South Africa has produced wines in the area of Cape Town since the 17th century, but the country’s significant place in the U.S. market is far more recent. During the era of apartheid, trade sanctions imposed on imports from South Africa kept these wines out of the U.S. and many other markets, with the effect that local South African winemakers had little incentive to produce wines that could compete in a global setting, and had limited experience with new developments in the world of wine. In fact, during apartheid most of the country’s grape growers sold their fruit to co-ops, who turned it into distilled alcohol on the one hand, and sherry and port on the other. With the end of sanctions in 1991, the U.S. market was suddenly flooded with mostly low-end, mediocre wine from South Africa.

Little more than a decade later, the quality of South African wine has soared, thanks in large part to widespread replanting of virused vines and grafting over new vines onto virus-free rootstock. Replacing virus-weakened vines has enabled grape growers to producer riper fruit that is less likely to show the green or tea-like flavors that plagued South Africa’s wines in the past. Then, too, a new generation of winemakers has benefited from more extensive contact with the outside world, and the country’s producers now know what they must do to compete in an international arena. Today, South Africa is the world’s number eight producer of wine, supplying everything from crisp, vibrant Sauvignon Blancs and Chenin Blancs to structured, serious Cabernet Sauvignons, Syrahs, and red blends. The best of these are satisfying and characterful wines that are midway between Old and New World in style.

South Africa’s wine-producing areas are located in the extreme southwestern tip of the continent, close to Cape Town. A warm, dry Mediterranean climate, with moderating sea breezes and normally clement weather during the summer and harvest, provides favorable conditions for growing traditional European varieties. A drawn-out growing season is ideal for producing South African wines with flavor intensity, elegance, and complexity rather than merely size and power.

The spectacularly beautiful Stellenbosch region, which lies barely a half-hour east of Cape Town by car and surrounds the old university town of the same name, features South Africa’s greatest concentration of serious wine estates and produces many of the country’s best red blends. Paarl, just to the north, is home to a growing number of quality-minded South Africa producers and is currently positioning itself as a specialist in big, brawny Syrahs (more often called Shiraz in South Africa, and especially here).

The cooler and wetter Constantia region, which was where South Africa’s first vines were planted and which is now part of southern Cape Town, is best for white South African wines, thanks to cooling southeasterly breezes off False Bay. Other areas producing very good wines include Robertson, where the grapes are mostly white; Walker Bay, a maritime climate southeast of Cape Town that produces admirable Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs in a Burgundian style; and Elgin, a coolish valley located between Stellenbosch and Walker Bay that features more cloud cover during the summer.