Manor House, Vergelegen Estate, Somerset West, South Africa

Vergelegen (Dutch: "remotely situated") is a historic wine estate in Somerset West, in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 202 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

Foundation

The estate was settled in 1700 by an early Governor of the Cape, Willem Adriaan van der Stel. Van der Stel used the resources of his employer, the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

, to improve the estate, and in 1706 a number of free burghers at the Cape drew up a formal memorandum complaining about van der Stel's illegal activities. This memorandum contains some of the earliest images and descriptions of the estate. As a consequence of the free burghers' complaints, van der Stel and other officials were sacked, and three-quarters of the original Vergelegen estate was sold off, drastically reducing the size of the property.

Vineyards

In 1798 the estate was sold to the Theunissen family, who planted extensive vineyards and concentrated on the production of grapes until an infestation by the

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belong to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bu ...

louse in the late nineteenth century wiped out most of Vergelegen's grape production.

Sir Lionel Phillips

In 1917 Vergelegen was purchased by the millionaire mine magnate Sir Lionel Phillips as a present for his wife Florence. She remodeled aspects of the house and planted the magnificent gardens, but removed the few remaining acres dedicated to grapes.

"Punch" Barlow and Anglo American

Following the death of Lady Phillips the estate was purchased by the Barlow family, and Charles "Punch" Barlow oversaw the reintroduction of limited planting of grapes. However, by the time Anglo American bought the property from Barlow's son in 1987, no grapes were being cultivated.

Wine production

Anglo American concentrated on the production of high-quality wines from Vergelegen. The first vintage under the company's stewardship was harvested in 1992. Within ten years the estate was recognised as producing some of South Africa's finest wines, with the

cabernet sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon ...

blend Vergelegen, single-vineyard

Vergelegen V and semillon/

sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

blend Vergelegen White regularly achieving a maximum five stars in John Platter's annual ''Guide to South African Wines''.

The estate

Vergelegen's

Cape Dutch Cape Dutch, also commonly known as Cape Afrikaners, were a historic socioeconomic class of Afrikaners who lived in the Western Cape during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The terms have been evoked to describe an affluent, apolitical ...

house, gardens and winery are open to visitors. Interesting features of any visit include a trip up the mountain to the winery plant, and a walk under the vast Camphor laurels ''(

Cinnamomum camphora ''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree that is commonly known under the names camphor tree, camphorwood or camphor laurel. Description ''Camphora officinarum'' is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southern ...

)'' planted by Willem van der Stel in about 1705 which have been declared a protected provincial heritage site. The winery is uniquely shaped in an octagon form that is mirrored on the vineyard's labels.

Awards

*Vergelegen V 2001 – John Platter Guide 2005 (5 Stars), Selection Mondiales des Vins 2004 Grand Jury Prize for South Africa *Vergelegen Red 2001 – Mondiale Bruxelles 2005 Gold, International Wine Challenge 2004 Bronze, Fairbairn Capital Trophy Wine Show 2003 Gold *Best overall performance – Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show SA 2002–2004 and 2006 *Best Winery – Wine Magazine SA 2004–2006 *New World Winery of the Year – Wine Enthusiast Magazine USA 2005 and 2006 *Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism South African winner

References

External links

*{{Official website 1700 establishments in the Dutch Empire Food and drink companies based in Cape Town Wineries of South Africa 1700 establishments in Africa South African brands Wine brands