Let’s cool down this hot summer by exploring the winelands of South Africa where it is currently wintertime. Wine from the “Dark Continent”? For many European and American wine drinkers, this is a strange concept. In fact, there are vineyards all over Africa. Algeria and Morocco have been producing wines for decades and modern wine-making has been set up in places like Zimbabwe and Kenya.

But it is down south in the Cape of South Africa, where climactic and topographic conditions simulate those of the old wine countries, that the continent’s finest wines are produced. Today the best of South African wine is up there with the rest, while in the “easy-drinking” category they're hard to match. History has a way with wine and the Cape’s wine culture reaches back 350 years. It is a long history that reflects the country’s sad colonial and apartheid past, but also points to the future's potential and expectation of the modern wine world.

Join Jane Garvey on a wine journey to explore some of the "newest old wines" available in the US market. We will taste several examples of the classic varietals including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc as well as varietals that are especially identified with South Africa such as Chenin Blanc (also known in South Africa as Steen) and Pinotage.