Strictly speaking, the early Europeans (Dutch, French and English to be exact) deserve all the credit for the success of South African wine around the world. 
Cape Town witnessed a steady influx of Dutch immigrants from 1652 onward. Incidentally, a band of 220 Huguenots also set sail for Cape Town to escape religious oppression in France due to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Later on, Cape Town was occupied by the English and became an English colony. The present-day wine culture of Cape Town is the unique culmination of hard work and effort by early Dutch, French and English pioneers.

Due to Cape Town's geographic location at the southern edge of the African continent, it has a typical Mediterranean climate with rainy winters and dry summers. Viticulture experts believe that vines are best cultivated in temperate latitudes around 34 degrees to yield the best grapes for winemaking. Incidentally, the area of Cape Town in South Africa happens to fall in the region with close proximity to the equator. The area receives fairly concentrated sunshine with up to 14 hours of daylight in the middle of summer in the region. The early English immigrants recognized the ideal climate conditions for viticulture that would produce excellent grapes for winemaking and introduced European winemaking techniques to South Africa. That marked the beginning of viticulture in the Cape region. When the first batch of grapes grown in Cape Town was crushed into juice in February 1659, Cape Town officially became one of the world's major wine producing areas.
South Africa is currently one of the six major wine producing nations around the world, contributing approximately 3% of the world's total annual wine production. South Africa's primary wine producing areas are scattered in the Cape region because its terroir and climate are suitable for viticulture. Cape Province is essentially a kingdom of viticulture and winemaking with numerous vineyards and pleasant views. Local residents take pride in the exquisite wines produced here.

When you visit Cape Town, don't forget to take a trip to the local wine area. The most well known in the area would be Stellenbosch and Paarl, which are approximately two hours drive away from downtown Cape Town. Tourists may enjoy the scenic views of endless vineyards along the way and take short breaks at various estates to taste the fine wines. The Groot Constantia Estate (which is not far from Table Mountain) happens to be the most famous spot for wine tasting and the most luxurious of all local Dutch-styled estates. The estate used to be "the residence of Simon van der Stel" (the VOC governor of Cape of Good Hope) and the manor house is now a part of the South African Cultural History Museum that features extensive collection of displays on the society and lifestyle in Cape during early years. Groot Constantia Estate is also the home of Cape Town's oldest winemaking center along with a Wine Museum that was constructed in 1685. The Wine Museum is also a traditional Dutch-styled building with characteristic white walls and classic rooftop decorated with mirrors. The museum houses furniture from the 17th century and curios such as glass utensils and porcelains. The basement is a large wine cellar that stores numerous gigantic oak barrels; the capacity of the larger barrels reaches 10,000 liters and even the smaller ones can hold as much as 5,000 liters. These barrels contain fermenting grapes and they are installed with numerous tubes for temperature control, which is essential for winemaking because the sweetness of the wine varies with temperature changes. This explains why you would see sweetness labels of "Dry", "Medium Dry", "Medium Sweet" and "Sweet" on wine bottles.

The first step of winemaking is crushing and pressing the harvested grapes. The production of red wine does not require the grape skins to be removed because it is responsible for darkening the hue of the spirit. After a period of four days, the skins are filtered for the juice to ferment in the designated vessel. In approximately one-month's time, the contents are then transferred to oak barrels, which would be placed in wine cellars. The wine has to age for no less than 18 months before it can be bottled. Red wine will become more aromatic as it ages. The production of white wine is relatively easier; the grapes are crushed and pressed after the skin has been removed. The juice is then left in a wine column for fermentation for a month before being transferred to a clean vessel. The contents are ready for bottling and sales in two month's time.