A Return To Respectability
Shedding the burden of apartheid, the South African wine industry is poised to show the world its true colors
by Maureen C. Petrosky

When you dream of South Africa, images of the hunt, a safari, and exotic cultures begin to take shape. Monstrous mountain ranges cradle the place where the Indian and Atlantic oceans collide, and surfers from around the world congregate to ride the waves. Here, Cape Town is the doorway to the wine lands of South Africa.

This spring, more than a thousand winemakers, buyers, sellers, and tasters flocked to Cape Town for Cape Wine 2004, a four-day event hosted by Wines of South Africa (WOSA), an organization representing South African winemakers' exporting interests.

"[This year's exhibition], the third held since 2000, has been the most successful. ... It has provided an outstanding opportunity to show international trade and media the scope and depth of our industry. And right here in the Cape," said Su Birch, CEO of WOSA.

"The weather really played along," said Jacques Roux, marketing director for Graham Beck Wines, a South African vintner. "Everyone had a good time, and we have certainly succeeded in selling the Cape as a destination."

The exhibition weekend was a sensory overload of wine, culture, and food. Twentysomethings wearing t-shirts and shorts lounged in beach chairs and sipped wine from a producer called Two Oceans. The producer's ads boast, "The people of Two Oceans meet on weekends, in homes with balconies that look out to sea. They shift meetings to surf the morning's first wave and eat after 10 in cafés with a view of the stars." Who wouldn't be happy to travel around the world for that?

Apartheid, Secrets, And Australians
Although the world's media are singing their praises, and their Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc are rivaling the Aussies' best juice, South African vintners still face plenty of hurdles. Jan Du Preez, a native South African who is winemaker for the Swartland Winery, confessed to some heavy-hearted sentiment about his industry. When asked how things have changed from 20 years ago, he surprisingly said, "It used to be easier."

Du Preez said that during apartheid, he spent years in foreign markets like Germany promoting
South African wines, in part because the South African government used to strongly support wine-exporting companies by giving them tax breaks and money for marketing and promotions.

It wasn't always easy, though. A poignant moment in Du Preez's career occurred when he stood frozen in a German supermarket and watched as a customer threw all of the market's South African wines crashing to the floor.

The passing of apartheid and the lifting of the trade embargo on South African products brought new challenges to the industry. There now seems to be resentment of South Africa's reappearance on the world market, Du Preez said, especially on the part of the Australian wine industry. "We taught [Australians] how to make wine," he said. "In the ‘70s and ‘80s, they came here to learn how to develop a style that was palatable, that people would like." But then, he said, they ruined it for themselves. "They made a mistake by making a commodity of wine, and now Australia can't sell wine unless it's cheap."

Another challenge facing the South African wine industry is the apparent lack of cooperation among producers. They don't organize winemaker meetings like those in Napa Valley or Sonoma, where winemakers powwow about their problems and share ideas on how to solve them. Egos and secrecy too often rule the day in the South African wine industry, seriously limiting the industry's growth and effectiveness.

Club America
In the American market, South Africa's biggest struggle is getting their wine to the table. "The greatest obstacle for South African wines ... is the U.S. wine distributor situation," said WOSA director Rory Callahan. "With the consolidation that has been occurring for some time now, the already conservative distributors are reluctant to add new brands to their portfolios." Another problem is that the ban on South African goods was only lifted in 1991, so most Americans are not familiar with South Africa's wines. Though South African political history may be troubled, the wine is world-class. Pinotage, a South African original varietal, is finally finding a personality all its own.

People wrongly expected this grape to mirror Pinot Noir. In fact, Pinotage is much bigger and falls somewhere between Merlot and Shiraz in character, but still stands out as a South African gem.

This year's WOSA exhibition also featured exceptional Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc, but unfortunately, a lot of the wines don't yet have a place on American shelves. But with a setting of white beaches, well-manicured historic towns, and culturally vibrant cities, South Africa is poised to overcome its many obstacles and share its treasures with the world.

This article originally appeared in the July/August issue of The Wine Report.

Maureen C. Petrosky is a New York-based freelance writer. She also appears on CNN, FOX and MSNBC to chat about food, wine and entertaining.