Wine region
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch, heart of the Cape winelands: Cabernet Sauvignon and red blends, Chenin Blanc, Pinotage, Wine of Origin and Cape Dutch history since 1679.
- Location
- about 50 km east of Cape Town, Western Cape
- Importance
- South Africa’s largest wine district: about 15,000 hectares, around a sixth of the vineyard area; over 150 estates on the wine route
- Main grapes
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinotage; Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay
- Climate and soils
- Mediterranean, cooled by False Bay and the Atlantic; weathered granite on the slopes, sandy loam in the valleys
- Signature wines
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux blends, Cape Blend with Pinotage, Chenin Blanc
- Origin system
- Wine of Origin since 1973: geographical unit, region, district, ward; Stellenbosch is a district
Stellenbosch lies about 50 kilometres east of Cape Town, at the foot of the Helderberg, Simonsberg and Stellenbosch Mountains, and is the heart of the Cape wine region. With about 15,000 hectares the district is South Africa’s largest wine district and accounts for around a sixth of the country’s vineyard area; over 150 estates belong to the Stellenbosch Wine Route, founded in 1971 and the country’s oldest.
The story of Cape wine begins with the Dutch settlement at the Cape: in 1652 Jan van Riebeeck landed for the Dutch East India Company, and on 2 February 1659 he noted in his diary the first wine pressed at the Cape. In 1679 Simon van der Stel, then commander and later governor of the colony, founded the town of Stellenbosch, the second oldest in South Africa. French Huguenots who settled in nearby Franschhoek towards the end of the 17th century brought additional winemaking experience. Even today the whitewashed manor houses in the Cape Dutch style, with their curved gables, shape the landscape.
The climate is Mediterranean: summers are warm and dry, winters wet. False Bay to the south and the Atlantic temper the heat, and in summer the strong south-easterly, the Cape Doctor, blows away humidity and mildew. The mountains create very varied sites; on the slopes the soil derives from weathered granite, in the valleys it is sandy loam. In the Wine of Origin system, introduced in 1973, Stellenbosch is a district; within it there are smaller wards such as Simonsberg-Stellenbosch, Jonkershoek Valley or Bottelary, defined by soil and climate.
Stellenbosch is known above all for red wine. Cabernet Sauvignon is the leading grape, often blended with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot into the Cape version of the Bordeaux blend; Shiraz and Pinotage follow. Pinotage is a South African crossing: in the 1920s Abraham Perold, the first professor of viticulture at Stellenbosch University, crossed Pinot Noir with Cinsaut, then called “Hermitage” in South Africa, hence the name. Pinot Noir, incidentally, is also Switzerland’s most planted grape. The wine is deep red, with blackberry, smoke and an earthy note; by the usual industry definition a “Cape Blend” is a blend with at least 30 per cent Pinotage. Among the whites Chenin Blanc leads, also called Steen in South Africa and, with almost a fifth of the vineyard area, the country’s most planted grape; it runs from fresh, fruity everyday wine to rich, barrel-fermented wines from old vines.
At the table Cabernet and Bordeaux blends go with leg of lamb, beef fillet and game, Pinotage with grilled meat from the braai, the South African barbecue, and with spiced dishes, Chenin Blanc with poultry, fish, vegetables and mildly hot dishes.