When you are in South Africa (or elsewhere) and want to drink a South African Riesling, you are confronted with a number of wines that carry the word Riesling on the label with different surfixes: Cape Riesling, Paarl Riesling, South African Riesling, Weisser Riesling and Rhine Riesling. In deciding what wine to drink, you should know at least three things.
For more, see:
Meeting Ntsiki Biyela at Stellekaya in Stellenbosch – South Africa’s Only Female and Black Winemaker with International Recognition
First, the first 3 of these wines – Cape Riesling, Paarl Riesling and South African Riesling – are misnomers: these wines were not made with Riesling but made with the grape Crouchon Blanc. Crouchon Blanc is a grape from southern France, but seldomly grown there. It is thought to have been translocated to South Africa in the mid-19th century, and incorrectly named due to some identification error.
Second, by contrast, Weisser Riesling and Rhine Riesling, are true Rieslings.
Third, this all changed with the 2009 vintage.
Today, the true Riesling is labeled as Riesling, without the pre-fixes Weisser or Rhine, and the formerly labeled Cape Riesling, Paarl Riesling and South African Riesling are labeled as Crouchen Blanc.
Just Riesling
Although the share of Riesling in South Africa’s wine production is negligible, there is a lot of enthusiasm among those who plant Riesling. A local Riesling interest group – Just Riesling – was formed in 2007 by South African Riesling producers to further the interest of the variety. Just Riesling was the driving force behind the straightening out of the Riesling mess in South Africa, as described above.
Riesling in South Africa Article a Major Reference on Just Riesling Web Site
On March 20, 2011, I published the article “Riesling in South Africa” on my blog schiller-wine. I am proud that this article has become a major reference on the web site of Just Riesling.
www.justriesling.co.za
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Riesling in South Africa
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