South African wine and Chenin blanc. The cool climate Overberg region has been the site of the most recent interest and development in the South African wine industry, particularly with increased plantings of Chardonnay and Pinot noir. The entire area received very little attention until the late 20th century and was not even classified in 1973 within the original Wine of Origins programme. The maritime climate of Walker Bay and the cool, higher elevation vineyards of Elgin located east of Cape Town, have had success producing these varietals as well as Sauvignon blanc. The "Klein Karoo" region (meaning Little Karoo) has a semi-desert
Ryn Desert can drop to a low of . Many small towns are scattered throughout the Ryn Desert, and population density is between 1 and 15 people per square mile. The Ryn lies in a semi-arid climate zone, and receives very little rainfall. High winds sweep across the desert, and in 2001 a dust storm in the Baltic Sea was determined as originating in the Ryn Desert. A study of long-range dust transportation to the Baltic Sea region—by analyzing dust pollution in Scandinavia, showed that aerosol concentrations there were influenced more by the Ryn Desert region than the Sahara Desert in Africa.