“The history of South African vineyards
The discovery of new worlds in America and Africa also gave a boost to vine colonization. Towards the end of the 17th century, vines and their cultivation took root in a small corner of the Cape of Good Hope, from where they began to spread, first across the coastal plains and then penetrating the high, threatening mountain ranges that barred the way to the vast, mysterious regions of an unknown continent. Life on this continent demanded courage – not only to cope with the difficulties of daily survival, but also to develop skills in government, art and architecture, as well as a system of communication. Under the sweltering African sun, each of these skills found its own identity in which European heritage rubbed shoulders with the strong presence of the flavors and smells of the new land. These flavors and smells also found their way into the fragrance of the wine. Over the years, man and land grew together.
Today, viticulture depends on a close combination of terroir and sophisticated skills and technologies. However, to create a great quality wine, an additional element is required: the winemaker’s total dedication. Such dedication to a vocation has marked, and continues to distinguish, South Africa’s finest winemakers. To fully understand South African wine, you have to walk under the sun, in the vineyards. You have to meet the many hospitable people whose lives are devoted to this creation of man and nature. You have to walk between the rows of vines, listen to the voice of the winemaker, explore the coolness of the cellar with the winemaker and finally sit at a rough wooden table in the shade of a great oak and savor your wine. This reality had its beginnings in the mid-17th century on a warm, windswept beach when the idea of wine was born in the mind of the man who was to become South Africa’s “first winemaker”; Jan van Riebeeck.
THE BEGINNINGS
South Africa is probably one of the few countries where the exact date of the beginning of viticulture is known. The founding of a supply post in 1652 led to the establishment of a thriving wine industry and the birth of a nation, with no fear of this statement being contradicted. It can therefore be said that the founder of the South African nation, Jan van Riebeeck, was also the founder of its wine industry. He was a 33-year-old Dutch surgeon intent on finding a cure for scurvy. The first European settler in the Cape, married to a Frenchwoman, Marie de la Quellerie, he was a pioneer in spite of himself, and certainly not a winemaker. The task assigned to him was to create a base to supply the ships of the East India Company en route to India. The Cape’s Mediterranean climate seemed to indicate that vines would do well here. After numerous appeals by Commandant Van Riebeeck to the Company’s seventeen administrators in Amsterdam, small shipments of vines were dispatched in 1655 and again in 1665.
Through research, we have tried to identify these first vines and trace their origins. It seems that they, and those that followed, came from France. As French vineyards were closest to the Netherlands, this is not at all extraordinary. Van Riebeeck called some of these plants “his Spanish grape”. He was to receive a good number of vine shipments in the years to come, and in most cases he indicated France as the country of origin. It is likely that the “Spanish variety” was in fact Muscat d’Alexandrie. The exact identity of the first vines was probably less important than the fact that they had survived the long journey and were ready for planting. The head gardener was aptly named Hendrik Boom – “boom” meaning “tree” in Dutch. He was assisted by Jacob Cloete van Kempen. Vines were planted alongside vegetables in the Company’s gardens – Mediterranean foreigners among solid Dutch crops. The Dutch were not a winemaking people, and on this windy end of the world they were far removed from any oenological knowledge. Once planted, the vines received no further attention, but the vine is a hardy and adaptable plant, so the young crop survived this lack of attention.
As the vineyards expanded, so did the community, and with it changes in structure. The first “Vrijburghers” appeared. Van Riebeeck soon realized that the Company’s agricultural resources alone could not support all the ships. To tackle this problem, he proposed that a certain number of Company employees be released from their duties and given land to cultivate near the village. Hence the origin of the term “Vrijburgher”, which means “free citizen” in Dutch. Most of these men came from underprivileged social backgrounds. They were in the lowest ranks of the Company’s service; mercenaries, soldiers and runaway sons – the “rabble” of the Dutch colonial empire. At first, they showed little interest in growing vines, preferring more familiar crops. Gradually, however, they allowed themselves to be influenced by the Commandant’s determination, and introduced a few vines on their land. They were encouraged by the obvious success of the Bosheuvel vineyards and by the resilience of the vines. Despite their lack of knowledge, the vines were doing well. Their methods were simple.
