CONSTANTIA HISTORY
A Heritage Of ExcellenceSpanning over three centuries, the history of Constantia is ultimately the history of winemaking in South Africa.
Our wines have graced the tables of royalty and noblemen, and to this day, are highly regarded in the world of wine.
CONSTANTIA HISTORY
A Heritage Of ExcellenceSpanning over three centuries, the history of Constantia is ultimately the history of winemaking in South Africa.
Our wines have graced the tables of royalty and noblemen, and to this day, are highly regarded in the world of wine.
OVER THREE CENTURIES
Of Winemaking Heritage
30 MAY 1685
Catharina 'Tryn' RasMeanwhile, Van Rheede had also visited the far end of the same valley, where a woman named Catharina ‘Tryn’ Ras had been farming for some years (the farmstead’s gable is dated 1682).
After visiting her ‘dwelling lying beneath the Steenberg’, he recorded: ‘Here she was with a house full of children and married to her foreman. Her nearest neighbour lived four hours away... Her farm consisted of 12 morgen of good grainland with sufficient stock for her needs.’
1685
The Important VisitorIn 1685, the Cape of Good Hope settlement received an important visitor, namely Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein. He was on his way to Batavia (present-day Djakarta) to take up the powerful position of Commissioner-General for the Dutch East India Company.
1688
ZwaaneweideIn 1688, Catharina Ras retrospectively received, in her own name rather than that of her fifth husband, an official mandate ‘to cultivate, to plough and to sow and also to possess the farm below the Steenberg’.
She named it Zwaaneweide, ‘feeding place of swans’, but today the estate is known as Steenberg and it is included on the Constantia Wine Route despite having not been part of the original Constantia land grant.
(Similarly, the home of Constantia Royale. Nova Zonnestraal, was originally part of the nearby Alphen estate, which had also belonged to Simon van der Stel.)
13 JULY 1685
The BeginningTasked with investigating alleged corruption, van Rheede approved of the ‘good and faithful services’ demonstrated by the Cape’s 10th commander, Simon van der Stel, and agreed to grant him land on which to establish a model farm.
Dated 13 July 1685, the title deed described it as ‘a certain piece of ground situated behind the Table Mountain at or near the Steenbergen’. It encompassed most of the valley facing False Bay, and Van der Stel named it Constantia.
1692
Positive FeedbackFor the first time, there was positive feedback about the Cape wine shipped to Dutch East India Company headquarters in Batavia (present-day Jakarta).
‘The wine from Constantia is of a much higher quality than any sent out so far, but obviously only obtainable in small quantities.’
1695
The New Steenberg OwnersCatharina Ras left Steenberg for Joostenberg in Stellenbosch, and Steenberg was bought by Frederik Russouw de Wit.
His wife, Johanna Rosendael, was the daughter of Jacob Cornelisz van Rosendael, the man who had bought Jan van Riebeeck’s farm Bosheuvel in 1665 and was soon praised by the Cape Dutch India Company for making ‘lieffelyke’ (lovely) wine.
1705
The LoveliestDutch naturalist Francois Valentijn visited the Cape and described Constantia as the Cape’s "loveliest and largest estate… on which grows all the choicest wine to be found… so divine and enticing in taste".
1718
Hoop Op ConstantiaAn ambitious young man named Johannes Colyn acquired Hoop op Constantia through his marriage to the widow Elsabe von Hof.
The son of a wealthy black woman, Swarte Maria Everts, it was Colyn who took up the mantle of winegrowing in Constantia.
His neighbours at Groot Constantia, Olof Bergh and Anna de Coningh, appear to have been absentee landowners.
1716
Under The HammerFollowing Simon van der Stel’s death on 24 June 1712, an auction was held.
Constantia was divided into three parts subsequently known as Bergvliet, Groot Constantia and Hoop op Constantia.
Another small parcel of neighbouring land in Van der Stel’s possession, Alphen, had been transferred to Theuns van Schalkwyk in 1714. At Steenberg, Johanna Rosendael’s son Frederick Russouw took the reins in 1717.
1734
Groot Constantia's New OwnersFollowing the death of Anna de Coningh, Olof Bergh’s widow, Colyn arranged for his sister Johanna Colyn’s husband, Carl Georg Wieser, to become the new owner of Groot Constantia.
Over the next 50 years (and beyond), many visitors to the Cape recorded that both farms produced the famous sweet Constantia wine.
They included French novelist Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint Pierre (1771), Swedish naturalists Carl Peter Thunberg and Anders Sparrman (1772) and French ornithologist Francois le Vaillant (1780).
1726
International SupplyJohannes Colyn negotiated the first shipment of his Constantia wines to the Netherlands, and in 1727 it was formally agreed that he would annually supply the Dutch East India Company with 10 to 12 leaguers of red wine (for 80 rixdollars per leaguer) and 20 leaguers of white (for 50 rixdollars per leaguer).
Before long, he was battling to keep up with demand.
1735
Well Known HospitalityAt Steenberg, Frederick Russouw’s wealthy widow, Christina Diemer, owned 66 slaves and had 30,000 vines planted.
Never remarrying, she became well known for her bounty and hospitality, supplying ships anchored at Simons Bay with fresh produce and offering overnight accommodation.
1743
London Daily AdvertiserIn London, the 11 June 1743 issue of the Daily Advertiser carried an advertisement for a ‘Small Parcel of genuine red and white Constantia Cape Wine’, described as ‘very bright, and of fine Flavour’.
1736
Price NegotiationsColyn asked the Dutch East India Company to increase the price that had been fixed a decade previously, pointing out that he could sell his red wine to private buyers for 130 rixdollars per leaguer.
‘He states the truth,’ confirmed the Cape’s Council of Policy. ‘It is very reasonable on his part to sell to the Company at so much less than he would otherwise obtain.’ The new fixed price was 100 rixdollars per leaguer of red Constantia, while the price of white Constantia stayed fixed at 50 rixdollars per leaguer.
Unfortunately for Colyn’s successors and neighbours, this would be the last price increase until 1793!
1743
London Daily AdvertiserIn London, the 11 June 1743 issue of the Daily Advertiser carried an advertisement for a ‘Small Parcel of genuine red and white Constantia Cape Wine’, described as ‘very bright, and of fine Flavour’.
1745
Selling At A LossFollowing Johannes Colyn’s death in 1743, his widow Johanna Appel married Lambertus Myburgh.
The following year, he and his neighbour at Groot Constantia, Carl Georg Wieser, complained that they were selling their wines at a loss under the existing agreement.
However, the Dutch East India Company refused to budge on price – as would be the case over the next five decades.
