Cape Wine Farms - An introduction by travel writer Laurianne Claase
Vintage Vineyards of the Western Cape
Of the more than 60 wine-producing countries worldwide, South Africa is the world’s ninth largest producer in terms of volume. The Western Cape is mostly responsible.
We explore the roots of South Africa’s winemaking heritage with a visit to some of the Cape’s historic vineyards – in Constantia, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek.
Wine came to the Cape with Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC), which sent him to establish a way station for passing ships of trade in 1652. Although in the Middle Ages, wine consumption had died out in private homes, with the advent of the seafarers, wine became important in combating scurvy and drowning the taste of bad water. Jan van Riebeeck immediately recognised the Mediterranean climate of the Cape and asked the DEIC to send him vine cuttings.
However, the climate at the Cape of Storms proved challenging. Van Riebeeck planted the new vines in the Company’s Gardens in Cape Town but soon realised that there wasn’t enough room. The vines were moved, this time to Green Point, right next to the salty and stormy sea. Wind did serious damage until they were moved once again, more successfully this time, to the banks of what is today the Liesbeeck River. Persistence paid off. On 2 February 1659, a triumphant van Riebeeck recorded in his diary – “Today, praised be to God, wine was made for the first time from Cape grapes …” The wine was Hanepoot (Muscat of Alexandria).
One of van Riebeeck’s early successors was Simon van der Stel, who arrived in 1679 to take up his position as Governor of the Cape. Van der Stel’s contribution to the South African wine industry was immense not least because he founded Stellenbosch, the wine capital of South Africa, and started the Cape’s flagship 700ha farm, Groot Constantia.
The Cape of Storms is also the Cape of Good Hope. In 1685, back in France, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had promised religious tolerance. Protestant refugees flooded into Holland. Van der Stel asked the DEIC to provide passage to the Cape for any with wine farming experience. Facing an uncertain future in Europe, around 200 French Huguenots arrived at the Cape, taking up the Dutch East India Company's offer of land and swelling the European population by a third. They were provided with limited supplies and sent out to establish farms, first to the region of Paarl and then to an elephant breeding ground called 'Oliphantshoek' that later became known as 'Franschhoek'.
The Constantia wine route
The Constantia valley is twenty-five minutes drive from the Cape Town city centre and is South Africa’s oldest and shortest wine route. A good place to start …
Back in the Netherlands, Van der Stel had grown grapes and made wine from his vineyards. Granted 2 461ha of land behind Table Mountain near the Steenberg in 1685, he set about planting steen, blue muscadel and white muscadel. By 1709 there were 70 000 vines on the estate, which produced 5 630 litres of wine that year. It is said that Napoleon favoured South African wine. So much so, that on his sick bed on St Helena, he begged (in vain) for sweet wine from Constantia.
After van der Stel’s death, Constantia was divided into three estates, Groot Constantia, Klei Constantia and Buitenverwachting. Today, the Constantia Wine Route takes in these three historic vineyards, along with Constantia Uitsig and Steenberg Estate, which produced wines as far back as 1695. In this green valley of oaks and vines, you’ll find all the great European cultivars in red and white: sauvignon blanc, semillon, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, pinot noir, merlot and shiraz.
You’ll also find fine dining, old gables and golf.
The Stellenbosch wine route
Van der Stel wanted a second settlement in the fertile Stellenbosch valley to grow grains and fruit to feed the passing ships. Land was ceded first to 8 families and then to 40 in 1692 and so Stellenbosch came into being. Forty-five minutes drive out of Cape Town, Stellenbosch is the second oldest city in the country and the heart of the Cape winelands, with over 60 wine estates. Stellenbosch started the Cape’s first wine route in 1971, inspired by the French and German versions.
Vergelegen Wine Estate
Wine-making and politics ran in the van der Stel family. Simon van der Stel’s son, Wilhelm Adriaen, succeeded his father as governor of the Cape and owner of Vergelegen in 1700. Vergelegen had begun as a DEIC outpost, “situated far away” from Cape Town then but an easy forty-five minutes drive now. Like his father at Constantia, Wilhelm Adriaen planted grapes – 500 000 vines of blue and white muscadel, steendruif (chenin blanc), and frontinjac. However, in 1707, the Dutch East India Company sent him back to the Netherlands under a cloud, and Vergelegen was sold and divided into four farms. Today it belongs to Anglo American Farms who, in 1989, once again planted vines. The current plantings are cabernet sauvignon (33,34ha), merlot (23,19ha), cabernet franc (5,89ha), shiraz (5,83ha), sauvignon blanc (14,33ha), semillon (9,36ha) and chardonnay (14,87ha). The estate consistently wins the South African Wine Magazine’s vote for best winery in the country.
