Every wine growing country has its superlatives; for South Africa, it is the Stellenbosch region around the pretty university town, which is also home to many research institutions in the field of wine and viticulture. It is also home to Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery, the largest winery in South Africa, and the large winery can boast a proud 10,000 barrels in its cellars. On the other hand, nowhere in South Africa is there such an accumulation of absolute top-class wineries. With its origins in 1679, Stellenbosch is, along with Constantia, the oldest wine growing region on the Cape. Today, it is also the largest wine growing region, accounting for 16.9 percent of South Africa's total vineyard area of over 100,000 hectares. The pretty region around Stellenbosch, with its vineyards at the foot of massive mountain ranges such as the Simonsberg, is also well developed for tourists interested in wine, and many wineries offer their wines in their own restaurants or ultra-modern and well-designed tasting rooms. About 45 kilometres from Cape Town in an easterly direction, Stellenbosch is on the one hand quite a warm region, but it is still within the sphere of influence of the cool sea breezes from the south. Therefore, in addition to excellent red wines, remarkable Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs grow here. The ideal climate and the excellent terroir of granite and clay slate soils have led to many start-ups and investments from home and abroad in recent years. Even the top German winemaker Meyer-Näkel from the Ahr has developed a second foothold in Stellenbosch.
