If the sign of a healthy and innovative wine industry is its willingness to abandon conventional (in other words "safe") varieties with a proven track record and an international clientele , South African wine producers have begun moving their funds from their mattresses to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Less than a decade ago the average grower's shopping list was driven by the safe supermarket cultivars. Now we are seeing the emergence - in admittedly experimental volumes - of several varieties, some considered niche even in their original strongholds.

SA's exporters discovered in 1994 that we had too much white vineyard and not enough red. The UK supermarkets didn't want our chenin blanc-based dry whites. In fact, they weren't really interested in our chardonnays - except if they would serve as a cheaper alternative to Australia's multiregional blends.

They kept reminding exporters that since SA's wine industry had succumbed to the pressure of sanctions in the mid-1980s, wine consumers had discovered the cholesterol-thinning properties of reservatrol. Naturally they had gravitated towards supposedly healthier reds as a result. Too bad you have surplus whites, producers were told. We'll take them off your hands, of course, but they will have to be very, very cheap.

What followed had the inexorability of a medieval morality play. Growers planted the varieties which were performing well in the supermarket trade, assuming that they could live forever off cabernet, merlot and shiraz. Since a great number of them all did the same thing - at much the same time - they created the ideal conditions for a world-class glut.

In a five-year period the bulk price for these varieties declined by some 80%. Given that many of the new vineyards had been poorly sited and were yielding frighteningly unattractive wines, some of this discount reflected the unsaleability of what was on offer. The lesson learnt by a few of the more adventurous producers was that the safety of the herd has limitations.

However, the trouble with going out on a limb is what to do if no one is interested in your unusual offering. It's one thing if you already have a few successful brands - you can always bury the varieties no one will buy from you in a bit of a fruit-salad blend. But you cannot plant too much, and you have to be ready to face rejection.

In an earlier era, SA found itself with a few specialist producers who had acquired something of a reputation for single bottlings of obscure cultivars.

Overgaauw remains the only estate which sells a sylvaner - even though the variety is well known in Europe and the Van Veldens have been singularly successful with it since the 1970s.

Harslevelu - once the monopoly of a small Tulbagh property - has pretty much vanished and I don't know of anyone still using kerner. There are a sprinkling of Fernao Pires and bukettraube bottlings, and only a couple of zinfandels.

If this is all that's left from the spirit of adventure of the presanctions era, where are the new contrarians putting their money? Obviously the lesser known Rhone varieties are finding support, with marsanne, roussanne and grenache blanc among the whites, and grenache noir and mourvedre among the reds enjoying the bulk of the investment. Petite sirah (also known as durif) is also being planted, so is pinot blanc, as well as pinot grigio.

Mainstream Italian cultivars are starting to appear, with a few sangioveses and nebbiolos joining wines from the earlier era - like the very fine barbera from Altydgedacht. From Iberia there's some temperanillo and trincadeira, as well as an exceptional verdehlo from Feiteras in Botrivier.

For wine drinkers accustomed to the comfort of familiar varieties, there's almost no frame of reference for many of these newcomers. Today there are more bottlings of true (in other words Rhine or weisser) riesling than there are of "Cape" or "Paarl" riesling, more cabernet franc than colombard, and more mourvedre than cinsaut. The times are certainly changing.