There are many areas of outstanding natural beauty in the world's vinelands, but few can compete with the spectacular backdrop of the Western Cape. Here, scattered around the leafy university town of Stellenbosch, Cape Dutch wine farms pepper a landscape dominated by the blue-shadowed stack of mountain sandstone.

We had started out early. The night before, Smit had told us to be up before sunrise. With rain battering Stellenbosch, work in the vineyards was halted. Today would be spent purchasing wine. But this is not wine buying as you and I know it. There are no immaculately kept bottles, neatly stacked supermarkets shelves or silver-tongued merchants enticing us to take a case. This is wine country where they talk in litres – by the million. Every year, Smit and his team will buy in more than 11 million litres of "juice", as they call it. With that sort of responsibility, it is not surprising he spends most of the time checking up on the myriad producers he regularly buys from.

We turn off the N1 towards Breedekloof, a valley framed by the Slanghoek mountain range. A few moments later, we are standing in a small office, flanked by fermentation tanks and surrounded by row upon row of small plastic bottles filled with a cloudy, milky, green liquid. The winemaker hovers nervously in the background as we prepare to taste. I glance at the clock. It's a little before eight in the morning, and lined up in front of me are 30 tank samples of lean, highly acidic, still-fermenting sauvignon blanc. These are the first of the 100 samples I will taste that day. Picking up bottle number one, I pray my dentist will forgive me.

IT IS A COMMON misconception that all wine writers hanker after their own vineyard. Lazy days spent tending vines in sun-soaked isolation, with nothing more to worry about than the rhythms of the season and the small matter of lunch. Back in the real world, winemaking is fraught with difficulties. However rewarding it is to see your name on the label, the price it exacts is high: years of hard labour, paperwork, financial worries, unreliable weather and unreliable staff. And once the liquid is in the bottle, you have to sell the stuff, which often requires a gruelling trek around the globe's price-conscious markets. I grew up on a farm, so any romantic notion of farming was pummelled out of me from an early age when I was obliged to muck out the pigsties on more freezing cold mornings than I care to remember. Do I have a romantic calling to make wine? No. I'm more than happy to write about it.

Despite this, I have often felt mildly inadequate when talking to winemakers. Sports writers, theatre critics and restaurant reviewers can empathise, I'm sure. However good your palate and critical faculties, there is always the fear that one day someone might turn around and say: "Well, if that's what you think of my wine, why don't you have a go – see if you can do any better." So, this March, in overalls and a pair of sturdy boots, that's exactly what I did.

IN WINEMAKING terms, South Africa is as interesting as it gets. Stylistically, it sits halfway between the restrained elegance of Europe and the generous, fruit-driven character of the New World. Lost time is something the country's winemakers are desperately trying to make up for. For many of them, the post-apartheid world was an opportunity to experience winemaking in France, California and Australia. Now, back home, they have infused the industry with energy and ideas.

Spier, like many South African wineries, can trace its lineage to the 17th century. Its estate comprises eight individual vineyards in the Western Cape. Its winery, where I worked with its eight-strong winemaking team, sits in the shadow of the Helderberg mountain, straddling the River Eerste.

Here in the vineyard the vine works to create the essence of every wine. The French refer to it as terroir – the complex formula of soil, climate, land and geography. Winemakers insist that the vineyard matters more in shaping the character of the wine than any grape varietal or fancy blend.

Picking grapes is back-breaking work. Fortunately, the weather comes to my rescue. Unseasonable rains, in the middle of the harvest, mean picking has to be suspended for two weeks. We head to the cellar – or, in my case, the sorting table. That morning, 94 batches of mourvèdre, merlot and cabernet sauvignon are delivered from the vineyards. It's a massive operation, with truckloads of grapes arriving every 20 minutes. After being weighed, they are laid out on a sorting table where we manually pick out and discard damaged, off-colour or green berries. Those that survive continue their journey to the fermentation tanks.

At its simplest, winemaking is a process of fermentation where sugar is converted by yeasts into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Once the grapes have been crushed, the juice is allowed to settle in large tanks where it will start fermenting from the natural yeasts present in the grape skins and the air. Once it has fermented (a process that takes two to three weeks), the juice is run off into a clean container, usually an oak barrel, where it is left to mature and is then bottled.

