The vineyards of the Boers.
Joyce, the driver, small and reserved with an infinite dark complexion, drives without revealing any emotion, without a thought, as if suspended over a green sea in the South Africa of the Boer vineyards.
Strictly on the left, strictly in uniform. Very Anglo-Saxon, definitely professional. This is the South Africa of the new millennium. He, Joyce, does not drink wine, not because he is Muslim but because alcohol has destroyed the lives of many brothers like him down in the ghettos. Moreover, he sees the hand of the white man in this divine and diabolical nectar. He would never admit it, but today he finally feels that South Africa and the vineyards of the Boers are “his.” Yet, despite this, he avoids anything that reeks of centuries-old colonization whenever he can.
This is also the South Africa of the 2000s.
Thoughts race quickly among the orderly rows of vines, almost “vine gardens,” reminiscent of those in Sri Lanka. Table Mountain, towering over Cape Town with its perpetual moving cloud cap, is now far behind, and before you know it, the landscape shifts abruptly.
Few places in the world offer a natural spectacle like the Cape of Good Hope.
Its very name evokes an epic of adventurous navigators setting off to discover unknown lands and seas. The Cape, as it’s informally called around here, lies on a narrow strip of dry, uninhabited land, intersected by a ridge of mountains, inherently unappealing. It’s the atmospheric phenomena that magnify the place. The mountains rising here separate East and West, two worlds, two civilizations, and two microclimates. The result is that on the western side, the clouds formed on the eastern side tumble in tumultuously and cumbersome, dissolving immediately. The spectacle is so imposing that it impressed the first navigators to the extent that they bestowed this auspicious name upon the site, also coined as a good omen for the new trade routes with the East that were beginning to open.
The first European to round it was Bartolomeu Dias in 1488.
This was almost two centuries before the arrival of the Dutch, who first took an interest in the area as a stopping point for ships of the East India Company, but later recognized its agricultural potential and settled colonists there.
Returning inland, we follow the Paarl Wine Route, established in 1984.
A path through vineyards and wineries open to the public for tasting and purchasing, for the benefit of those who cannot come in April for the Nouveau Festival, the celebration of new wine. The first impression is that of being in Europe, as the landscape is so European. The first Dutch settlers carefully recreated atmospheres and environments dear to them, especially in architecture, mediating them with local materials.
The new style became known as Cape Dutch Style.
Simple, mostly white, these Afrikaans residences, named after the Dutch settlers, are adorned with elaborate gables and pediments made with different scrolls, where the year of construction is often inscribed. This is perhaps the only distinguishing feature that makes them recognizable worldwide. Attention to detail, the enhancement of materials, and the successful integration of Dutch architecture within one of Africa’s most beautiful regions make a visit to this area a special experience.
The land of the Cape is extremely fertile.
The climate is mild year-round, and the landscape is dominated by gentle slopes, where regular rows of vines create abstract geometries. The first vineyard was planted in 1655 after Jan van Riebeek obtained authorization from his superior in Holland. Van Riebeek wrote in his diary on February 2, 1659: “Today, thanks to God, wine has come for the first time from the grapes of the Cape.” No comment on the quality. In those years, other settlers were also engaged in agriculture.
In 1679, Stellenbosch, “the city of oaks,” was founded.
Unanimously recognized, along with the nearby Paarl, as the capital of South African wine. About ten years later, the French Huguenots fleeing from Catholic persecution arrived. Practiced in viticulture and enology, they helped spread its knowledge. In 1860, a shipment of vines from America brought the Phylloxera vastatrix. The aphid decimated the African vines, and all the vineyards had to be replanted. Visually, the North African vineyards are among the most picturesque, positioned between the sea and the mountains rising behind them. The homes of the Boers blend into the strict geometries of the vineyards, surrounded by gardens with ancient camphor and jacaranda trees that periodically paint the landscape with their intense lilac.
Grand Roche
Enchanted by the fragrances and distracted by the endless shades of green in these vineyards, it is with astonishment that, after yet another curve executed with the phlegmatic imperturbability of the impassive Joyce, the immaculate silhouette of Grand Roche comes into view.
Its construction dates back to 1717.
When Reverend Hermanus Bosman, “visitor of the sick,” at 24 years old, was sent to Batavia (now Jakarta) by the East India Company. Upon arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, he could no longer endure the journey and, since there were also sick and suffering souls there, he asked and obtained to stay. After a few years, he purchased the Nieuw Plantare and enlarged the hut that stood there. In 1876, it was rebuilt in a style now close to the Victorian that we can still see today. About twenty years ago, it was transformed into a hotel. Two wings of suites, always in the local style with thatched roofs, were added. A chapel was even created in the mill, said to be a place of prayer for slaves. In the main residence, the hall, bar, and restaurant have been fashioned.
“A day without wine is like a day without sunshine.”
This saying of the place leaves no escape. Every movement in this area turns into a series of tastings. Today, wine is produced throughout the state, but quality wine comes from a small area between Paarl and Stellenbosch, between the 32nd and 34th parallels, where there is a climate in many aspects “Mediterranean,” characterized by abundant winter rains and a long, hot summer stretching from November to May. Perhaps too hot for the vines if not for the mitigating effect of the cold ocean current coming from Antarctica and the cool breezes descending from the mountains to the north.
The first certification seal dates back to 1973 and was changed in 1993.
From the seal, it is possible to reconstruct the history of wine in the South Africa of the Boers’ vineyards and its origins, although it is not a guarantee of quality. Like many New World wines, the labels here emphasize the variety of grapes rather than the vineyard of origin. The most common grapes are mostly classic. The reds range from Cabernet Sauvignon to Merlot and Pinot Noir, but Shiraz and Pinotage also thrive. Among the whites, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Sémillon are especially common, as well as Chemin Blanc and Riesling used for sweet wines. A 25% (15% for export wines) of grapes of different varieties is tolerated. To be designated as “estate,” a producer must vinify grapes coming only from their property.
After all this, leaving the Grand Roche was not easy.
As we drive towards the airport, I think about how much has changed since my last visit in 1994, before Mandela’s election. Apparently nothing, but perhaps so much, everything. Joyce helps me unload the luggage and as he bids me farewell, he looks far away, perhaps imagining where Italy is behind me. He sends me off with a vigorous handshake, “Have a nice trip… and remember my country.” “Remember my country,” of course, that’s what has changed, South Africa is now truly “his” country. And he likes everything, perhaps soon even the wine of the whites.
