Cellar Talks S02E04 South Africa - Pardon Taguzu

In this episode we welcome Pardon Taguzu, a renowned sommelier and wine professional. Pardon will join us to talk about his career in wine and South Africa as a wine country.

Thanks to its dry, mountainous climate, the area is home to more than 500 wineries and is one of the World’s largest wine producers. South African Winelands travel attracts oenophiles with vintages that range from Sauvignon blanc to its famed red Pinotage.

South African wine has a history dating back to 1659, with the first bottle produced in Cape Town by its founder Jan van Riebeeck. Access to international markets led to new investments in the South African wine market. Production is concentrated around Cape Town, with major vineyard and production centres at Constantia, Paarl, Stellenbosch and Worcester.

There are about 60 appellations within the Wine of Origin (WO) system, which was implemented in 1973 with a hierarchy of designated production regions, districts and wards. WO wines must only contain grapes from the specific area of origin. “Single vineyard” wines must come from a defined area of less than 5 hectares. An “Estate Wine” can come from adjacent farms if they are farmed together and wine is produced on site. A ward is an area with a distinctive soil type or climate and is roughly equivalent to a European appellation.

In the show we will discuss the major south African wine regions and some of their notable wineries and winemakers, as well as the presence and future of the country.

In this Podcast we discuss Pardon’s career and the characteristics, history, present and future of South Africa as a wine country. We also tasted a South African wine with Pardon of course: the 2019 Glenelly Estate Reserve Chardonnay.

 

This is an integral recording taken from our talk show Cellar Talks. This show (season 2, episode 4) was broadcasted on Friday the 26th of February, through Instagram Live on our Instagram page. For this reason, there might be references of images shown in the show, which we obviously cannot display through this podcast. The full video recording of this show can be watched through our Instagram page, in the IGTV section. You can find a direct link to the recording here.