Stellenbosch and the Cape Winelands: Chenin Blanc, Pinotage and Pairings with Vietnamese Food

When people talk about the “New World” of wine, they usually mean California, Australia or Argentina. Yet South Africa has been making wine since the seventeenth century, earlier than most of those regions. At the heart of that story lies Stellenbosch, a university town ringed by mountains about an hour’s drive east of Cape Town. Here is a short guide to its history, its two signature grapes, and how its wines can sit surprisingly well beside Vietnamese dishes.

A wine history that began in 1659

The Dutch East India Company set up a supply station at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 to provision ships sailing to Asia. Its commander, Jan van Riebeeck, planted vines, and on 2 February 1659 he wrote in his diary a line every South African wine lover knows: “Today, praise be to God, wine was pressed for the first time from Cape grapes.”

In 1679 Governor Simon van der Stel founded Stellenbosch, which became the second-oldest European settlement in the country after Cape Town. French Huguenot refugees arrived from 1688 and settled in nearby Franschhoek (“French corner”), bringing farming and winemaking skills with them. A few years earlier van der Stel had also established the Constantia estate south of Cape Town, whose sweet wine became famous across Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; it is even mentioned in Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility.

Why Stellenbosch suits the vine

The Cape has a Mediterranean climate: warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. What keeps Stellenbosch from being too hot is its position near False Bay. Sea breezes, and the strong south-easterly wind locals call the “Cape Doctor”, cool the vineyards in the afternoon and help keep grapes healthy. Mountain slopes add a range of altitudes and aspects, while soils vary from decomposed granite on the hillsides to sandstone-derived soils lower down. This mix of mountain, sea and old soils is a textbook example of what wine people call terroir.

Since 1973, South African wine has been regulated under the Wine of Origin scheme, which certifies where the grapes on the label were grown. Stellenbosch is one of the best-known of these designated origins.

Two grapes that define the Cape

Chenin Blanc: the old workhorse reborn

Chenin Blanc originally comes from France’s Loire Valley, but today it is South Africa’s most widely planted grape, and the country grows more of it than France does. For generations it was known locally as “Steen” and used mostly for simple wine and brandy. Over the past few decades, growers have rediscovered old, low-yielding bush vines, and Cape Chenin now ranges from crisp and fresh to rich, textured, barrel-fermented styles. Typical notes include green apple, quince, pear, honey and a lively streak of acidity.

Pinotage: a South African invention

In 1925, Abraham Izak Perold, the first professor of viticulture at Stellenbosch University, crossed Pinot Noir with Cinsaut, a grape then known locally as “Hermitage”. The name Pinotage blends the two. The result is a red grape found almost nowhere else in significant quantities. Pinotage can be light and fruity or deep and powerful, often showing dark berries, plum and sometimes a smoky or earthy note. It divides opinion, which is part of its charm: it is a wine that tastes of its own place.

Stellenbosch is also respected for Cabernet Sauvignon and for “Cape Blends”, red blends that usually include a share of Pinotage.

Cape wines and Vietnamese food

Vietnamese cooking balances salty, sweet, sour and fresh herbal flavours, often built on fish sauce (nước mắm) and plenty of fresh herbs. Wines with good acidity and ripe fruit, rather than heavy oak or high tannin, tend to work best. A few ideas:

• Bánh xèo with a fresh, unoaked Chenin Blanc. Bánh xèo is a crispy, turmeric-yellow rice-flour pancake filled with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts, wrapped in lettuce and herbs and dipped in sweet-sour fish sauce. Chenin’s acidity cuts through the oil, and its apple and pear fruit sits nicely beside the herbs.
• Cá kho tộ with a richer, barrel-aged Chenin. This southern dish is fish braised in a clay pot with caramelised sugar, fish sauce and black pepper. Its sweet-salty glaze calls for a white with weight and a hint of honey, which fuller-bodied Chenin can provide.
• Bò lá lốt with a lighter style of Pinotage. Minced beef wrapped in aromatic betel leaves (lá lốt) and grilled over charcoal has a smoky, peppery character. A juicy, softer Pinotage echoes the smoke without overwhelming the leaf’s perfume.

One caution: chilli heat amplifies alcohol and tannin. If a dish is very spicy, choose a lower-alcohol, fruit-forward wine, or keep the chilli on the side.

📖 Glossary

• Wine of Origin (WO): South Africa’s system, introduced in 1973, that certifies the geographical origin of the grapes in a wine.
• Steen: the traditional South African name for Chenin Blanc.
• Crossing: a new grape variety bred from two varieties of the same species, as Pinotage was from Pinot Noir and Cinsaut.
• Bush vine: a vine grown freestanding without a trellis, common in older Cape vineyards.
• Cape Blend: a red blend from South Africa, usually containing a meaningful portion of Pinotage.

Stellenbosch reminds us that “New World” does not mean “new”. Behind each glass are more than three and a half centuries of history, a wind with a nickname, and a grape born in a university laboratory. Which would you try first with a Vietnamese meal: a crisp Chenin or a smoky Pinotage?

Please enjoy responsibly. Never drink and drive. Intended for adults of legal drinking age.

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