Summer lunches in the Lady Phillips Restaurant or on the Rose Terrace are popular. Or picnic in the camphor forest with: Franschhoek smoked salmon and peppered mackerel, rosemary-roasted beef, apricot-and-toasted-pecan-stuffed chicken, brie and blue cheese, buttered broccoli, roasted butternut and white chocolate cheesecake. Bon appetite!
Website: www.vergelegen.co.za
Tel: +27 21 847 1334/7
Neetlingshof Estate
Just outside Stellenbosch, the farm De Wolwedans, on the Bottelary Hills overlooking False Bay, was an original van der Stel concession, so-called because the first owner, Wilhelm Baren Lubbe from Germany, could not tell the difference between a wolf and a jackal. Although farmed since 1692, the estate produced wine for the first time in 1804, by which time, it had passed into the hands of the Marais family and had been renamed Neethlingshof. It was the Marais family who built the wine cellar and the manor house.
From the 1850s, Neethlingshof became know as a good producer. That reputation continues today and the farm is representative of Stellenbosch as a wine-growing region. It lies in a valley with the False Bay winds cooling the vines and is world renowned for its Weisser Riesling Noble Late Harvest and award-winning pinotage, the unique South African grape variety bred from pinot noir and hermitage (cinsaut).
Because of its combination of history and quality wines, Neethlingshof is one of Stellenbosch’s premier tourist attractions. Wine tasting takes place in the historic cellar, under whitewashed gables and thatch. In summer, roses frame the view of the Jonkershoek peaks.
Website: www.neethlingshof.co.za
Tel: +27 21 883 8988
Lanzerac Manor and Winery
In 1692, Governor van der Stel granted Sergeant Isaac Schryver of the Dutch East India Company 21 morgen (18ha) of virgin land in the Jonkershoek valley near the small town of Stellenbosch. Schriyver called his farm Schoongezicht and immediately began planting vines. Today, 50ha of the 150ha estate is under vine. The current owner, South African businessman Christo Wiese, has helped to preserve an important part of Stellenbosch’s Cape Dutch heritage.
At the far end of enticing emerald lawns, two leopard statues guard the entrance to Lanzerac Manor (1830) with its long white façade and impressive gable. The effect is only somewhat ruined by the signs warning guests not to walk on the grass. Guests’ rooms with their private patios are set across from the vineyards on this elegant, working wine farm. The sun’s last rays glint off the vines, a cool wind rustles through the oak leaves and the mountains change colour, turning ruby and rosè as the sun dips lower.
Fine living and fine dining is what the winelands are about and at Lanzerac, I sampled both. The Governors Hall is Lanzerac’s flagship restaurant. Straight-backed chairs, covered in pleated salmon linen with a tapestry design, offset the royal blue carpet with its creamy snowflake design picking up the white linen tablecloths and single stemmed white roses. Gilt mirrors vie for attention with ornate gilt-edged portraits of various historical governors of the Cape. In a nod to the new South Africa, a scowling Chief Sandile overlooks my meal disapprovingly. The waiters in their waistcoats and bow ties are unmoved.
I had the prawn and tropical fruit spring roll topped with deep fried leeks and served with a Szechwan sauce. The spring rolls were more like parcels and arrived beautifully presented on a big white plate swirled in rosy sauce and sprinkled in shredded greens. Who would have thought of combining prawns with pawpaw? But it worked divinely with a very subtle bite to the sauce. You know it’s fine dining when your starter is followed by peach sorbet.
My main course was fillet of False Bay line fish set in sun-dried tomato and wilted spinach under a saffron-infused mussel emulsion. This, unfortunately sounded better than it tasted and alack left no room for the cheesecake and chantilly cream I’d been eyeing.
The extensive wine list features a wide selection of the different wine producers in the area as well as Lanzerac’s own sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and pinotage. In fact, Lanzerac has the distinction of having produced the country’s first commercial pinotage back in 1959.
