South Africa may not be the first region that comes to mind when talking about wine, but it has been around for longer than you might think. In fact, at one point in history its production of "Constantia" dessert wine from Cape Town vineyards was considered the finest of its kind in the world.

 

South Africa uses its own version of the "DOC" system to determine the authenticity and quality of wine, called "Wine of Origin" or "WO". There are about 60 appellations/regions assigned within this system, with "Single Vineyard", "Estate Wine" and "Wards" as designations, with "Single Vineyard" wine being made from grapes all sourced from within a 5 hectacre area, "Estate Wines" capable of being from a wider area as long as they are all from within the same district, and "wards" being wines grown from within a single designated wine region.