Wine Country
July 28th, 2009 by admin, under Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Colombat, Muscadel, Pinot Noir, Pinotage, Red wine, Riesling, Ruby Cabernet, Savignon, Shiraz, White wine, Wine Varieties, Wines. No Comments
Wine Country
Wine Country
What is the most popular grape cultivar produced on earth? Where is it from? Where does the South African wine industry feature on the worldwide wine map? Is Pinotage such a groundbreaking wine?
All these questions and more, answered right here.
In South Africa, our largest production most famous wine grape cultivars are Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Colombar. A much larger portion of the South African terroir is conducive to the growing of these grapes.
But, I believe this has created an enormous mis-perception of wine producers and top grape cultivars globally among the general wine loving people in SA.
You see, many of you would be profoundly surprised to learn that the top wine grape cultivar in the world is Airén, a white wine grape grown predominantly in Spain.
It amounts to roughly 30% of all wine grapes grown in Spain and spans a massive 756 000 hectares. [The Airén vine has an unusually low vine density (around 1500 vines per hectare), and so its vineyards cover more area than any other grape variety in the world.]
This should explain its ability to outrank a popular cultivar such as Cabernet Sauvignon, second largest grape cultivar in the world spanning 701 000 hectares across predominantly France, Chile and the USA.
How does South African wine grape production size compare with the world? Let’s see. Our top cultivar, Chenin Blanc, spans across 19 100 hectares across mainly Worcester, Malmesbury and Paarl. In 20th position on the world wine grape cultivar list, Cataratto Bianco Comune spans across 107 200 hectares. [Quality over quantity, right?]
While South Africa’s industry is very small, ranking in at only 16th with about 1.5% of global plantings it is our production and quality that sees us at 7th position, accounting for 3% of the world’s wine.
What are the white vs. red wine grapes by area ratio? In the top 20 wine grape cultivars in the world by area, 9 of the wine grapes are white wine grapes, while 11 are red wine grapes. In the top 10, 4 are white wine grapes and 6 are red wine grapes.
Another thing I think that would have the general public confused is the perception that Pinotage is our main export to the international market. Yes, we were the first to introduce Pinotage to the world, but in terms of production, Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut (grown under the name of Hermitage in South Africa) ranks a mere 8th on the top 20 cultivars in South Africa with Cinsaut individually ranking at 10th and Pinot Noir a mere 18th spanning only 577 hectares.
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