South Africa
Definition - What does South Africa mean?
South Africa is the southernmost country on the continent of Africa and home to dozens of wine regions. With almost 100,000 hectares of wine vines planted, South Africa produced over 968 million liters of wine in 2015. The three main regions of South Africa are the the Northern Cape, and the Western and Eastern Cape, witch are then classified into wine districts and wards.
WineFrog explains South Africa
In addition to a dynamic and productive wine industry, South Africa is a home to over 20,000 thousand plants, making it one of of the most plant diverse regions on the planet. South Africa’s diverse geography, soil types and microclimates allows for the planting of many different types of wine varieties with a focus in recent years on developing new varieties, as well as experimentation with different rootstocks to optimize wine production.
The growing season begins in South Africa with bud break in early September, a time when most regions around the world are preparing for harvest. Wine country in South Africa stretches along the coastal regions, inland through the valleys into the mountains and into the arid plains in the North, however, the majority of wine is grown in the Western Cape, as rainfall on the coastal side combined with the soil provides the best growing conditions for wine grapes.
Wine production regions of the Western Cape include Breede River Valley, Cape South Coast, Coastal Region, Klein Karoo, Olifants River and Boberg, while the Northern Cape is home to the Douglas and Sutherland Karoo districts and the Eastern Cape wine areas include: St Francis Bay and Limpopo.