The vines were planted one metre apart and arranged in rows also spaced one metre apart. This compact arrangement probably rapidly exhausted the soil’s resources. The vines were not supported by a trellis. The branches of young plants were supported by stiles. The community on the banks of the Amstel River took root at the same time as the vines. The expansion of agricultural activities brought with it a new problem. To exploit these developments there was an urgent need for labor, which the Company was to provide in the form of slaves. Although slavery no longer existed in Europe, colonial expansion brought it back to life. The Netherlands, like other colonizing nations, exploited cheap labor in their overseas territories. The arrival in Cape Town in 1658 of two Dutch ships carrying 200 slaves, brought about a sudden change in the labor situation and radically altered the structure of the population. These slaves from various countries (Malaysia, Mozambique) were to play a decisive role in the expansion and consolidation of the colony, and in the development of agriculture and viticulture.
South African viticulture, let’s face it, was not based on an egalitarian social structure. The system was efficient, but that in no way justifies the human injustice on which it was built. At first, slaves were given to the Vrijburghers. Later, they bought them and the slaves became part of their property. The Vrijburghers were constantly on the move. They found themselves alone in a hostile environment, a dangerous paradise. They had to win or die. They held in their hands the seeds of a society to come. The vines they cultivated held the promise of superb growth that would lead this community to power and opulence – economically and symbolically.
The first harvest of “French grapes” took place in 1659. Given the circumstances, the method was certainly very simple. Van Riebeeck is silent on the quality of his first wine production. It is likely that the wine was simply undrinkable. This, of course, mattered neither to Van Riebeeck nor to posterity. He overcame the circumspection of the Company’s seventeen Dutch administrators (a small triumph in itself), imported the vines, watched over their growth and made the first wine. The entry in his diary of that day bears sober witness to this brief but historic moment: “Today, God be praised, we passed for the first time to the Cape grape press. We took a sample from the mountain, from the vat itself. The three young vines of French and Muscat grapes that have been growing here for two years have yielded 12 mengels (one mengel equals more or less one liter) of mont. The Spanish Hanepoot was not yet ripe.
Although not directly involved in the colony’s expansion, Van Riebeeck inspired the first voyages of exploration initiated a few years after the colony’s foundation. In 1657, a small group of “Burghers” (citizens) crossed the Cape plains to the foot of the North-East Mountains. This group is said to have given the name “Hottentots-Holland” to the mountains that formed this natural barrier. The following year, the Commandant himself instructed Sergeant Herwaarden to conduct a more systematic exploration of a valley – now the Paarl Valley – which was then teeming with game. The group was looking for a place to cross the mountains into the hinterland. They stopped at the Roodezand Pass, which gives access to the Tulbach Valley, before turning back. The journey was marked by tragic events: two members of the group succumbed to dysentery and one soldier was slashed to death by a lion.
Van Riebeeck left the Cape in 1662 to take up the post of Governor of Batavia in the Far East, where he died at the age of 58. We’ll never know whether the Company’s “seventeen gentlemen”, somber but astute by candlelight in their Amsterdam council chamber, said a prayer for his soul on hearing of his death. Despite the indiscretions of his youth, in the end he proved deserving of their trust and hopes. In any case, they would have assured him that Cape Town’s vineyards were doing very well. This, despite the fact that the Vrijburghers weren’t the best farmers and didn’t know anything about viticulture. Their methods were extremely simple. They ploughed the plantations by hand – the rows of vines being so close together that a horse and plough couldn’t get through. It would be a century before they were involved in vineyard work. The vineyards were never tired, as rainfall was sufficient in the region. In those days, there were no diseases to fear, and the most serious natural plague was the birds that descended in rapacious clouds, especially at harvest time. The Hottentots – a small indigenous population – also marauded the vineyards from time to time.
