Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-28T02:30:14.847Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Brief History of Wine in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2014

Stefan K. Estreicher
Stefan K. Estreicher*
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1051, USA. E-mail: stefan.estreicher@ttu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Vitis vinifera was first planted in South Africa by the Dutchman Jan van Riebeeck in 1655. The first wine farms, in which the French Huguenots participated – were land grants given by another Dutchman, Simon Van der Stel. He also established (for himself) the Constantia estate. The Constantia wine later became one of the most celebrated wines in the world. The decline of the South African wine industry in the late 1800s was caused by the combination of natural disasters (mildew, phylloxera) and the consequences of wars and political events in Europe. Despite the reorganization imposed by the KWV cooperative, recovery was slow because of the embargo against the Apartheid regime. Since the 1990s, a large number of new wineries – often small family operations – have been created. South African wines are now available in many markets. Some of these wines can compete with the best in the world.

Type
Articles
Information
European Review , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 504 - 537
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References and Notes

1.McGovern, P. E., Mirzoian, A. and Hall, G. R. (2009) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 106, pp. 7361–7366.Google Scholar
2.McGovern, P. E. (2003) Ancient Wine (Princeton: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
3.James, T. G. H. (2000) The earliest history of wine and its importance in Ancient Egypt. In: P. E. Mc Govern, S. J. Fleming and S. H. Katz (eds), The Origin and Ancient History of Wine (Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach), pp 197–213.Google Scholar
4.Fernández-Armesto, F. (1987) Before Columbus (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press).Google Scholar
5.Fernández-Armesto, F. (2006) Pathfinders (New York: W.W. Norton).Google Scholar
6.The voyage of Vasco da Gama was recorded by Velho, A., Diário de bordo de Álvaro Velho (Logbook of Alvaro Velho), Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon, Portugal. Published in Porto in 1838 as Road Trip on the Discovery of India by the Cape of Good Hope by D. Vasco da Gama in 1497.Google Scholar
7.The dominant winds and currents in the south Atlantic run counterclockwise: north along the west coast of Africa, west across the Atlantic, then south, and finally east across the Atlantic again.Google Scholar
8.Bown, S. R. (2003) The Age of Scurvy (Chichester: Summersdale).Google Scholar
9.There are several hundred Bantu languages: Swahili, Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, etc.Google Scholar
10.The click languages of the Khoikhoi and San involve distinct clicking sounds created in the mouth or throat. These clicks often determine the meaning of a word or sentence. This makes these languages among the most difficult in the world to learn.Google Scholar
11.The origin of the word ‘Hottentot’ to designate the Khoikhoi is uncertain, but it was intended to poke fun at them and their language. General Augustin de Beaulieu, in charge of the 1619–1622 French expedition to the East Indies, wrote that the Khoikhoi speak from the throat and greet others by dancing a song of which the beginning, middle, and end sound like ‘hautitou’.Google Scholar
12.Da Gama’s sea route is clearly marked by a series of ships drawn on Juan de la Cosa’s map, dated 1500. He was the captain of the Santa Maria during Columbus’ first trip to the New World in 1492.Google Scholar
13.Parthesius, R. (2010) Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press).Google Scholar
14.The Dutch attempted a north-east passage to China in the 1590s, but the ships got stuck in polar ice.Google Scholar
15.Bown, S. R. (2011) 1494 (New York: Thomas Dunne).Google Scholar
16.Bown, S. R. (2009) Merchant Kings (New York: Thomas Dunne).Google Scholar
17.The charter of the English East India Company was granted by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600 to a consortium of London merchants who received the monopoly of trade with all companies east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Strait of Magellan. The East India Company had fewer ships, less financing, and much less military muscle than the VOC. It had no centralized command and each captain was responsible for his own expedition.Google Scholar
18.Fernández-Armesto, F. (2002) Near a Thousand Tables (New York: The Free Press).Google Scholar
19.A number of Dutch shipwrecks in Western Australia prove that it was a perilous journey and that turning north-east had to be done at the right time.Google Scholar
20.The oldest VOC share (September 6, 1606) is at the West Frisian Museum (Hoorn, The Netherlands).Google Scholar
21.A True Relation of the Unjust, Cruell, and Barbarous Proceedings Against the English at Amboyna in the East Indies by the Netherlandish Governour and Council there, 3rd edn, printed in London by Tho. Mabb for William Hope, 1665.Google Scholar
