LIQUID INVESTMENTS
MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Vintage roots of today’s premium wine industry
Jan van Riebeeck’s diary famously records that the first Cape wine grapes were harvested in February 1659. From the 1660s onwards the Dutch East India Company’s nursery supplied vines and fruit trees to the burghers. These are the real beginnings of SA’s wine sector. Van Riebeeck’s estate, Bosheuwel, became a major agricultural enterprise. When it was purchased by Jacob Rosendaal after the commander left the Cape in 1661, there were thousands of young vines on the property, which were lost over time to urban creep. Bosheuwel was acquired by the Colonial Bishopric Fund in the 1830s and renamed Bishopscourt. The last remnant of that era is the name of the suburb of Wynberg (wine mountain). Today the Cape is full of old wine properties, many with slightly spurious claims about how long they’ve been in business. Groot Constantia’s title deeds date from 1685: Simon van der Stel planted vineyards soon after he occupied it.Blaauwklippen has title deeds that pre-date Groot Constantia’s but ...
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