Africa
Spier
It was in 1692 that Spier's first owner, a German settler by the name of Arnout Janz, took possession of the land in Stellenbosch, South Africa. He soon realised the potential for winegrowing and set out to plant the first vines. In 1712 the first grapes were pressed on the farm and today one of the Cape's oldest wine cellar buildings dating back to 1767, still takes pride of place on the estate. Winemaking is an art. The signature wines of Spier, distinctive in their individuality and expression, are hallmarked by a strong heritage, dating back to the plantings of the first vineyards.
Vergelegen
Vergelegen was founded on 1 February 1700 when Willem Adriaan van der Stel, Governor of the Dutch colony, the Cape of Good Hope, was granted 400 morgen of land in the fertile valley rising from the banks of what is now the Lourens River up the slopes of the Hottentots Holland mountain range overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Aptly, he named it Vergelegen ('situated far away'); it was a 12-hour ox-wagon ride from Dutch East India Company headquarters at the Castle of Good Hope. Current cellarmaster André van Rensburg has continued his predecessor's pursuit of matching Vergelegen's commitment to excellence. Vergelegen has twice won the coveted Château Pichon-Longueville-Comtesse-de-Lalande Trophy for best red blend at London's International Wine and Spirits Competition (in 2001 and 2003) and is the two-times recipient of the SAA Chief Executive Officer's Trophy for best overall performance by any South African winemaker. Since its inception five years ago, the trophy for best producer at the Old Mutual (formerly Fairbairn Capital) Trophy Wine Show has gone to Vergelegen no less than four times and readers of South Africa’s leading wine magazine, Wine, have voted Vergelegen the countries best producer for three successive years.
