In 2002 I first visited South Africa and published a major three part-feature covering the land, the wine estates, and my personal top 100 South African wines. Almost exactly three year's later, in Spring 2005, I returned to South Africa, to spend eight days visiting 20 estates, meeting scores more winemakers, and travelling to areas I had never visited before, like the cool Elgin valley. This then, is my South African update.

go to part II - six more producers, plus pick of other wines tasted

The Cape 2005

Most people who visit the Cape will return with a love of the land, the people and the wines burning bright in their hearts. But no one comes home from South Africa without being acutely aware of the social and economic problems faced by this re-born country, still little more than a decade after it emerged from the shadow of Apartheid.

strides in all of these areas: understanding its terroir better and the science of matching vine to soil; new young winemakers bursting through with much more exposure to global influences; wine quality improving rapidly with certain grape varieties and styles emerging as key players. All of these factors must help ensure the growth and development of South Africa as a major wine force.

Young black winemakers are starting to make their mark too, mostly graduates of the Stellenbosch University oenology course. Nontsike Biyela (top right right) at the boutique Stellekaya Cellars manages a double whammy by being both black and female in the sometimes rather macho world of South African wine production. Mzokona Mvemve (bottom right) was one of the first black graduates of the Stellenbosch school, and this charming and unassuming young man is now in charge of one of South Africa's big brand wines, Indaba, a Zulu word meaning 'meeting place'. Hopefully these two young winemakers will be more than 'poster children' for the empowerment movement. Along with the corporate initiatives and government-sponsored projects, they could herald a real broadening of the wine industry, and a breaking down of traditional roles and barriers.

I visited over 20 wine estates and some common themes emerged. First was the profusion of sorting tables: three years ago these essential pieces of equipment for quality wine were few and far between. Now, vibrating conveyer belts that allow careful fruit selection and minimise the amount of MOG (Matter Other than Grapes) going into the crusher, were rumbling along in every winery I visited, large and small. This was just one obvious sign of improved attention to detail and investment in quality that has permeated the Winelands. Left: sorting tables in operation at Kanonkop Estate

Johann Krige (right) has little left to prove at Kanonkop, where he and winemaker Beyers Truter - now acting in a consultancy role after 20 years in charge - have carved out a reputation for excellence to which few could even aspire. Krige remains full of opinion and fire however, and defends or attacks robustly when required. He gives the current New World obsession with releasing 'single-vineyard' wines short-shrift: "It's butchering the consumer", he says, believing that fruit selection is the key to quality, and that much of the hullabaloo over 'single vineyards' is marketing spin.

Neil Ellis, one of the major figures in Cape winemaking, is a giant of a man with a shy personality, who gives the impression he's happier in the cellar than being the public face of his company. He revolutionised the Cape scene by eschewing the traditions of a wine-growing estate to instead set up as a négociant; buying fruit of the quality he required from other farmers, and concentrating his efforts in the cellars. Ellis is now producing single-vineyard wines and 'vineyard selections', where he will bottle a number of different wines from one block of vineyards, having mapped and understood every inch of the terroir.

Johan Malan is the hugely talented winemaker at Simonsig, along with brothers Pieter (in charge of the business side) and Francois (in charge of farming). 211 hectares of vines are planted on the foothills of the Simonsberg mountain, making this one of the biggest privately-owned wine estates in South Africa. Malan makes excellent sparkling wines by the 'Cap Classique' method (as in Champagne) and has been accumulating a mass of awards for his Pinotage, and more recently, Shiraz wines. Many see Syrah/Shiraz as one of the brightest potential stars in South Africa's winemaking future, and