A fascinating take on the history of grapes and the vine industry in South Africa. What is quite sad is that there is a lot of history not captured, which we will never know about as it was never recorded. It's wonderful to have a bit more history knowledge of this industry that plays such a big part of the Western Cape, and interestingly, the Northern Cape as well - I had no idea that there is such big wine and table grape industry here. Fascinating to learn more about the history of vineyards. I have always had this idyllic perception of how wonderful owning a vineyard must be- but boy oh boy is it a hard industry to be in. It was really interesting to learn more about the 'dop' system (not something unique to South Africa), the land ownership, 'stokkiesdraai' and the many different issues that need to be contended with.
The book is quite factual, and written fairly unemotionally, except for one story shared by Jeanne Viall at Ouap, the encounter was really not captured very nicely, which did not leave a very good impression (of the author).
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