Then and now: Groot Constantia

Groot Constantia is the oldest wine-producing farm in South Africa. Its history spans more than 330 years and its wines have been sold across the globe - Frederick the Great of Prussia, Napoleon Bonaparte and King Louis Philippe I of France have sipped on the produce from Groot Constantia.

Even Jane Austen and Charles Dickens have both made mention of the estate’s wine, Constantia Wyn, in their works. The estate’s famous wines and vineyards have endured for centuries, beating neglect, plagues, infestations and droughts. The farm still makes the best example of the historic Constantia Wyn, now called Grand Constance, which visitors and wine lovers from around the world can enjoy.

The history of Groot Constantia

Groot Constantia was established by the Cape’s first Governor, Simon van der Stel. He arrived from the Netherlands in 1679 and received the title to a large area of land in the Constantia Valley in 1685. Van der Stel had a solid knowledge and experience in viticulture which he put to good use in the Cape.

He established the first wine farm in South Africa on the land and named it ‘Constantia’. It is believed that the name comes from the Latin word for constancy or steadfastness - two attributes that van der Stel valued.

The original manor house was designed in a late Dutch Renaissance style. A double-storey home with a thatched roof and paved with white marble and red stone. The front room had a large pentagonal design of the Castle of Good Hope tiled into the centre of the floor.

By 1709, there were 70 000 vines on the farm and van der Stel was producing around 5600 litres of wine per year. On 24 June 1712, Simon van der Stel died and two years later Constantia was subdivided and sold at auction. Pieter de Meijer purchased two sections, Bergvliet and Klein Constantia, while Captain Olof Bergh bought the main homestead where Groot Constantia stands today.

Cloete family takes ownership of Groot Constantia

The farm was bought and sold a few times over the next decades. In December 1778, Hendrik Cloete (who owned Nooitgedacht near Stellenbosch) became the new owner of Groot Constantia.

The Cloete family lived in the manor house for five generations, adding the slender gables to the home as well as the statue of ‘Abundance’ in the niche of the main gable. Cloete also built the new wine cellar at the back of the homestead in 1791 and he expanded or renovated many of the existing buildings on the farm.

In 1885, the Cloete family eventually sold the farm to the Cape government, who used it as an experimental wine farm. In December 1925, a fire gutted the historic homestead. The manor house was restored by architect Franklin Kendall and it was refurbished by Alfred de Pass over a period of two decades.

In 1984, Groot Constantia was declared a National Monument. The ownership of the entire estate was transferred from the government to an independent company, called Groot Constantia Trust, in 1993. The aim of the trust is to preserve and maintain the wine farm and its heritage - a testament which can be seen as many of the original farm buildings still stand today, including the manor house and the wine cellar.

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Take a look at the historical pictures and story of the Kenilworth Racecourse.

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