In Good Spirits

Australia’s loss of the china wine market has been south Africa’s gain. But can it be sustained?AROUND the time the Chinese celebratetheSpringFestival, a time of family reunions and feasting,SouthAfricacele-b rates the birth of its wine industry. It is a happy serendipity as the South African wine industry has found a rising market in China, and the Spring Festival is the time when it surges higher still.OnFebruary2,SouthAfricanvintners raised a toast for the 363rd birthday of their wine industry, the only one in the world to have an official historical birthday for the industry.e record of the first wine made in South Africa is found in the diary of Johan AnthoniszoonvanRiebeeck,anemployeeofthe Dutch East India Company, who arrived in 1652 to take up his post.