Because of the birds, the grapes were harvested too early and the quality of the wine suffered. The first harvests produced mainly table grapes, and most of the wine for the colony was still imported. Harvesting was done in large totes. The grapes, along with the seeds and stems, were pressed in wooden vats. Later, in the 18th century, wooden presses came into use, but at first the grapes were pressed by hand or foot. The resulting juice was fermented in ox skins suspended between four wooden poles. The resulting wine contained many impurities, although it was sometimes filtered through baskets to remove most of the skins, leaves and seeds. Early winemakers were completely unaware of the importance of hygiene or cleanliness in the winemaking process. The Burghers exploited these trial wines. Initial reports were, for the most part, very negative, even hostile. This was not necessarily due to the quality of the wine itself. The wine didn’t stand up well to long journeys across the tropics. The fragility of its physical and chemical structure was easily disturbed by micro-organisms and changes in temperature and humidity, as well as by the vibrations of the small wooden ships.
VAN DER STEL – THE MASTER
The Vriiburghers were in dire need of help and advice. They would soon receive answers, even if the enthusiasm that accompanied them was not always unambiguous. This advice came from the new commander, Simon van der Stel. He was a cultured man who had traveled extensively and knew first-hand the wine-producing countries of Europe. Governor Van der Stel introduced new measures to improve local agriculture, including viticulture. As part of this, he established Groot Constantia, one of the most famous estates, which still exists today. Shortly after his arrival in 1679, he made one of the greatest contributions to the structure of the first society in Cape Town. Returning from a trip to inspect the Hottentots-Holland region, he left the original route to explore a long, verdant valley that he felt would be an ideal location for cultivation and for a new colonial settlement. Until then, this valley had been known as “Wildebosch” (meaning wild forest). This is how Stellenbosch came to be in Simon van der Stel’s mind, in November 1679.
This decision, on the part of the new Commandant, created the centerpiece for the expansion of a new community. A community founded by and for settlers and Vrijburghers, and where wine was to form a principal element from the outset. On his arrival in Cape Town, he found the local product “exceptionally rough”. The Vrijburghers countered that the wine could not be improved. Van der Stel set out to prove them wrong by producing a quality wine for the first time in Cape Town. Exported to the Netherlands, this wine even received favorable reactions. At the same time, he began to impose the beginnings of an administrative system on the local wine industry. The grape varieties he introduced (or perhaps reintroduced) probably included Muscat de Frontignan. On a more practical level, he stressed the importance of pressing grapes only when they were ripe. The custom of rushing the harvest to avoid marauding birds gave the wine a raw flavor. He set up a commission to visit the vineyards and check that the grapes had reached the required maturity before harvesting. A fine of 60 rixdales was imposed.
The general importance of hygiene was emphasized, especially for vat treatment. Wines were clarified using ox blood, egg albumin and isinglass (a gelatinous extract from the bladder of the sturgeon.) The foundation of Stellenbosch is certainly Van der Stel’s most famous public memorial, but his memory also lives on in a more personal creation. His estate, Groot Constantia, is still one of Cape Town’s finest monuments to an era of elegance. In this valley, in the shadow of Mount Constantia, the Commandant established a farm that could serve as a model. The coolness of the valley was also reflected in the Governor’s unflappable demeanor.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, he took over 750 hectares of land. As Company employees were not entitled to personal property, this act was completely illegal. The same year that the Constantia estate was purchased, an event took place in Europe that would, with some delay, affect the make-up of the Cape’s population as well as the quality of its wines. In that year, the King of France, Louis XIV, revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had ensured religious tolerance for French Protestants since its promulgation by Henry IV in 1598. Following this reversal of their situation, 200 Huguenots left France to settle in Cape Town between 1688 and 1690, via Holland. They were hard-working and possessed a wide range of skills.
France’s loss was the Cape’s gain. The Huguenots came from a very different social stratum to the Vrijburghers, who were rather plain and simple. The Huguenots were easily granted the same land concessions as the Vrijburghers. Many of the new settlers came from the south of France, and although they had not been directly involved in viticulture, they were familiar with its methods and procedures. The newcomers quickly integrated into the existing community and, in less than a generation, changed their language to Dutch. If there was initially an atmosphere of mistrust on the part of the established farmers, any resistance was soon overshadowed by a united antagonism that both sides felt towards the new governor of the Colony. Simon Van der Stel’s successor was his eldest son, Willem Adriaan.
