What people from the Freestate and the Northern Cape knew for decades is now slowy tricing down to the rest of South Africa: the less known wine gem of the Oranje Rivier Wine Cellars in the Northern Cape.

When it comes to South African wine, many people still have on their minds wine from the winelands of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek. This while the Oranje Rivier Wine Cellar, the largest wine co-operative in the country, offers great wine experiences too!

The Oranje Rivier Wine Cellars consist of the Upington Cellar, the Grootdrink Wine Cellar, the Kakamas Wine Cellar, the Keimoes Wine Cellar, the Groblershoop Wine Cellar and the Kanoneiland Wine Cellar.

The wine co-operative was first established in 1963 and is set in the Southern Kalahari desert, on the banks of the Orange River. This is South Africa's main river. It starts in the Drakensberg in Lesotho and meanders for over 2200km westward until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.

It is needless to say that river is the life and soul of the towns, agriculture and the local economy in this part of the southern Kalahari desert, an intensely dry, hot and scarcely vegetated region.

Here over 700 farms on the Orange River produce the grapes used for the OWC wines. This is what makes OWC such a massive enterprise, the biggest wine co-operative in South Africa.

The Oranje Rivier Wine Cellars are proud of their wine range, which offers a wide selection of great wines: dry white wines as Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, semi-sweet wines as Stein, a range of rosés and sparkling wines, and of course red wines such as Pinotage and Shiraz.

So let the Kalahari desert and the Northern Cape province surprise you, and go for an unforgettable wine experience at the Oranje Rivier Wine Cellars.

Source: Miriam Mannak / Cape Town Magazine.com / April 2006

More about wine in South Africa:
* Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route SA's newest wine region
* South Africa's wine industry is booming

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