Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch has grown wine since the 1680s and makes most of South Africa’s famous reds. Its vineyards sell for about R800,000 to R1 million a hectare as farmland and several times that where they can be built on, which is why the district lost more than a tenth of its vines between 2013 and 2023. Returns from grapes have lagged costs, so the value of the land rests on tourism, property and the top estates rather than on everyday wine.

Economics in brief

Vinpro, the growers’ body, reported that a hectare needed to earn about R80,000 in 2024 to cover its costs while the average earned R57,000, and about R125,000 to be sustainable. The best estates sell Cabernet blends, Chenin and Syrah abroad at prices that justify the land; much of the rest has been squeezed by cheap bulk exports, a weak rand that helps exporters but raises the cost of imported barrels and equipment, and the pull of housing development around a university town.