The trajectory of Willem Adriaan’s career is well known. The tendency to bend the rules, already present in the father, showed itself in the son in an excessive way. At the same time, the father’s intelligence and resourcefulness were also passed on to the son. Right from the start, Willem Adriaan showed a passionate interest in the country’s agricultural and horticultural possibilities. The inquisitive spirit of the scientist was added to the radiant reason of the man on the threshold of the 16th century, and these elements gave rise to considerable agricultural experiments. These experiments were carried out on the Vergelegen estate (an illegal acquisition) in the Hottentots-Holland region. In his “Gardener’s Almanack”, Van der Stel noted, for the benefit of the whole community, the care given to the vines and the progress they were making.
This “viticultural calendar” gives us a fascinating insight into the methods used by winegrowers in the eighteenth century. In July, “the second month of winter” in the text, Van der Stel gives the following advice: “To plant vines, dig the soil three feet deep and remove stones and weeds. When the shoots are cut, bind them by the hundred in bundles and bury them until late September or early October. They should then be planted in damp weather. They will have budded under the soil, but their leaves will fall off and new knots will form”.
In the same month, he recommends pruning old vines early and replacing old vines with canes. The shoots to be transplanted should be fourteen to fifteen inches long and have at least two buds above the stump. The best fragments are those that have been cut or detached from the stem. They should be planted regularly in a south-easterly or north-westerly direction. When a vine dies, it should not be replaced by a new plant. The old vines, having had possession of the land, would withdraw nourishment from the soil and prevent the growth of the new plant. Dig a hole a foot deep near a vine, place a branch in it and cover it, leaving only a few inches uncovered. If buds form, prune it back by half, and close to the mother vine in the following year, and prune it back completely in the second year. He recommends “cleaning up the plantations in October, and if the growth is too luxuriant, pruning the shoots and hoeing the soil. In November, it’s time to take care of the vines and tie up any shoots that are too long.” March: “The harvest and wine-making season”.
Van der Stel’s own harvest was rather bitter: exile. Despite a promising start, he allowed himself to be tempted by self-interest. The colonists might have put up with this if it weren’t for his intolerant, autocratic temperament. Tension mounted, leading to open revolt. This challenge to his authority provoked a disproportionate reaction from Van der Stel. He had the leaders of the revolt arrested and imprisoned, before sending five of them to Holland to stand trial before the Council. It was a fatal error. Van der Stel was wrong, not only about the power of citizens, but also about the disposition of his employers. The Governor’s powers were first cut very short, and he was subsequently relieved of his duties. Forced into exile in Holland, he paid the price for his lack of insight into human nature. The good that his intelligence and vision could have brought to local farming methods, including viticultural techniques, unfortunately accompanied him into exile. With Van der Stel’s departure, the ambitions of the East India Company’s local servants were dealt a blow. The Cape of Good Hope was increasingly becoming the domain of the Vrijburghers. They controlled it, and the land began to bear the stamp of their personality.
Towards the end of the 18th century, the descendants of these pioneering farmers became wealthy and prosperous, achieving an opulence their ancestors could never have dreamed of. At the time, the French wine trade was severely affected by the French Revolution, the ensuing Napoleonic Wars and a series of military incidents between France, the Netherlands and England. For the first time, Cape winemakers were able to find a market and demand for their products outside their own community and from passing ships. For the first time, they were introduced to the English, whose ability to drink would give them a certain pleasure: in those days, the English consumed all kinds of alcohol with great enthusiasm. The Elizabethans practically drowned in raw ale and dry white wine. The same period also saw the arrival of a new competitor: an absurd oriental drink, prepared with leaves soaked in boiling water. But no wine lover could have taken this competition seriously, let alone think that a world empire would soon be floating on good, steamy waves of tea!
