The boom in Rengan wine production and consumption occurred well before the current world-wide "discovery" of good wines, dating from the early days of British colonization. At the time European varietals were imported to supplement the native wines of the Kambing Valley and neighboring hills. Most successful of these imports were the Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnay Chardonnay and various Rieslings. The wine produced from these grapes gained a local character from the climate and soil. In addition to the wines, European wine making methods were also imported. To this day the Renganese vintners have preferred to retain these methods and the results are primarily light, flavorful wines. The reds have been compared to the best of the Beaujolais and white wines comparable to those produced in the Moselle Valley are highly prized.

The Renganese people also enjoy making wine at home. Usually several families or communes will collaborate and some very interesting wines result. Frequently other fruits are used along with the grapes. Often these home-made wines are the base for regional or communal specialty cuisines.

The commercial wine industry is in excellent shape. The export of Rengan wine is increasing dramatically as the quality of the wines becomes known around the world. Today there are six large wineries in and around the Kambing Valley and more than twenty notable small-or boutique-vintners. A total of almost 200,000 acres are under vines, producing nearly 1.5 million tons of grapes each year. Some of this output goes to the dried and fresh fruit industry, but the bulk of it to wine and secondarily to fruit juice.

The Doring winery is one of the largest. Not far from Kambing, it produces red Gamay wines and satisfying Chardonnays. These wines are to be drunk young and both reds and whites go well with the many Renganese seafood dishes. This vineyard also markets a hard cider, almost an apple wine, brewed from the native apples grown in its orchards. It is dry and refreshing and has become popular with young people around the world. The winery Soba has been under family control since the mid-nineteenth century. Its red wines of the Cabernet Sauvignon type are consistently fine. Recently, this winery has attempted to cultivate some of the native Rengan grapes as a part of the emphasis on aboriginal culture. Wines containing this grape will not be available before 1979.

Of the smaller vintners, one of the most successful is Rantna Salo. Eisenstein Lowana of German descent has devoted much of her life to experimentation with the Riesling grape and ahs succeeded in making a wine that has all of the best qualities of a Johannesburg Riesling, Helby Riesling. Equally, has she achieved a dryer wine, Salo Riesling, comparable to those wines from Alsace.

Renganese wine making, based as it is on years of popular, local acceptance, is beginning a new period in which the wines will reach new stature in a world market. At present, Rengan wines are eminently drinkable, and it is inevitable that they will only become better.

As exciting as these developments are, the extensive wine industry in Renga is overshadowed by an even larger brewing industry. As with winemaking, Rengan beer is produced using European methods introduced by the British colonists. The best hops, the seeds imported from Czechoslovakia, and barley malt are used. The most commonly brewed drink is a light pilsner with an alcoholic content of about 4.0 percent. The Olinda Brewery, located on the Pallinup River, is the country's largest producer. Frays beer, made legendary by Ernest Hemingway's famous description is noted for its unusual character. The Frays is a small very tightly knit community built on stilts in the shallow water between the main island, Renga, and Tabba. Soba Stout, though not highly popular locally, can be compared with the best of English Stouts. As with the wine, Renganese beer is just beginning to enjoy popularity elsewhere.

Not surprising, given the history of colonization, the English introduced sugar cane and the distilling of rum in the islands. However, hard liquors have never been more than marginally popular with the majority of the Renganese. These days most of the rum and other distilled beverages go to the small but robust tourist industry.