and can reduce temp by a couple of degrees
3) the other defining feature are the prominent (vooraanstaand) mountain ranges through the wineregions
— they offer producers a range of different altitudes and aspects, as well as different soils
4) in the southern hemisphere vineyards can be planted on southfacing slopes to protect against the sun and benefit from cooler regions
— the mountain ranges can also cast shaddow for the nearby vineyards
— nearby the coast the mountains can also help channel (leiden) the winds through the vineyards
what is the wine law ?
1) wine of origin
— certificated seal on the bottle
2) The law recognize 4 different sizes of production area, the largest geographical unit a catch all app that allows for multiple regional and district blends
—- most important western cape
— this is widely used for either prem wines as it normal, it allows to blend diff parcels from the whola g unit
3) the western cape is divided into regions: large area that tend to follow dominant geological features
– most important are: Coastal region, cape south coast
breede river valley
4) these regions are further split up into districts and then wards
5) estate wines: these wines comes from a single vineyard estate and all the grape must come from this estate
- – the estate also need the faciylities to process the grapes
6) it is like many other countrys a voluntary sustainable agricltural wine country
- — here marked Integrated Production of Wine
black grapes of south africa:
1) Cab sauv: most widely planted, used for varietal style also blended wiith merlot, cab franc for bordeaux style
2) merlot: varietal: full bodied plum my wines
3) syrah: full bodied reds, high alc, ripe black fruit
- – also grown in cooler areas, less full bodied
4) pinot noir: cooler coastal areas
- – vast majority of prem wines are matured in oak barrels, with at least a proportion on new oak
Pinotage: pinot noir x cinsault: range of styles
- blend with int varieties
- varietal
- – cape blend is pinotage+ int varieties
- light fruity style red berry flavours
- old bush vines: full bodied wines, rich spiced berry fruit
- – when ferm in oak or oak staves: intense coffe and chocolate aromas
what about the white varieties?
1) chenin blanc: prem of sweet and dry styles, widest planted
- basic level: fruity easy drinking wines stone fruit simpel
– old bush vines: concentrated complex and full structured
— barrel ferm and maturation is an option
2) Colombard is the second planted variety for the production of brandy
3) sauv blanc: best comes from cooler regions, but also dif styles
– cool: citrus and green fruit
— warmer: earlier picking to retain fres aromas, acidity
4)chardonnay: can make wines of exceptional quality, burgundian style and prduction methods (cooler regions top)
5) muscat dalexandrie: (hanepoot): late harvest and nobel rot
6) viognier: rich perfumed wines with sometimes a tint of oak
7 high quality white blends from swartland: chenin with rhone varieties Mars, Rous, Gren, viognier
90% of the made wine comes from_____.
western cape
the rest of the maintain production comes fro_____.
the irrigated orange river in the north, inexpensive whites
a number of prem wines can also be made by using the Western cape gi, so they can use grapes from other parts
goe gezien manneke
What are the important districts in coastal region ?
1) stellenbosch: Quality wine, mountains
- - climate is moderate to warm depending on location
- – sufficiant rainfall in the winter
- — summers are rarely too hot
- —- winds comes from false bay (cape town) and gets funneld by mountains to the inland
- – stellenbosch has a wide vriation of altitude, soils and aspect
- — top cab sauv and merlot, also syrah and capeblends
- — cooler sites also can produce sauv and chardonnay
2) paarl: warmer and hotter, less cooling effect of the sea, due inland locations
- – like stellenbosch the mountains offer a variety of soil aspect and altitude and cooling influence at night
- - reds: cab sauv, syrah and pinotage
- - chenin blanc and chardo as whites
3) constantia: oldest vineyards in the cape that lays on the eastern flanks of the table mountain
- – constantly cooled by the cape docter
- – rep for SB
- – sweet wines muscat
- —- some vineyards on the south of the table mountain: cool ocean SB and Semillon
- — warmer sites: shiraz and cab suvignon
4) swartland: first inexpensive, but now premium wine region
- - old vine chenin blanc
- - high quality shiraz
- —-sometimes dry farmed(grown without irrigation) that leads into lower yields and higher concentrated fruit
5) darling district: near the coast, cooler so SB
- - now produces more varieties and old vine’s wine
6) Durbanville: tygerberg district: Cooling ocean breezes (benguela)
- – rep for SB
What are the districts of breede river valley ?
1) Robertson
2) Worcester
Worcester is known for:
1) whites from chenin blanc and colombard: high volume brands inexpensive or brandy production
2) reds high volume branded inexpensive
3) hot dry, irrigation from river
Robertson lies to the ____ of Worcester and the breede river. known for?
east, inexpensive high volumes but:
- slightly cooler thanks to the south easterly winds
- – cooling effects+ winds= excellent syrahs and full bodied chardonnay
What are the districts of Cape south coast ?
1) walker Bay: ward Hemel en aarde
2) Elgin:
3) cape agulhas district: Elim ward
the areas in cape south coast are well exposed to the _____ an produces the ____ quality fruit.
ocean, best
What about walker bay ?
1) it has a ward hemel en aarde
2) great chardonnays and pinot noirs
- – also SB, Merlot and Syrah with equal succes
What is elgin known for?
1) fresh SB
- - also promising for pinot noir
- — altitude gives a cooling effect