Towards the end of the 18th century, the English drank wine, preferring above all sweet wines, port and sherry, whose calorific content was well able to combat the cold of the boreal winter. When, due to the wars with France, they could no longer obtain French wine, they turned to the Cape for their supplies. Such was the English demand for Cape wine that they didn’t even really consider the quality of the wine. This spending spree lasted 50 years. With British money, South Africans built their grand estates, replacing or modifying the simple dwellings that had sufficed for their forebears. They built superb mansions topped with tall, white gables. The capricious subtlety of Malay slaves was often responsible for the rich, ornate lines. On both sides of the gables, smooth, tightly-packed thatch was spread. The wood of the frames and doors was painted green. Inside, there was beautiful native hardwood furniture with polished copper handles, all the elegance that money can buy. The land had borne fruit, and for the farmers it was a time of unprecedented success.
By this time, Cape Town had become accustomed to ignoring issues in distant Europe, even those concerning human rights. It knew nothing of the trends in European philosophy that would lead to the creation of a liberal vision in the 19th century. She had neither prophet nor guide. Its memory lives on, not in history books but rather as a group consciousness, even through the upheavals of the decades to come. Among the famous wineries that have survived the ravages of time, one in particular stands out as a symbol: the historic Groot Constantia estate. In 1778, Groot Constantia underwent a major change of ownership. The Cloete family, descendants of Yan Riebeeck’s under-gardener, bought the property for 60,000 florins. Under the Cloetes, the estate became famous and, in 1885, the colonial government bought it to establish a wine training center.
The legend of Constantia wines was created in the midst of a turbulent political environment. The East India Company’s vast and disjointed trading empire was in disarray, and the farmers, though wealthy, had no political or military influence. They made the mistake of mistaking this absence of power for freedom. This vacuum was about to be filled. In 1780, war was declared between England and France, an ally of the Netherlands. The French garrison at the Cape withdrew and ten years later, in 1795, the first English occupation, which was to last seven years, followed the invasion of General Clarke and Admiral Elphinstone. The English were rather casual conquerors.
After all, their occupation of the Cape was only intended to force the French navy to fall back. They observed the local scenes with a certain interested curiosity, and for the first time had the opportunity to see the places from which their imported wine came. Lady Anne Barnard, wife of the Secretary to the Governor, gave a vivid account of her impressions at the time. She seems to have befriended Hendrik Cloete de Groot Constantia, and in her letters to Lord Macartney she often mentions him. “Monsieur Cloete took us to the room where the press is,” she writes, “and the whole group grimaced to think that we were going to drink this wine that we had seen pressed by those six black feet; nevertheless I allowed myself to be persuaded that fermentation would remove any polluted particles. What impressed me most were the ancient, ever-changing, ever-gracious silhouettes of the three bronzed, half-naked forms dancing in the press, marking with their feet the rhythm of an instrument that only they could hear.
In each of the four presses, three slaves pressed the wine. Large quantities of grapes were thrown into the first press, and the slaves danced on them. The juice flowing from a hole in the bottom of the press was pure and clean. Gentle music accompanied the dance. When the same grapes were danced over a second time, the rhythm became louder and faster. In the third process, the pulp and skins of the grapes were passed through a sieve. The resulting juice produced the strongest wine, but Mr. Cloete mixes the different types. According to him, his ancestors used to keep the juices separate and sell them at different prices. He finds, however, that the quality of the wine is improved by blending.
CONSTANTIA WINE
Cloete cut his own wine, but he also used other techniques. For example, he twisted the vine shoots to reduce the food supply and thus concentrate the flavor and sugar content of the grapes. The resulting wine had a rich, syrupy quality. He established strict vineyard, harvesting and winemaking schedules and produced a classic, world-famous wine known as “Constantia”. As famous as Constantia was, only a third of the production was sold commercially. The administration of the East India Company, and later their English successors, required one third of production to be set aside for the Cape government, and a second third to be sent to the administrative headquarters – first to Holland and Batavia, and later to England. In Europe, this wine was found in the royal courts of Russia, Sweden, England, France and Prussia. For special occasions, they even graced the tables of privileged clients in India and Ceylon, Australia and North America.
