Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 3 March 2015 | Page 10

10

THE VINES

to establish Stellenbosch as the first
settlement inland from Cape Town and
the wine-making centre. Turning his
land into a model wine estate he made
an exceptionally sweet-tasting wine
that would soon gain international
acclaim.

Once upon a time there was a man…
The Dutch Colonial administrator
and founder of Cape Town, Jan van
Riebeeck, played an instrumental role
in initiating the concept of wine and,
according to his diary, he made the first
bottle by himself on 2 February 1659.
Read more about the van Riebeeck
here
Having set up base in Table Bay and
surrounded by mountain slopes and
valleys, Van Riebeeck recommended
that the Mediterranean climate of cool,
wet winters and warm, dry summers
were the ideal habitat for wine growing
and would serve as a useful victualing
station for the approaching ships on
their long voyages to the East.
Despite possessing very limited
victualing knowledge, Van Riebeeck’s
fairly successful attempt greatly
inspired the Free Burghers or servants
of the company. Now more famously
known as the original wine farmers,
the Free Burghers were at liberty to
farm their own land. They made use of
the distributed vine cuttings and by the

end of the 18th century were planting
over a million vines an producing some
four million litres of wine.
The very first batches of wine were
of an extremely poor quality. The
threat from hungry birds meant the
Burgher farmers usually picked the
grapes earlier than desired; creating
a very acidic taste and overall process
was archaic and lacked any form of
hygiene. Thanks to Simon van der
Stel, the quality and taste of wine was
to profoundly improve. As the Cape’s
first governor, he was granted sole use
of the Constantia estate and helped

The Constantia estate was later
procured by the Cloete family and their
wines became world-famous. Today,
Constantia wines remain one of the
finest to come out of South Africa and
enjoy notable recognition – Frederick
of Prussia would later import it, Jane
Austin mentioned it in her books
and Napoleon Bonaparte is known
to have yearned for the sweet wines
of Constantia while imprisoned on St
Helena.
The arrival of the British at the turn
of the century stimulated production
even further. More and more passing
ships were now using the Cape’s ports
and harbours, increasing opportunity
and demand for wine exportation.
Vineyards doubled in size and wine
now accounted for more than half the
value of the Cape’s exports.