22.When the First Fleet of convicts sailing from England to Australia reached the Cape in 1788, the sailors saw criminals executed at the wheel, a torture associated with medieval times. The Cape Colony governor at the time was Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff. See Hill, D. (2009) 1788 (Sydney: William Heinemann).Google Scholar
23.The model for the bust was Leo van der Stel. We can only hope that Simon was as handsome as Leo.Google Scholar
24.This island no longer exists. In 1768, the southern branch was widened and the northern branch filled up. The building now standing on the old island is the Theological Seminary of the University of Stellenbosch (Gerrit Kruger, Eikestadnuus, 17 February 1989, Stellenbosch).Google Scholar
25.The morgen, a medieval unit, originally represented the area that can be ploughed in one morning. It is subdivided into 600 roede. Its definition varied over time and from place to place. In the days of Simon van der Stel, the Dutch used the Rijnlandse morgen (Rheinland’s morgen): 8516 m2, and 60 morgen were about 51 ha (126 acres). In the Netherlands, the area of flower bulb fields is still traditionally measured in Rijnlandse Roede (RR2), 14.2 m2.Google Scholar
26.Brooke Simons, P. (2003) Meerlust (Vlaeberg, South Africa: Fernwood Press).Google Scholar
27.The probable origin of the name is either Flemish (Huis Genooten, house fellows) or German (Eid Genossen, oath fellows).Google Scholar
28.The first landowner in the region was a Swiss, Heinrich Müller, who established Keerweder, in 1662.Google Scholar
29.This is not today’s Olifantshoek, which is much further north.Google Scholar
30.The Dutch spoken in South Africa evolved into a dialect and then a distinct language, Afrikaans.Google Scholar
31.Browne, J. (2007) Franschhoek (Franschhoek, South Africa: J. Browne).Google Scholar
32.Thys van der Merwe lists alternative origins: Constantia was the name of a yacht sailing between the Netherlands and Batavia; it was also the name of the daughter of Peter Sterthemius (commander of the fleet with which Simon sailed from Batavia in 1659) and with whom Simon is said to have been in love (not Peter, his daughter); Constantia also stands for constancy and steadfastness.Google Scholar
33.Van Goens had died in 1682. The grant was confirmed in 1685 by visiting Commissioner Hendrik Adriaan van Reede.Google Scholar
34.Jooste, L. private communication.Google Scholar
35.Colvin., I. D.South Africa: The House of Van Der Stel (The Baldwin Online Children Literature Project, http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displayarticle.php?article=mission )Google Scholar
36.Leo van der Stel, private communication.Google Scholar
37.Fortification as an oenological technique started later in Porto, Madeira, and Jerez.Google Scholar
38.A beautiful pot-still can be seen today at the history exhibit, museum of Groot Constantia.Google Scholar
39.James, T. (2013) Wines of the New South Africa (Berkeley: University of California Press).Google Scholar
40.http://www.sahistory.org.za/south-africa-1652-1806/history-slavery-and-early-colonisation-sa or http://batavia.polresearch.org/slaveryGoogle Scholar
41.Shell, R.C.-H. (2002) The Lodge Women of Cape Town, 1671 to 1795 (presented in Avignon), available at http://batavia.polresearch.org/slavery/shell_avignon.pdfGoogle Scholar
42.Burman, J. (1979) Wine of Constantia (Cape Town: Human & Rossow).Google Scholar
43.Van der Merwe, M. P. S. (1997) Groot Constantia: 1685-1885. Its Owners and Occupants (Cape Town: South African Cultural History Museum).Google Scholar
44.The principal acid of grapes is tartaric acid, but other acids are present. Malic acid, the principal acid of apples, is common but its concentration varies. Malic comes from the Latin malum, the apple. After the Roman Empire turned to Christianity, the word malum became associated with evil because of Adam and Eve’s apple. Many English and French words, from malediction to malware, originate with an apple.Google Scholar
45.Noble rot (Botrytis Cinerea) appears in South Africa in the early twentieth century. This fungus is beneficial if it attacks mature grapes but destroys the crop if it takes hold too early.Google Scholar
46.A leaguer is about 563 liters (170 gallons) or 3.8 aums.Google Scholar
47.One aum is about 156 liters (45 gallons).Google Scholar
48.Schutte, G. J. (2003) Hendrik Cloete, Groot Constantia, and the VOC, 2nd Series, No. 34 (Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society).Google Scholar
49.Jullien, A. (1985) Topographie de tous les vignobles connus, reprint of the 1866 edn (Geneva: Slatkine).Google Scholar
50.The origin of the Pontac grape is uncertain. It is probably an ancient Bordeaux varietal related to the Teinturier and associated with the Pontac family, of Haut-Brion fame. It all but disappeared in Bordeaux following the phylloxera outbreak.Google Scholar
51.A burning wick impregnated with sulphur was placed in the cask which was then sealed. The cask was cleaned and rolled until the smell was gone. A similar technique was used by the Dutch in Bordeaux as well.Google Scholar
