Food and wine writer Myrna Robins intervenes on some current debates

The controversy about which is South Africa's oldest wine farm refers [click here for news report]: I was pleased to read that Groot Constantia approached historian Con de Wet to research and report on which was the first farm in the Cape to produce wine.  Logically it makes sense that Groot Constantia was the first, given that Cape Town was established well before other areas became populated with European immigrants, but logic (and truth) do not mean much to those wanting to manipulate history to suit their needs.

Dr De Wet's conclusions mirror those of renowned historian Margaret Cairns and others who were outraged back in 1985 when Anglo American decided that Boschendal should be the first farm in the Franschhoek/Drakenstein  region to mark its tercentenary. So, although Jean de Long, Boschendal's first farmer, only arrived at the Cape in 1688, it was claimed that Boschendal had been farmed (and had made wine) some three years earlier.

In the highly reliable book The Old Buildings of the Cape (AA Balkema 1980) Hans Fransen and Mary Cook point out that Huguenot Jean de Long acquired Boschendal in 1713, which is probably when it was finally registered.

Before the tercentenary celebrations took place at the farm both Margaret Cairns and the then curator of the Huguenot Museum in Franschhoek  Marianne Gertenbach questioned the veracity of the 1685 founding date. As an interested journo, I was then told that Jean de Long had registered the farm as his in Holland before he left for South Africa. Further outrage resulted at this bit of invented history, but to no avail - the tercentenary celebrations were held in 1985 among a sea of red white and blue balloons...

It led Margaret Cairns to direct some of her formidable energy and research expertise to  produce an article for the Quarterly Bulletin of the South African Library, 43 (4) June 1989, titled 'Boschendal 1685 or 1688? An assessment on its date or origin' - which I do not have in my possession, so I cannot quote from it.

As Douglas Green Bellingham now owns the winery, they have inherited the lie - and thanks to their advertising agency using it for publicity purposes,  renewed interest  has been aroused in a 25-year-old deception...

Franschhoek negativity

Staying in Franschhoek, I digested Tim James' blog about Franschhoek and its inhabitants with some amusement, much agreement, and then decided that there was a need for statements to counter some of the negativity - had he, I wondered, been tasting some particularly acidic sauvignons, from the 08 vintage perhaps?

TJ: "Franschhoek's a place which pretends that the French Huguenots had a beneficial effect on Cape wine in the olden days (though there's not a shred of evidence to support that idea; the only great tradition in Cape wine was being forged by Dutchmen and their slaves at Constantia)

In the Huguenot Heritage by Lynne Bryer and Francois Theron, (Chameleon Press, 1987) the authors refer to old accounts containing references to the Huguenots and their vines, starting with John Ovington who in 1696 published his report  on their plantations and "their very Wines, in which they will suddenly increase both a great plenty and variety, are now able to supply their Ships and to furnish the Indies with some quantity", while in 1698 visitor Francois Leguat commented  on the French Huguenots' "little Hills cover'd with Vines and claiming that Isaac Taillefert had "the best Wine in the Country ... not unlike our small Wines of Champagne. " Etc.

The fact that several of the Huguenots were listed as experienced vinedressers, who had forfeited property before fleeing to the Netherlands, makes it likely that some were vineyard owners, while apparently the De Villiers brothers arrived at the Cape with a reputation for vine-growing and winemaking. The three - Pierre, Abraham and Jacob from La Rochelle - were mentioned in a letter from the Council of Seventeen to the Cape commander as having "a good knowledge of layout vineyards and managing the same"

Surely some of this early expertise benefitted our fledgling viticultural industry?

There is no doubt about their contributions to the quality of local cuisine. To sum up I quote from the introduction to my title Franschhoek Food (Struik Lifestyle 2009) "While recent writers have disputed earlier reports of the Huguenot's ability to make drinkable wine, there is less doubt about the quality of their contributions to Cape cuisine. Their preference for lighter dishes than those of the Dutch led to a reduction in the use of mutton fat and butter and they shared the benefits of serving courses in sequence rather than presenting the whole meal at once . They introduced improved methods of drying fruit  and a special occasion treat - raisins or apricots preserved in brandy - which became Cape favourites that are known as boerejongens and boeremeisies..."

TJ: "Franschhoek is a place whose publicists decided to annex Victor Verster prison to their celebrations because that's where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for a while and the PR people thought there'd be mileage in it."

While I cannot check on the following as the persons involved are no longer at Franschhoek Tourism, I remember being told that it was Tokyo Sexwale's personal publicist who brought in the idea of the Long Walk as an event to be held during the Bastille Weekend, as Sexwale was then patron or CEO or held some senior position at Franschhoek Tourism. He felt that Bastille weekend needed to have an African flavour, so he suggested the idea of the Long Walk from Victor Verster prison to Franschhoek to commemorate Nelson Mandela's long walk to freedom. The walk  - open to the public for participation - took place for a couple of years, but has since, I understand, been dropped from Bastille weekend programmes, and Tokyo Sexwale is no longer involved at Franschhoek Tourism.

But I agree with Tim that anyone who enjoys  museums should not miss out on the excellent one at Solms-Delta rather than taking in just the Huguenot museum.  The immense contribution that the Solms-Delta projects have made (and are continuing to make) to recording and publicising the real history and recognising the contributions of farm families, past and present,  is one of which the region should be very proud.