Reporting from a whirlwind Cape Wine, Jo Gilbert discovers how old vines and new voices are helping South African wine move up the value chain
With Chenin Blanc as its calling card, South African wine has long helped to fill the aisles and coffers of UK supermarkets with affordable wines, with a sprinkling of top estates helping to feather the nest of a category that is still largely shaped by price sensitivity and mass-market behaviour.
An immersive trip to Cape Wine 2025 and the country’s winelands however, highlighted how South Africa’s ambitions to push further into the middle and premium tiers on UK shelves is gaining ground.
“Six or seven years ago, 25% of our exports went to the UK in volume but only equated to 18% of the value,” show boss and CEO of Wines of South Africa (WoSA) Siobhan Thompson told Drinks Retailing. “Now that value share has caught up. It means our mix has changed and we’re selling better-quality wine at a better price.”
For South Africa, maybe more than any other country at the moment, survival and premiumisation go hand in hand. Strides have been made in the form of industry wide initiatives such as the Wine & Agricultural Ethical Trade Association, Integrated Production of Wine and the Old Vine Project, which are setting global benchmarks for responsible production. Meanwhile, WoSA has just unveiled a campaign based around the country’s 300 days of annual sunshine in a gambit to elevate the category through price and perceptions.
At the same time, the industry is still recovering following a decade of hard-hitting challenges. A three-year drought from 2015-2018, pandemic disruptions and successive small harvests have put pressure on supply. Load shedding has also complicated matters, leading to an intermittent electricity flow which continues to impact everything from irrigation and cellar management to cold chains and hospitality.
Heritage as a value driver
A key part of the category’s forward momentum now comes with the work of the OVP, which certifies vineyards over 35 years old and aims to turn once-overlooked fruit into a global focal point.
Joint events between the Chenin Blanc Association and the OVP are putting South Africa’s most important white grape and its old-vine heritage front and centre. The movement has significant support from within too. Wildeberg winemaker JD Rossouw says: “Old vines are creating a new category. People understand why this bottle is £20 and not £10.”
Maintaining old vines is not without obstacles. Leafroll virus remains a pressing concern, as does the reliance on spraying: too much kills off protective populations of ladybirds, which feed on the virus’s white lice.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” says Stellenrust winemaker and managing partner, Tertius Boshoff. “Spraying is not the future.”
On old vines more generally, he notes: “Old vineyards are like old people – stable, consistent and less affected by vintage. But not all make great wines. There’s a line between using ‘old vine’ as a gimmick and as a true quality marker. The reality is that if they can’t deliver, we pull them out.”
Meanwhile, The Fledge & Co is an example of South Africa’s multi-regional diversity, sourcing from 50 vineyards across the Cape. Winemaker Leon Coetzee says: “South Africa can do everything – Bordeaux blends, Portuguese varietals, old bush vines – but we need to show the UK trade our diversity. Our ethos is the right grape in the right place.”
And old vines are not only a marketing tool. They are an increasingly important mechanism for preserving the country’s viticultural history as it premiumises via Chenin Blanc, Syrah and Cinsault alongside a rejuvenated Pinotage, which is celebrating its centenary this year. Cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are also attracting attention, while Swartland, Hemel-en-Aarde and the Cape South Coast are rising stars for their terroir-driven, lower-alcohol styles.
Social transformation
One of the other striking leaps of progress in South Africa has been in social transformation. The industry now counts 107 black-owned brands and 81 black-owned farms, with three new cellars in development.
At Journey’s End, the winery’s focus on social impact and education includes kitchens providing more than 20,000 meals a week to local communities. It also has its new empowerment-driven Inzuzo project, which aims to provide long-term change for the Sir Lowry’s Pass village, located a stone’s throw from the winery. The project is led by rising star winemaker Kaylin Willscott, who has family links to the village.
In Franschhoek, Klein Goederust is rewriting history as the valley’s first black-owned winery. Winemaker Rodney Zimba says: “People want elegant wines – and that’s what we’re aiming to make. But the vision was also to change the narrative and say it’s possible. If a child of an uneducated farm worker can be a farm owner, we want to say it’s possible that a child of a domestic worker can become a doctor one day.”
Zimba and his business partner saved for 15 years to buy a dilapidated farm in 2019 and planted Chenin, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sémillon and Mourvèdre. “The biggest challenge was to raise the bucks and access land. The banks didn’t want to give us collateral. We had to raise funds ourselves,” he explains.
Above all, the challenge for South Africa now is to maintain its relevance and find audiences for its newer generation of winemakers like Zoo Cru’s indie collective. The group has recently shifted focus from a chaotic feel-good approach to a more strategic business model, but its wine and winemakers still capture the essence of what makes South Africa’s new wave so exciting. As Boshoff says: “We need to stay sexy. We had our first wave, now we need a second.”
Against the backdrop of Cape Wine’s 10th edition, the resilience and collaboration taking place within South Africa’s wine industry is palpable. Via old vines, inclusive ownership models and compelling sustainability stories, the work continues to take consumers along for the ride.
