The Culture of Wine: South Africa
The term New World is an annoying and contentious one, as if wine has only just started being made in non-European countries. It’s useful shorthand for explaining whether a wine comes from a European country or not, but it doesn’t cover all the differences between European countries let alone all the differences between countries all over the world.
South African producers get extremely upset when they’re described as New World, as wine has been made there since the late 1600s. Vin de Constance was regarded as one of the greatest wines in the world, served in European courts, and mentioned in novels by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen (the only other wine she specifically refers to is Madeira).
However, that long, rich history of wine production fell away and was only properly revived in the 1980s onwards. Firstly, favourable tariffs in the UK towards South Africa were removed in the 1860s, which saw sales drop dramatically. Then, there was the universal problem of phylloxera. The South African solution was to create a huge government-owned co-operative which set prices for grapes, leading to volume rather than quality. And then came apartheid, a system of racial segregation which lasted until 1990. Sanctions were imposed on the country, which stilted the economy but eventually led to democracy: the first ever democratic elections were only held in 1994.
There’s a strong European influence on South Africa, through the British and Dutch who fought in the Boer War in the early 1900s. Huguenot immigrants from France who fled the country due to religious persecution hugely influenced the development of South Africa’s wines. Most white people speak Afrikaans, a version of Dutch, and have surprisingly limited English.
But South Africa is an African country, and the Black population accounts for 90%. Racial division remains; unemployment is high; levels of education are low. In the major cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town, there is a wonderful co-mingling of different cultures; elsewhere, and even in those cities, cultures are very separate with white communities living in gated communities, black communities no-go areas for white people.
For the wine industry, this is a frustrating problem. Most wine is made by white Afrikaans, though there are black African producers emerging. There is a huge labour shortage in South Africa; there is huge unemployment in South Africa. The solution seems simple, but the lack of basic education makes hiring difficult. There’s also a negative attitude towards alcohol among the black population. In the 1950s onwards, there was an employment system called Dop in which workers were payed not with money but with bottles of wine or, more likely, brandy. That inevitably led to issues with alcoholism, and most black women in South Africa refuse to countenance alcohol in any setting. This is reflected in government attitudes too: during the pandemic, transportation of alcohol was banned all-together which meant that producers could not export.
These huge social issues persist, but South Africa remains a vibrant, beautiful place to visit. Sustainability—both social and environmental—is integral to the development of South Africa’s culture. It has the most diverse ecosystem in the world, which is fervently protected and cultivated. (Contrast this with other countries where the local environment is destroyed for short-term gain without regard to long-term consequences.) Even though baboons run amok in vineyards, eating Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, it’s illegal to harm them: there are signs by the side of the road warning of baboons crossing. Rock rabbits scurry across the vines’ trellises. Leopards guard the land. Penguins waddle and jump into the ocean.
Cape Town is one of the great wine cities of the world, surrounded by wine regions near the coast. Johannesburg is completely different, one of the few major cities not near a body of water. Cape Town feels more European, Johannesburg more African. It’s surrounded by continental plains, thunderstorms breaking suddenly and violently. There are safari parks with elephants, lions, hippos, giraffes, leopards, and many other animals.
And then there’s the honey badger, a complex, confrontational creature you just can’t resist, rather like South Africa itself.