Constantia wine was appreciated by an impressive list of connoisseurs: Frederick II, King of Prussia, imported it; Baudelaire wrote about it in Les Fleurs du Mal; Jane Austen mentioned it. Napoleon, interned on St. Helena in 1816, insisted on Constantia, and until his death in 1821, he and his entourage consumed most of the government allocation, as well as the third sold by Cloete. Clearly, political and economic contingencies played a major role in the creation of this legend, whose golden sheen still gleams today. However, there can be no doubting the Cloete family’s real talents and business skills. They kept meticulous records of all their business dealings, which have been preserved. They also had a flair for advertising. Modern taste has left behind this style of wine with its rich flavor and very high sugar content – around 260g per liter – which would be unacceptable today. Recently, a few bottles were brought back from England after almost two centuries, and those privileged enough to taste them were unanimous in their praise.
PROSPERITY AND FIASCO
The first British occupation ended in 1802. The subsequent Batave Republic lasted no more than four years. It constituted only a brief interlude of independence before the return, this time definitive, of the British. While wars continued in Europe, Cape farmers could count on a secure source of income. They were soon to lose their English market. At Trafalgar, France’s naval might was shattered, the Russian campaign wiped out the year, and Waterloo ended the Napoleonic era. Half a century of wars was coming to an end, and the wine trade was also about to change direction.
Winegrowers became increasingly isolated, and a period of economic hardship followed. The end of the Napoleonic Wars also signaled a re-establishment of the wine trade between France and England. Cape winemakers no longer had a market outside their own country. The new governors accepted responsibility and tried to protect the farmers. At the same time, they tried to establish measures to control the quality of local wine production.
“This colony can produce excellent wines of all kinds, as varied as any other country in the world.” Such was the opinion of Sir John Cradock, the new governor of the Cape Colony. In 1811, he issued a proclamation that was to encourage farmers to improve their methods and produce quality wine for export, mainly to England. He was not alone in recognizing the potential for viticulture and the wine trade in the Cape. Englishman Cyrus Redding was one of the first writers to specialize in describing this wine. He described Groot Constantia and Klein Constantia as “[…] the finest vineyards in the world” in his book The History and Description of Modern Wines (published in 1851). He goes on to say that “[…] there is no colony with more suitable soil where better wines can be produced”.
Governor Cradock’s enthusiasm found specific support in England. To enable Cape winemakers to compete with European countries, for whom transport was much cheaper, England lowered import tariffs for Cape wines. Between 1812 and 1825, the Cape held 14% of the English wine market. Winegrowers enjoyed a period of prosperity during which they could live like a landed aristocracy. It was a brief prosperity. In the summer of 1825, just as the huge harvest of 1824 was beginning to arrive in England, the Cape weather took a turn for the worse for the winegrowers. The harvest was ruined, and this was only the beginning of a decline that would grow in intensity and severity over the next century. At the same time, England’s colonial government began to reduce the economic protection afforded to the Cape wine industry. In 1862, all wine-producing countries in England were required to pay import duties of one shilling per gallon. French and Cape winegrowers therefore paid the same taxes, but transport costs were cheaper for the French and the wine, which had to travel shorter distances and arrived in better condition.
Already in 1859, the arrival of mildew in Cape Town’s vineyards had caused major problems. Total annual production was reduced from one million gallons to 30,000 gallons. The disease was soon eradicated, but by 1886 the damage caused by phylloxera vastatrix was even greater. Following the European example, winegrowers replanted their vineyards with phylloxera-resistant American strains. The situation was improving when war broke out between the Boers and England at the end of the century. Cut off from their export markets, farmers could not get rid of the large quantities of wine their grafted vines were then capable of producing. After the end of the Anglo-Boer war in 1902 and until 1918, the Cape government made several attempts to revive the prosperity of winegrowing. In 1905 and 1906, the government subsidized groups of winegrowers to help them maintain wine production.
during this difficult period. The initiative led to the formation of wine cooperatives, which still play an important role today. Periods of prosperity and fiasco followed one another. When things were going well, grape stocks were relatively small and prices were good. At other times, the additional planting of vineyards resulted in overproduction, driving many farmers into bankruptcy.
