Simply South Africa
On the road to the historic Klein Constantia Estate( Photo by Paul Martens)
Diversity and Innovation:
Simply South Africa
By Mike Muirhead, Sommelier( ISG, CMS), CSW
South Africa is a country defined by its diversity. Flying in from Canada, my first impression of the country was the West Coast, along the Atlantic Ocean. We saw kilometres of desert cut by sharply rising ranges that gradually turned into green pastures as we got closer to the Cape. On the final approach into Cape Town, we flew in over mansions, each with its own backyard pool; these turned to single-dwelling houses, and then, finally, a shanty town of corrugated metal and wood dwellings built one on top of the other. This diversity characterized the two weeks that my wine-buying partner, Gary Hewitt, and I spent in South Africa, offering us insights into what makes the wines of South Africa unique on the global market, as well as unique from region to region.
Our two-week journey took us to six major wine regions and multiple sub-regions, each with its own distinct climate, soil, grapes, and people. The trip gave us a terrific overview of both the traditional and the up-andcoming wine regions in South Africa.
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