Comments on: South Africa: Old World or New?

By: D. Mulder

D. Mulder — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:40:53 +0000

This seems a favoured discussion in SA and I’d be very curious to know whether South Americans ever argue the same topic as Argentine wine history precedes South Africa’s by a hundred years.

I think that if there was no pause from the end of the 19th century to the end the of 20th century in production of Constantia dessert wines, a continuation of that legend would unquestionably have put the country firmly in old world territory. True old world wine to me suggests an instantly recognisable style connected to a long tradition but imo most new world producers compete too much around the same set of varieties, across borders. Are super Tuscans really old world for that matter?

PS. Great fan your book!

By: MJ - Wine Club Guide

MJ - Wine Club Guide — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:04:55 +0000

Absolutely fascinating! Like most lovers of South African wine, I have had no experience tasting anything from the Apartheid era, and so it is fascinating to learn that the wines both hold up and are part of the complex history of South Africa. I have always tasted South African wines and seen both their affinity with so-called “old world” styles, but almost always with a “new world” twist. Your post here shows that like almost everything else in SA, simple classifications are as pointless as they are misleading. I look forward to reading further on this!

By: talkavino

talkavino — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:13:49 +0000

South African wines are regarded as New World wines masquerading as Old World wines (this is what I was told in my wine classes : )) . My personal experience confirms that – when we blind tasted Russel Hamilton Pinot Noir (blind) I could swear it was a classic Burgundy…

By: FoodographZA

FoodographZA — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:17:28 +0000

This is such an interesting article – as a South African wine lover I’ve always been unconvinced by the uniform categorisation of our wine as ‘new world’ – Harriet