52.Thys van der Merwe points out that the records show a total of 60 aums being delivered suggesting that 30 aums of red and white Constantia were expected.Google Scholar
53.The Batavi, first mentioned by Julius Cesar, were a Germanic tribe in the Rhine delta, an area the Romans called Batavia.Google Scholar
54.Retif, Pietman, private communication.Google Scholar
55.The signature of the Declaration of Independence was celebrated with 13 toasts of Madeira, one for each Colony.Google Scholar
56.Van den Bossche, W. (2001) Antique Glass Bottles: Their History and Evolution 1500-1850 (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club), and (2001) Bibliography of Glass, from the Earliest Times to the Present (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club).Google Scholar
57.Johnson, E. D. M., Jefferson Library, Monticello, private communication.Google Scholar
58.Hatch, P. J. (1998) The Fruits and Fruit Trees of Monticello (Charlottesville, PA: University of Virginia Press); E. M. Betts (1944) Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Book 1766-1824 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society).Google Scholar
59.Jefferson was never able to grow v. vinifera cultivars at Monticello because, unbeknownst to him, phylloxera was feeding off their roots. He referred to his failed attempts as the ‘parents of misery’.Google Scholar
60.The Alexander was discovered around 1704 by James Alexander, gardener of Thomas Penn, son of William Penn. It is believed to be an accidental hybrid between some v. vinifera survivor from William Penn’s 1685 vineyard and an American wild grape, probably a v. Labrusca which grew nearby. Jefferson commented on the wine made from the Alexander ‘… so exactly resembles the red Burgundy of Chambertin…’ and ‘… will give us a wine worthy of the best vineyards of France.’Google Scholar
61.Roux, M. (2008) Vin de Constance (Hout Bay: Lannice Snyman).Google Scholar
62.Antommarchi, F. (1826) The Last Days of Napoleon (London: Henry Colburn).Google Scholar
63.Low Hillard, H. [1809–1877] (2002) Lights and Shadows of a Macao life: The Journal of Harriet Low, Travelling Spinster. N. P. Hodges and A. W. Hummond (eds) (Winthrop: Bear Creek Books).Google Scholar
64.The bottles were not of uniform shape or capacity. The first machine capable of producing industrial quantities of sturdy glass bottles of uniform quality and capacity was Michael J. Owen’s ‘Owens machine’, in the early 1900s.Google Scholar
65.See for example Belfield, E. (1975) The Boer War (London: Leo Cooper), and T. Pakenham (1993) The Boer War (New York: Random House).Google Scholar
66.He is unrelated to the Beatles, who discovered gold in rock 'n' roll, not in the Witwatersrand.Google Scholar
67.The Griquas originated from the intermixing of Cape Colony Europeans with the Khoikhoi.Google Scholar
68.Rapport, M. (2008) 1848, Year of Revolution (New York: Basic Books).Google Scholar
69.The arrival of phylloxera at the Cape was reported in an editorial in Nature, 33, p. 392 (1886).Google Scholar
70.The Cinsaut (or Cinsault) is from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. It is not related to the famous Hermitage hill in the Southern Côtes du Rhône, which is planted with Shiraz (red, about 85% of the area) as well as Marsanne and Roussane (white, about 15%). Thomas Jefferson referred to the White Hermitage as the best wine he ever drunk, ‘bar none’.Google Scholar
71.The Stellenbosch Farmer’s Winery was acquired by Nederburg in 1966. Winshaw died in 1967.Google Scholar
72.A cross involves two (or more) v. vinifera cultivars, such as Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, while a hybrid involves cultivars from different species, such any v. vinifera and v. labrusca.Google Scholar
73.Stern, A. (1999) The Protection of Geographical Indications in South Africa, International Protection of Geographical Indications (Sommerset West, South Africa: World Intellectual Property Organization), p. 31.Google Scholar
74.van der Merwe, A. (2009) The Estey Center Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, 10(1), p. 186.Google Scholar
75.Clara established strict rules to be followed at Klein Constantia, such as: ‘No-one must ever, even in self-defence, do anything to any of the dogs. They are kept for the purpose of barking’; or ‘Strangers are not to show undue interest in the house furniture or grounds. All interest should be centred on the owner’; or even ‘All Malays, Jews, Indians, and other persons buying produce and fruit are to be regarded as liars, thieves and rogues and are not to be trusted. It must be remembered that everyone is out to take advantage of the owner, and must be treated accordingly’.Google Scholar
76.Credit for uncovering the old White Muscadel goes to C.J. Orffer, professor of viticulture and enology at Stellenbosch University from 1963 to 1986.Google Scholar
77.Platter, J. (2009) Platter’s South African Wines 2009 (Hermanus: The John Platter South African Wine Guide) and the 2013 online version.Google Scholar