First Cape Wine

The FirstCape Wines Story

FirstCape was a leading brand in the South African wine scene. Created in 2002, it now has a wide range of still and sparkling wines, whose popularity have helped develop South African wine sales globally.

What is the Background to FirstCape?

FirstCape is a brand which was created by 3 Englishmen, who had worked in the UK wine industry for a number of years, and set out to work with a number of South African wineries to create a unique South African brand in the UK.

Originally working with 38 wineries in South Africa, all of whom, had some ownership in the brand, they launched FirstCape, and have never looked back. Their vision was to launch a joint venture between UK and South Africa, engaging cooperatives and smaller wine growers to build a strong brand. Today it has 4 co-operative shareholders with over 150 farms.

The fact that there is joint ownerships gives the growers and producers a deeper sense of involvement and they strive harder to work on quality and style, as they are part of this brand and project.

What started as an idea with 38 growers involved, grew into a huge South African wine brand.

With its roots in South Africa, the brand has now expanded, with a number of different sub brands, and is producing wines from 6 countries – South Africa, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Romania and USA.

What Styles Of Wine Do FirstCape Produce?

FirstCape produce a wide range of wines, under different names, or sub brands, to bring the best of their styles out. The heart of the brand is in South Africa, and the style is smooth, fruity with lots of upfront fruit and a soft, refreshing finish.

The range has been condesnsed into the core Special Cuvee with 6 in the range. These are:

• First Cape Special Cuvee Merlot - Packed with ripe plum and black cherry flavours. A soft, fruity and smooth style, that is excellent on its own.
• First Cape Special Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignon - This Cabernet Sauvignon has classic aromas of fresh mint and blackcurrant with elegant and full spicy fruit flavours.
• First Cape Special Cuvee Chenin Blanc - It shows fresh citrus and white peach notes on the nose, combined with ripe pear and tropical notes on the palate. Perfect as an apéritif.
• First Cape Special Cuvee Sauvignon Blanc - A wonderfully crisp and refreshing Sauvignon Blanc from the Western Cape region, showing ripe grapefruit notes on the nose, opening up into lime and white peach flavours on the palate.
• First Cape Special Cuvee Bush Vine Chenin Blanc - Mature bush vines give this wine flavours of soft white peach and ripe apples.
• First Cape Special Cuvee Chardonnay Pinot Noir Rose - Pretty, pale pink Special Cuvée rosé gives notes of fresh strawberries on the nose, combined with raspberries and cranberries on the palate. Deliciously moreish, this is a perfect party rosé.