Wineaux of the Goddess - South African Edition...

So far this year, the Goddess and her merry band of Wineaux have been searching out different wine regions of the world. We've tasted the wines of Champagne, the Northern Rhone Valley, Greece, and Argentina, and we continued our trek through the Southern Hemisphere to South Africa. Members could bring either white or red wine, but we would still taste blind.

Some background from Wikipedia: The roots of the South African wine industry can be traced to the explorations of the Dutch East India Company which established a supply station in what is now modern day Cape Town. A Dutch surgeon, Jan van Riebeeck, was given the task of managing the station and planting vineyards to produce wines and grapes intended to ward off scurvy among sailors during their voyages along the Spice Route. The first harvest and crushing took place in 1659, seven years after landing in 1652. After some time, many growers gave up on winemaking, choosing instead to plant orchards and alfalfa fields to feed the growing ostrich feather industry. The growers that did replant with grapevines, chose high yielding grape varieties such as Cinsault. By the early 1900s more than 80 million vines had been replanted, creating a wine glut.