South African Wine : A Timeline
South Africa has an extensive and somewhat controversial political history attached to its very popular wine industry. From white domination that introduced the craft to the area, to the liberation of the country that allowed for the product to be exported around the world, each landmark period is illustrated with typographic compositions that create the shape of a wine bottle. The type is a hand drawn font with Latin characters in both upper and lowercase, numbers and various other glyphs.
South Africa has an extensive and somewhat controversial political history attached to its very popular wine industry. From white domination that introduced the craft to the area, to the liberation of the country that allowed for the product to be exported around the world, each landmark period is illustrated with typographic compositions that create the shape of a wine bottle. The type is a hand drawn font with Latin characters in both upper and lowercase, numbers and various other glyphs.
1652 : In the 1600’s the spice trade flourished and Europeans sailed across Africa to the East to find the most exotic of spices. The journey was long and hard so the Dutch decided to create something like a halfway stop that would allow sailors to stock up on food and wine. Today this stop is known as Cape Town.
1685 : Constantia was used to produce wine, fruit, vegetables and cattle for the sailors on their journey to the East. Huge vineyards were planted and today it is known for its production of high-qualityred wines like Shiraz & Merlot.
1689 : The wine industry in South Africa was greatly influenced by the French Huguenots, many of whom had vineyards in France before arriving in South Africa. These settlers were allocated farms in Franschhoek, Afrikaans for 'French corner'.
1859 : In the late 1700's wines from Constantia earned a great reputation across Europe. The area soon fell under British rule and large quantities of wine were exported to Britain. This was great for the industry, but in 1860 a free trade agreement was signed between France and Britain that lead to an increase in exports from France and limited exports from South Africa.
1994 : For much of the 20th century, the wine industry of South Africa received very little attention on the worldwide stage. It wasn't until the early 1990's when Apartheid ended and the world's export market opened up that South African wines began to experience a renaissance.
