This summer, we’re taking you on a tour of some of our favourite wine regions via their cultural riches. Next stop: South Africa.
For a country covering so much landmass, it is hardly a surprise that the climate in South Africa is diverse. Yet even within the narrow realm of the winelands, the variation in weather from one region to the next is really quite extreme. I remember visiting Richard Kershaw a few years ago, who makes delicious cool-climate Chardonnay and Syrah in coastal Elgin. His property is around a 40-minute drive over the mountains from Franschhoek, yet the climate is often worlds apart.
He would drive from his winery wearing trousers, jumper, a raincoat and a hat due to torrential rain and a cold wind to visit a friend in Franschhoek — where the sun would have been shining all day, workers in shorts and t-shirts mopping their sweating brows. His friend would normally greet him with a quizzical look and “Richard, are you quite well?”
I noticed this drastic shift in weather when visiting Constantia. To the south of Cape Town, and sticking out into the ocean, it has its own microclimate: cool with frequent cloud cover and rain showers. This spit of land has numerous wineries but also Simon’s Town, famous for its penguin colony. I often joke to wine students when teaching them about South Africa that there’s a reason there are penguins here; it can get astonishingly cold. And whilst the temperature may
This Article was originally published on Barry's Wine Blog