THE CREATION OF THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
These institutions, which characterize modern viticulture, were created in response to the situation of overproduction and the accompanying drop in prices. Most cooperatives were (and still are) run by committees whose members are elected from among the winegrowers who deliver grapes to the cooperative in question. The president of the committee was often the winegrower who had “sold” a plot of land for the construction of the cooperative’s buildings. Overproduction continued, causing prices to fall once again. The difficulties of the time were somewhat alleviated by the unexpected popularity of ostrich feathers. Between 1906 and 1913, ostrich feathers were very fashionable in Europe, and very, very expensive. During this period, 10 million vines were uprooted in the Oudtshoorn region alone to make way for the alfalfa fields that served as fodder for these birds. But the boom came to an end in 1913. Horse-drawn carriages showcased the feathery flutter of a gentle breeze, but that same flutter became confusing and impractical in an automobile. Thus, the advent of the automobile contributed to the collapse of the feather market. The ostriches withdrew from Oudshoorn and most farmers went back to planting vines. They planted far too many.
In 1918, there were almost 87 million vines in the region and an annual production of 56 million liters of wine. Unmarketable and unsold, millions of liters of wine went to waste. At the same time, it was becoming increasingly clear that all winegrowers had to belong to the cooperative movement if it was to be effective. This was Charles W. H. Kohler’s view, and it bore fruit in 1918 with the founding of the “Kooperatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging van Zuid-Afrika, Beperkt”. This long title is better known by its abbreviation, K.W.V. (Union des Coopératives Vinicoles). This organization was to change the structure of viticulture, giving it a new unity, the power to negotiate with wine merchants, and administrative mechanisms that provided the basis for today’s system. The Smuts government ratified the KWV’s powers by enacting Law 5 of 1924 on the control of wine and spirits. This law authorized the KWV to set an annual minimum price for winegrowers’ produce. This was the start of a gradual process aimed at the legal protection and control of the wine industry. This regulatory instrument was to develop over the coming decades to cover a vast field of activities.
Developments in “scientific viticulture” followed Pasteur’s discoveries in South Africa. In 1925 at Welgevallen, the experimental farm of the University of Stellenbosch, an event took place whose importance was to be underestimated for years. The famous oenologist Izak Perold succeeded in growing the first “Pinotage” seedlings. This was the first local grape material resulting from the crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut. Later, C.J. Theron continued his research, selecting Perold’s seedlings and assessing the stability and value of this new germplasm. Twenty years later, under the name Pinotage, this variety made its name as the first to be developed in South Africa, adapting perfectly to local conditions while possessing its own unique characteristics. In 1935, a new wine company was founded, Stellenbosch Fallners’ Winely, the brainchild of American immigrant William Charles Winshaw. Trained as a physician, Winshaw arrived in Cape Town in 1899 with a consignment of mules commissioned by the Cape government.
With his lively and impressive personality – he had met Buffalo Bill – he decided to settle in South Africa, leaving medicine to take up winegrowing. He married Gabriel Krige, whose father had bought part of the historic Libelias farm in 1870. Winshaw and Krige named the property Oude Libelias and began producing and selling wine. The local taste at the time was for cognac and sweet fortified wines. However, Winshaw, a physician, felt that natural table wine was better for public health, and he concentrated on this type of wine from the outset, with his “Château Libertas” and “La Gratitude” serving as good examples. Despite the development of natural table wines and the improvement in quality, foreign markets remained for the most part closed to South African wine. Only South African “fortified wines” sold well on the English market. In 1940, new legislation increased the powers of the KWV and laid the foundations for a system of strict control. The KWV would now control the production and marketing of quality wine. A minimum price was set for quality wine; the KWV was to sanction all transactions between merchants and producers; all major commercial operations were to be conducted through this organization.
