The Cape switches to red alert

At last - South Africa is set to increase its production of red wine, says Anthony Rose, Glenfiddich Wine Writer of the Year

The Cape is hotting up. After South Africa's dry 1999 vintage, 2000 proved a real scorcher when high mountain vineyards were singed by a devastating forest fire. The heat is on in other ways, post-apartheid, too. In the race to satisfy overseas demand, especially for premium red wines, South Africa still lags behind its southern hemisphere competitors.

The Cape is hotting up. After South Africa's dry 1999 vintage, 2000 proved a real scorcher when high mountain vineyards were singed by a devastating forest fire. The heat is on in other ways, post-apartheid, too. In the race to satisfy overseas demand, especially for premium red wines, South Africa still lags behind its southern hemisphere competitors.

South Africa has a wealth of estate wineries producing well-crafted wines, still at relatively sensible prices. In pinotage, it has a unique red grape variety much as California has zinfandel and Argentina malbec. Steady progress in quality wine production has been made since the price controls and quota restrictions of the protectionist apartheid era have been dismantled. The pluses are there for all to see. Even so, the Cape's wines have yet to generate Australia or even Chile-style sexiness.

To pretend that South Africa is not hampered by a swell of uninspiring white wine would be like ignoring poverty in the townships. In response to worldwide demand for premium reds, South Africa is gradually redressing the imbalance of roughly three white wines for every red produced. In a three-phase 40 million rand (£4m) project for instance, which includes building a new winery, the giant Stellenbosch Farmers Winery is aiming for a ratio of 70 per cent red to 30 per cent white wine. Such developments will increase South Africa's red wine production by 150 per cent over the next three years.

The Cape lacks significant plantings of warm-climate red grapes such as zinfandel, tempranillo or grenache. Indeed, most of the old grenache has been pulled out.

Home-grown pinotage is on the increase, but it has yet to achieve the chic status of California's zinfandel or Australia's shiraz. Cabernet sauvignon almost doubled last year while the Rhone's syrah, which many think is the future for the Cape's warm, Mediterranean conditions, is up over 100 per cent. The dilemma is what to plant, and where.

And, in the spectacular garden of the Cape winelands, beauty is often only skin-deep. The vineyards are rife with a virus that makes the leaves turn up their toes before the grapes have had their full quota of sunshine.

As a result, many wines, reds especially, have a harsh, green and stalky feel. Gradually, however, new clones are replacing the old strains with vastly improved results, yet it's a slow process, as was the long walk to freedom.

The Cape's producers are waking up to the importance of getting things right in the vineyard and the cellar. New vine nurseries are starting out with better raw materials while younger viticulturalists are questioning traditional practices and trialling new ones. A handful of the new wineries are awe-inspiring: such as Kevin Arnold's stunning Tuscan-style Waterford and GT Ferreira's multi-million pound winery, Tokara, that makes Napa Valley look like Legoland. Some of the best cabernet sauvignon in South Africa is emerging from Rustenberg's discreetly revitalised cellars, while at the Austin Powers-like Vergelegen, Andre van Rensberg is making brilliant whites.

There's hope and confidence too in the number of enlightened new winery groupings springing up, such as Winecorp's trio of Longridge, Savanha and Spier. However, two-thirds of the entire South African wine and spirits business is under the control of the newly merged Stellenbosch Farmers Winery & Distillers. Supporters say that if it can create a Jacob's Creek-style brand, it will give South Africa more clout on the world stage. Others believe that it'll simply be a larger dinosaur.

Further, it's still impossible to ignore the legacy of the industry's chronic failure to value its workforce. To an overseas observer, it's not immediately obvious to what extent the many emerging black empowerment projects are genuine attempts to hand greater responsibility to black workers. But, though so far so good, progress is slow. In the face of the coming glut of premium red wine, South Africa clearly needs to get its skates on.