The next few days pass in a blur of activity as I work with Johan Jordaan (who makes red wines) and Eleanor Visser (who makes whites). Modern technology has had a major impact on flavour. Winemakers are now able to press the grapes for longer and have much more control over the temperature of the fermentation, allowing different flavours to be extracted and cutting the risk of a poor vintage. For example, a short, warm fermentation extracts more tannin; a long, cooler one produces a more aromatic wine. When the wine is fermenting, oxygen can be added to reduce bad flavours. The overall result on the character of the wine is a more open, expressive style.

BACK IN THE tasting room, I join Smit and his team to taste the batch samples of white wines that will go into Spier's portfolio. The wines we blend will make up the final selection for the 2008 sauvignon blanc. It's a complex, fascinating process. Every nuance of the samples is brutally assessed. One smells slightly of cat's pee – it's immediately dismissed and blamed on the yeast the winemaker uses. The semillons taste quite thin – a direct consequence of the heavy rain just before harvest. The water went straight into the grapes, swelling them up and diluting the flavour. Another batch has a slightly flat feel, which I am told is because the truck broke down and the grapes were left in the sun too long. All are discarded in favour of samples that show a clean, tropical-fruit flavour.

We conclude that 2008 was an excellent year for sauvignon blanc. Smit agrees – the vintage will be remembered as a low-sugar year with premium quality fruit and lower yields than usual. The chardonnay and chenin blanc are both looking good, but it's the sauvignon blanc that really excites.

"In terms of the reds, the pinotage really stands out," he says. "As for the whites, the sauvignon blanc is the best we've ever seen, with promise shown by every tank rather than just one or two."

Later, back in Scotland, I spot a Spier bottle on a wine merchant's shelf and for a moment I'm reminded of the process that went into its creation. It brings to mind something I was told many years ago, when I first entered the wine trade: "Mud and tractors. For all the intellectual musings that surround the great subject of wine, the truth is we're dealing with an agricultural product – something that has been made from the ground. Getting your hands dirty – that's what it's all about, Will."

DEALS OF THE WEEK

2008 Cono Sur Viognier, Colchagua Valley, Chile

Usually £6.99 – down 20% to £5.59, at Waitrose

2006 La Chasse du Pape Réserve, France

Usually £5.99 – down 25% to £4.49, at Co-op

2005 Château Bellerives Dubois, France

Usually £6.99 – down around 20% to £5.49, at Majestic

• Will Lyons will be hosting a masterclass at the Oddbins Edinburgh wine fair at Murrayfield Stadium next Sunday, October 26. To buy tickets, visit www.oddbins.com or call 0800 917 4094.

COMPETITION

WIN A TRIP TO SOUTH AFRICA'S WINELANDS

Spier Wines has teamed up with Scotland on Sunday to offer one lucky reader the chance to win an amazing escape for two to South Africa's stunning winelands

THE MAIN PRIZE
Flying from Edinburgh or Glasgow, you'll enjoy seven nights' luxury accommodation at the Spier Hotel plus car hire for the duration of your stay. Nestled on the banks of the Eerste river in the heart of the Stellenbosch wine region, the hotel has panoramic views of the Helderberg mountains and the surrounding
Spier vineyards. The Spier experience offers Cape Dutch architecture, breathtaking views, fine food, luxury four-star accommodation, art culture and conservation – but the pleasureSpier has been most closely associated with for three centuries is, of course, wine. Spier is also the perfect base for exploring the Cape – the bustling cultural capital of Cape Town, stunning, deserted beaches, historic Robben Island, the awe-inspiring Table Mountain and
the spectacular Cape Point are all within reach.

RUNNERS-UP PRIZES
Ten lucky readers will receive a mixed case of Spier wine.

HOW TO ENTER
There are two ways to enter: by text or online. Entry closes at midnight, Sunday, October 26.
TEXT Simply text the word sosspier followed by a space, then your name, followed by a space, then your address and postcode to 81800 (like this example): sosspier (space)john(space)smith(space)42 hill street(space)eh33px Texts cost 60p plus your usual standard network rate.
ONLINE Log on to www.scotlandonsunday.com/prize and follow the instructions.

Terms and conditions
Closing date for entries is midnight on October 26. No purchase necessary. The winners will be selected at random from all entries received. By entering a prize draw all participants will be deemed to have accepted and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. By supplying your mobile phone number, you are happy to receive SMS/MMS messages from Johnston Press and its approved business partners. Johnston Press (or via its agents) and its business partners may contact you about new promotions, products and services. Please add the word STOP to the end of your message if you do not wish to receive these.
For quality and training purposes, we may monitor communications. Normal Scotland on Sunday rules apply. For a full set of terms and conditions please visit: www.scotlandonsunday.com/terms