Regional info.

The South African wine industry is buzzing at the moment. And with an unbeatable combination of fantastic scenery, a warm climate and affordable, high-quality wine, the western Cape is currently a happening tourist destination. It seems that just about everyone's catching the SA bug.

The political events of recent years have had an incredible effect on the South African wine industry, and have opened huge gates - from the export point of view, but also internally. There has been a major rethink of how things are done there, the Government has set up bodies to encourage and help people, and the result is many tremendous wines.

One thing that hasn't changed, of course, is the favourable Mediterranean climate generated by the raging African sun, the cold Benguela current streaming up from Antarctica and the conflict of warm and cold winds whistling in off the Indian and Atlantic Oceans respectively. The result is warm summers, rather than hot, and wet, but mild winters relatively unaffected by frost. Or sometimes, as they say over there, "four seasons in one week." The macroclimate is complemented by innumerable mesoclimates offered by the mountainous terrain, highly varied soils and equally varied regional rainfalls (as little as 350mm in some areas, more than twice that in others). All in all, the perfect recipe for a wine-producing nation.

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