Under the King George Coronet Glass and gilt chandeliers, diners chat in cosmopolitan tongues. You’d be forgiven for thinking you were in one of Europe’s culinary capitals.
Website: www.lanzerac.co.za
Tel: +27 21 887 1132
The Paarl wine route
Paarl, dating from 1720, is the third oldest European settlement in South Africa and its wine heritage stems from the 17th century Huguenot refugees. Paarl's wine route is the country's second oldest and includes 35 cellars, many of which also make cheese or grow olives. The region is renowned for its red wines, ranging from cabernet sauvignon to merlot. While shiraz is the region’s signature cultivar, less well-known varieties such as petit verdot and malbec have received international awards along with whites like sauvignon blanc and riesling.
Rhebokskloof Private Cellar
Sixty kilometres north of Cape Town, Rhebokskloof, on the slopes of Paarl mountain also dates back to 1692. Simon van der Stel granted land to Dirk van Schalkwyk, who at the tender age of 15, became the proud owner of an extensive farm. Sometime between the First and Second World Wars, the land was divided into six separate farms, which were sold off. In 1986, new owners managed to buy and consolidate the six farms, expanding Rhebokskloof to 180ha, of which 32ha are devoted to cultivars such as: chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, viognier and seedless muscat in the white range and cabernet sauvignon, merlot, gamay noir and shiraz in the reds. Local girl Rolanie Lotz is the estate’s winemaker and you can sample the fruits of her labours at the estate’s award-winning a la carte restaurant, the Victorian. If you need to work up an appetite first, the estate also offers horseback trails, mountain biking and volleyball.
Website: www.rhebokskloof.co.za
Tel: +27 21 869 8386
The Franschhoek wine route
When the Huguenots arrived some were settled in a valley so remote that the first track crossing the mountains was made by migrating elephant. From those early farms of La Motte and Cabriere, a village grew. An hour’s drive from Cape Town, the vineyards of Franschhoek beckon with the promise of chenin blanc and chardonnay, and sparkling cap classique. The Franschhoek wine route has 44 wineries, and the restaurants on the estates and in the village have earned the region the label of Food and Wine capital of the Western Cape.
Plaisir de Merle
One such Huguenot immigrant was yet another Marais, this time a Charles, who was granted 974ha on the south-eastern slopes of Simonsberg in the Groot Drakenstein Valley. There is a copy of the 1693 title deed with van der Stel’s signature and wax seal preserved on the wall of the tasting room. Le Plessis Marly was a mixed farm, cultivating vegetables and fruit and providing milk and meat for the sailors and settlers of the DEIC. By the 18th century, the farm was already exporting wine to Europe.
Seven generations of Marais were to make their lives on the farm. The third generation built the manor house in 1764. It overlooks the Groot Drakenstein Mountains, with Simonsberg as a backdrop. However, by the seventh generation, there were no more sons and the incumbent daughter married a Hugo and the farm passed out of the Marais name and through a succession of owners. It was last privately owned in 1964 when Stellenbosch Farmers Winery took it over and replaced the remaining fruit trees with vineyards. The old gabled cellar dating from 1831 can still be seen. The new cellar was opened in 1993 and has a 550 000 litre capacity with the best 300 000 litres being bottled under the Plaisir De Merle label. They make four varieties: sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, specialising in the reds.
Website: www.plaisirdemerle.co.za
Tel: +27 21 874 1071
With 13 wine routes to choose from, the Cape vineyards are a celebration of history, diversity and quality – all within easy reach of Cape Town. Go on, raise a glass!
South African Wine Industry Fact Box
In 2004 South Africa produced 3,1% of the world's wine and ranked as number nine in overall volume production. Wines of South Africa (WOSA) www.wosa.co.za
South Africa has 101 958 hectares under grape vines. Total white varieties occupy 55,8% of the total vineyard area. During 2007, about 81% of new plantings were of white varieties, notably chenin blanc.
South African Wine Industry Information & Systems (SAWIS)
The 2008 harvest is estimated at 1 357 597 tons, an increase of 0,5% on the 2007 crop. South African Wine Industry Information & Systems (SAWIS)
Cape Wine Route Websites
Constantia wine route www.constantiawineroute.co.za
Stellenbosch wine route: www.wineroute.co.za
Paarl wine route: www.paarlwine.co.za
Franschhoek wine route: www.franschhoekwines.co.za
© Laurianne Claase 2008