South Africa is a relative newcomer to the world of large scale wine production – most wine shops only began to see wines from South Africa after their conversion to multiracial democracy. Almost all wineries are located in the southwestern corner of South Africa, near Cape Town. The more well known include Swartland to its north, Paarl to its northweast, and Stellenbosch to its immediate east. South Africa
Unlike many countries where wine regions are scattered and separated by wide areas of land, in South Africa they literally touch each other, forming a jigsaw of appellations immediately surrounding the city. The exceptions are the Orange River Valley and Douglas, further to the north.
