Wine Wired

South Africa’s wine has matured greatly over the last 20 years. This is largely due to a flood of foreign investment monies and foreign winemaking knowledge. One of the early legislative decisions, back in 1973, was the creation of the “Wine of Origin” concept. The country, it seems , has caught up with and may be out growing the original governing wine laws.

The Wine of Origin (W.O.) is a structural designation that a wine boasts with a certification seal on the bottle. This seal guarantees the bottle was tasted by an independent panel. If the vintage is stated, 75% must be from the stated year (85% if sold in the EU). If a variety is stated, 75% must be from the stated grape (85% if sold in the EU). The strictest guideline is that 100% of the grapes must come from the stated production area.

If you have not had a S.A. wine lately, I would encourage you to try one. If reds are your thing, I recommend trying Pinotage (which is a grape that resulted from a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault. If a sweeter white is more your speed, the Muscat of Alexandria grape (called Hanepoot here) makes stunning dessert wines, with one of the best examples being Vin de Constance.

I plan on doing a future class on S.A. wines so stay posted. Leave your e-mail address or subscribe to the RSS feed on the homepage. Thanks.