Despite a 350-year history and its status as a global champion, South Africa’s Cape brandies remain largely unknown in export markets.
Brandy making in South Africa has a rich and colourful history, that dates back to 1672 when the first ever Cape Wine was distilled into Cape Brandy on board a Dutch ship.
The practice was inspired by, and was roughly contemporary with, the development of the Cognac industry in France.
Unlike its French cousins, however, South African brandy is not well known in North America.
South African brandy has staked its claim as a global contender thanks to consistent awards across the world’s most authoritative shows as the global best.
Read also: Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority
Today, South African brandy is recognized as the finest in the world, having been awarded the title of ‘Worldwide Best Brandy’ at the International Wine and Spirits Competition 16 times in the last 20 years, more than any other country.
Map of South African Wine Regions.
The Origins of Cape Brandy
In the early 16th century, the Dutch East India Company had established the Cape of Good Hope as refreshment station for traders travelling between the Dutch Republic and Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.
Alcohol had two very distinct uses on lengthy sea journeys, three if you were to ask a sailor, and was therefore in very high demand.
First, it was used as a disinfectant, added to water to kill unwanted organisms.
Read also: Discover Thula Thula
Secondly, it could be used to preserve wine.
In 1672 an assistant cook aboard the Dutch ship ‘de Pijl’ anchored at Table Bay discovered the potential of local grapes and transformed 1164 Liters of Cape wine into 126 Liters of “brandewijn”, referred to as “burned wine” which later became known as “brandy”.
It would, however, be quite a while before Cape brandy would take its rightful place as a product of distinction and quality.
Seafarers, such as the 17th- and 18th-century Europeans calling at the Cape on their long and strenuous voyages between northern ports and the Far East, showed a particular fondness for brandy, among other alcoholic spirits.
History would have it that on the VOC ships a tot of brandy would be promised to the first sailor who spotted Table Mountain.
Read also: Traditional South African Bread
When the British took over from the Dutch in 1795, brandy was - along with wheat, wine and barley - already documented as a staple Cape commodity.
The Pioneer: René Santhagens
It was the thirst for spirits in the dry northern hinterland of South Africa that initially brought the swaggering Belgian René Santhagens to the country in 1897.
When he first arrived in South Africa, nobody anticipated that René would start a process that would change the history of brandy production altogether. René was the first man in South Africa to have produced brandy according to the old French tradition.
Before heading south from Europe, he had accepted an offer from French aristocrat Marquis de Pellerin de Latouche to work on his farms in the Cognac district in south-western France.
Here René rapidly expanded his knowledge of making wine and brandy among the local grape-growers, winemakers and distillers.
René’s sojourn in the Transvaal as distiller was interrupted when the Anglo-Boer War commenced in 1899 and the couple went back to France to wait out the conflict.
Here at the Cape, René was introduced to the only brandy being produced in the region, the so-called Kaapse Dop, which was made from grape husks distilled either in small primitive kettles or giant gin stills.
Sold raw in its most basic form, this brandy contained additives such as sugar, colorants and artificial flavourings.
He set up shop in 1908 after buying the Oude Molen property next to the old millstream at the foot of the Papegaaiberg in Stellenbosch, where Bosman’s Crossing is today.
René started producing his French-style brandies in 1910, becoming the first man to make brandy in South Africa according to the age-old traditions of Cognac.
His passion for authentic brandy and his influence on the Wine and Spirits Act of 1924, ensures that South Africa continues to be one of the most successful brandy producing countries in the world.
A glass of brandy with a bottle.
Production Methods and Types of South African Brandy
South Africa categorises its brandies as pot still, vintage or blended.
There are three types of brandy produced in South Africa:
- Pot still brandy (Cape brandy), which is produced from a base wine that has been double distilled in a copper pot still, aged for a minimum of three years in French or American oak casks not exceeding 340 Liters and have at least 38% ABV.
- Blended brandy, which is a combination of unaged neutral grape spirit created in a column still produced at an alcohol strength of 96.4% and 30% pot still brandy, diluted to be bottled at a minimum ABV of 43%.
- Vintage brandy: 30-80% potstill brandy, 70-20% unmatured wine spirit. Aged in wood for minimum eight years.
To be called South African, the brandy must be produced from wine made from domestic grapes, and must be distilled, matured and bottled in South Africa.
South Africa’s wine producing regions are warmer and dryer than Cognac, resulting in much higher sugar levels in the grapes used in the base wine for distillation.
Roughly 95% of the wine distilled is made from chenin blanc or colombard grapes, two varieties that are naturally high in acidity.
Grapes destined for brandy production are usually picked earlier, to increase acidity, than those intended for table wine production.
The higher sugars are believed to impart more fruity flavors, especially ones of stone fruits like peach and apricot, to the resulting brandy.
South African brandy producers typically use worm coil condensers. Brandy producers are also allowed to add a small amount of sugar to the brandy when it is bottled.
How Brandy Is Made – Step by Step | The Art of Distilling
The South African Brandy Foundation
Unique to the local liquor industry, the South African Brandy Foundation is an inclusive representative body founded in 1984 to promote the excellence, versatility and quality of the country’s brandy offering.
Christelle Reade-Jahn, the current director of the SA Brandy Foundation, says the goals of the foundation are twofold.
“First and foremost, brandy is a major contributor to the South African economy.
It offers thousands of employment opportunities on the wine farms where grapes for our product are grown, in the production of the distillation wine and the brandies themselves, and in the supply chain.
The other task of the foundation is to generically promote the quality, diversity, culture and inherent traits of the gorgeous creation that is South African brandy.
Enjoying South African Brandy
South African brandy is a flexible spirit that can be enjoyed in a myriad of ways be it neat, on the rocks, in a cocktail or mixed with good ol’ Coca Cola.
When it comes to brandy, it is the complexity of aromas and flavours and the heady, seductive frame of high-alcohol distilled spirit that draws me in.
A great potstill brandy will be a masterly integrated sensorial experience.
Smooth, delicate and soft to the edge of lushness, the raw alcohol has been mellowed and smoothened by years of ageing in the cask.
Yet, the heart of the brandy beats with the spirit of the distillation, the fiery blaze of alcohol combines with the lushness to unleash the darts of splendid flavours.