CHANGES IN SOUTH AFRICA
The end of the Second World War forced a pause in the history of the world, and also in the history of South Africa. From 1948 onwards, a number of important changes were to take place in the country’s internal and external relations. The wine industry was also going through a period of great change. These developments were driven by technological advances. The most important of these advances was undoubtedly the “cold fermentation” process for white wines. The post-war period was characterized by new experiments. The most important of these were carried out by the Graue family, father and son, German immigrants. They established this large-scale winemaking process on their Nederburg estate in the Paarl Valley. This process allowed precise control over the production of a natural white wine in a warm climate. This expansion brought with it a lot of new equipment and methods. In the post-World War II period, the influence of wholesale producers grew in tandem with the expanding role of the KWV and other cooperatives. Among these “wholesalers” was the Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery, but it was not the only one.
Despite these controls, the old problem of overproduction resurfaced again in the 1950s. This led to the introduction of the quota system, which legally limits the mass of grapes a winegrower is allowed to produce. Quotas have been increased over the years, but this approach has helped de facto the move towards a policy of low production per hectare. There was no control over the grape variety planted or the type of wine produced. It was accepted that the winegrower planted and produced the type of wine for which there was the greatest demand or which he wanted to produce. The commitment to buy the wine supplied by the growers and the need to sell it forced the KWV to seek and develop export markets. Even during the years of South Africa’s economic isolation, the KWV continued to sell small quantities of branded products as well as large (out-of-age) stocks of bulk wine and spirits.
THE YEARS 60 TO 90
Over the past thirty years, the South African wine industry has seen many developments. After many years of patient selection, the first top-quality Pinotage was produced in 1959 by the Morkels of Bellevue Estate. The same year saw the launch of “Lieberstein” by Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery. At the time, it was the world’s best-selling bottled wine: 32 million liters in 1964. In the early 70s, one of the most popular innovations in recent viticultural history was introduced. It was the opening of the Stellenbosch Wine Route in April 1971. Today, the route covers 27 estates – both private and cooperative – and includes tasting cellars, restaurants and other attractions. The project was initiated by three local winegrowers who based it on the wine routes found in Europe – France’s Routes du Vin and Germany’s Weinstrassen. In the late 70s, the Paarl region inaugurated its own wine route.
An important event took place in 1973. In September of that year, the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) legislation was consolidated and introduced in a new legislative guise. Thus, one of the most important aspects of the relationship between wine and terroir found a legal basis. Based on time-honored European systems, this legislation also gave local winegrowers a reference system in relation to foreign markets. This system also gave rise to today’s geographical division into officially defined appellation d’origine regions. This division includes historically well-established regions such as Constantia, Durbanville, Stellenbosch, Paarl, the Tulbach Valley and the Worcester, Robertson and Breede River areas, but more recently established regions such as Orange and Vaal are also included.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
The political change that South Africa underwent in the early 90s was at the root of a certain evolution in viticulture. Compared with other wine-producing countries, Cape Town’s vineyards are extensive, with many estates comprising more than 100 hectares. The rapid growth of the export trade has brought new dynamics to an industry that was long rather rigid or even immobile. Wineries are being built, either to serve the expansion of existing operations, or as part of new ventures. The latest winemaking technologies are being put into practice and major investments, often initiated by foreign investors, are changing the look and structure of the industry.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Mrs. M.M. Vanjaasveld for her bibliographical help with this presentation.
Bibliography
- Joelson Annette, 1945. The memories of Kohler of the K. W. V. Hurste Blackett (London), 128 pp.
- De Jongh, F.; 1981. Encyclopaedia of South An-ican Wine, Second Edition. Butterworths, Durban, Pretoria.
- Kench, J.; /-lands, P.; Hughes, D.; 1983. The Complete Book of South African Wine. Stl1lik Publishers, Cape Town, RSA.
- KWV (Pry) Limited Website: wlVw.kwv.co.za
- Proust, A.; Knox, G.; 1997. Cape Wines, Body & Soul. Fernwood Press, Vlaeberg.
- Robinson, J. 1994. The Oxford Companion to Wine. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York.
- South African Wine Directory Website: WWIV. wine.co.za
- The Oenological and Viticultural Research Institute, Stellenbosch, Viticulture in South An-ica, Standard Press Lld., Cape Town.