Learn · Shades of Wine
Colour is the first clue to a wine’s grape, its style and its age. Almost all of it comes from the grape skins, and it keeps changing in the bottle. This guide is for looking, not drinking: learn to read the glass.
Ten Cape shades
White
Pale straw with green tints
Why it looks this way
Green-skinned grapes, pressed off the skins quickly and often kept in steel, so very little colour is picked up.
Look for
Tilt the glass: a green flash at the rim is typical of a young, unoaked wine. On the nose, look for grass, green pepper or citrus.
Cape regions
Elgin, Durbanville
Fun fact [3][9]
It is South Africa’s second most planted grape, at about 10 442 ha in 2025.
White
Pale lemon to golden
Why it looks this way
Colour depends on style: unoaked wines stay pale; barrel-aged and older-vine wines move towards gold.
Look for
Compare an unoaked and a barrel-aged Chenin side by side: the oaked one usually shows a deeper gold.
Cape regions
Swartland, Stellenbosch, Paarl
Fun fact [3][4][5]
The Cape’s most planted grape (18.4% of vineyards), long known locally as “Steen”.
White
Straw-gold to butter yellow
Why it looks this way
Fermenting or ageing in oak barrels exposes the wine to small amounts of oxygen, which deepens it towards gold.
Look for
A deeper gold in a young Chardonnay often points to oak. Look for toast or vanilla on the nose.
Cape regions
Robertson, Elgin, Hemel-en-Aarde
Fun fact [7][9][10]
Robertson’s limestone soils are known for elegant Chardonnay and Méthode Cap Classique.
Rosé
Onion-skin blush to salmon
Why it looks this way
Red grapes, but the juice touches the skins only briefly. Shade is a winemaking choice, not a quality sign.
Look for
Pale onion-skin means very short skin contact; deeper salmon or pink means a little longer.
Cape regions
Made all over the Cape
Fun fact [2][8]
Any red grape can make rosé; the colour comes only from those few hours on the skins.
Red
Translucent light ruby
Why it looks this way
Thin skins with less pigment, so you can often read print through the glass.
Look for
Hold it over white paper: a translucent, bright ruby is typical. Look for red cherry and earth on the nose.
Cape regions
Hemel-en-Aarde, Elgin
Fun fact [1][7][8]
Pinot Noir is one of Pinotage’s two parents.
Red
Deep ruby with a purple rim
Why it looks this way
Thick-skinned berries give plenty of colour when young.
Look for
Young examples show a vivid purple rim that softens to garnet over the years.
Cape regions
Swartland, Stellenbosch, Paarl
Fun fact [1][6]
Created in 1925 at Stellenbosch University by Prof. Abraham Perold, by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsaut (then called “Hermitage”).
Red
Deep garnet
Why it looks this way
Small, thick-skinned black grapes; long skin contact pulls out colour and tannin.
Look for
Look at the core: deep and dark at the centre, with a purple-ruby rim when young.
Cape regions
Stellenbosch
Fun fact [3][11]
South Africa’s most planted red, at 9.9% of the vineyard.
Red
Inky purple-black
Why it looks this way
Thick skins rich in anthocyanins (red-purple pigments) give one of the deepest colours.
Look for
Tilt the glass: a nearly opaque core and a purple edge. Look for black pepper and dark fruit on the nose.
Cape regions
Swartland, Stellenbosch
Fun fact [2][8][11]
Shiraz and Syrah are the same grape; both names are used on Cape labels.
Fortified
Amber-gold
Why it looks this way
Muscat de Frontignan grapes are left to shrivel on the vine, then the wine is matured in oak. It is naturally sweet, not fortified.
Look for
Thick, slow “legs” and a deep amber glow come from the sugar. Look for apricot, honey and orange peel.
Cape regions
Constantia
Fun fact [12][13]
Constantia was granted to Simon van der Stel in 1685; its sweet wine became famous in 18th- and 19th-century Europe.
Fortified
Amber to golden-brown
Why it looks this way
A fortified wine aged for years in wood. Slow oxidation fades the red to tawny.
Look for
The rim often shows amber or even olive-green flecks. Look for nuts, caramel and dried fruit on the nose.
Cape regions
Calitzdorp (Klein Karoo)
Fun fact [14][15]
Since 2012 South African labels can’t say “Port”; they use “Cape” instead, as in Cape Tawny.
How colour changes with age
In whites, slow oxidation turns the wine from pale lemon through gold to amber. In reds, the pigments bind with tannins and slowly drop out as sediment, so purple turns to ruby, garnet and finally brick or tawny. [2][8][16]
How to read colour
1
Tilt the glass to about 45° over a white sheet. Name the colour: lemon, gold, salmon, ruby, garnet, tawny.
2
Look straight down at the core. Pale, medium or deep hints at the grape and how long it spent on its skins.
3
Look at the thin edge, where age shows first. A purple rim reads young; brick or orange reads mature.
Method from [8][17]. Colour gives clues about grape and age. It doesn’t tell you about quality.
Cape colour history
1925 · Stellenbosch
Prof. Abraham Perold crossed Pinot Noir with Cinsaut (then called “Hermitage”) at Stellenbosch University. The seedlings were nearly lost, but a colleague rescued them. The name first appeared on a label in 1961. [1][6]
18.4% of vineyards
Chenin Blanc is South Africa’s most planted grape, at about 15 949 ha in 2025. South Africa grows more than half of the world’s Chenin. [3][4][5]
1685 · Constantia
Simon van der Stel was granted Constantia in 1685, and its sweet Muscat wine was sought after in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. Phylloxera ended it in the late 1800s. A modern recreation, Vin de Constance, was first released in 1990. [12][13]
The Wax & Wine palette
The swatch is the colour in the glass. Where a second hex is shown, that is the one to use for text.
White
Sauvignon Blanc
#D8D48E
text #5E6022
Chenin Blanc
#E2B54E
text #7A5512
Chardonnay
#F0D68F
text #6E5A1E
Rosé
Rosé Blush
#F3CBC2
text #8A3C35
Rosé Salmon
#E7957E
text #8E3A27
Red
Pinot Noir
#A42A3E
Cabernet Sauvignon
#6E2433
Pinotage
#5A1838
Shiraz
#2B0F22
Fortified
Vin de Constance
#C68A2E
text #7A4F10
Cape Tawny
#8B4A24
Sources
[1] AWRI, “Pinotage” variety sheet (awri.com.au)
[2] WineHQ, “Colour: where it comes from and how it changes” (winehq.app)
[3] WOSA / SAWIS, Status of wine-grape vines, 31 Dec 2025 (wosa.co.za)
[4] WOSA, World statistics (wosa.co.za)
[5] Posthouse Wines, “The history of South African Chenin Blanc” (2026)
[6] Pinotage Association, Heritage (pinotage.co.za)
[7] Jancis Robinson, “South Africa’s answer to Burgundy”
[8] Decanter, “Wine colour: what can it tell you?”
[9] Grape & Barrel, Wine glossary: Color
[10] Ourglass, Guide to South African wine regions
[11] Decanter, “Stellenbosch: home of Cape Cabernet”
[12] WineMag, J. Gibson, “On the origins of Constantia”
[13] Meridian Wine Merchants, “Vin de Constance over four decades”
[14] Calitzdorp Tourism, “Cape Port explained”
[15] WineWiki (winewithseth.com), Calitzdorp
[16] Jancis Robinson, “What happens to wine as it ages?”
[17] Pradorey, “Discover the colours of wine”
Educational content only. Colour hexes show typical shades, not exact measurements. Wax & Wine encourages responsible enjoyment.
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