The main viticultural areas in these cool southerly climes are the districts of Elgin, Overberg, Walker Bay and Cape Agulhas, which encompass exciting newer wards such as Elim, Klein River and Malgas. The high-lying cool-climate Elgin district lies cradled in an inland plateau, situated at an altitude of 200—1 000 m and surrounded by the ancient sandstone Hottentots Holland mountains, where medium-structured, often ferruginous soils developed from Devonian Bokkeveld shale parent material. Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Shiraz do particularly well in this late ripening zone. Longer ripening produces grapes that hold a broad spectrum of flavours which results in wines of character showing exceptional purity and density of fruit, complexity and elegance.
