The town of Stellenbosch developed from a colony of settlers to whom land had been granted on The banks of the Eerste River. The name Stellenbosch was given to a small island in the Eerste River by Simon van der Stel Commander of the Cape, who had encamped there with his entourage in 1679.

In 1859 after years spent seeking permission from the authorities, a theological seminary was established and this led to the town’s proud heritage as a leading educational centre. In 1918 a university was founded and this was followed by the subsequent establishment of many other educational instructions. Today the impact of many architectural influences over the last three centuries – Cape – Dutch, Georgian, Regency, Victorian and Cape – Dutch Revival – are to be seen in the meticulously restored buildings situated in the charming town centre and on the surrounding wine farms. Follow the R310 right into the town of Stellenbosch; pass the station and the stop at the bottom end of Merriman Avenue. From here you will have the best view of Stellenbosch’s mountain panorama; to the right the Helderberg, Stellenbosch mountain (1,175m); with Jonkershoek Valley and Twin Peaks (1,494m) in the distance; to the east of the Simonsberg (1,390m) which is connected to Botmaskop and the rest of Jonkershoek mountains by the saddle of Helshoogte.

	In 1692, a considerable tract of land in the Jonkershoek valley of Stellenbosch was granted by Governor Simon van der Stel, partly to Isaac Schrijver, who before taking out free papers had been a copper prospector and an ensign - partly to three freed slaves – Manuel and Anthony of Angola and Louis of Bengal. Schrijver, who named the farm Schoongezicht, planted vineyards. It is presumed that the land passed to his widow Anna Hooks and then to a granddaughter, Maria van Coninshoven.
	The land granted to the three slaves is thought to have been incorporated into Schoongezicht. Van Coningshoven married Jacob Hasselaar and their daughter Anna Hasselaar, who married Chrstoffel Groenewald, inherited the property. In 1790 Schoongezicht was transferred from her estate to Coenraad Johannes Albertyn, and from him in 1808 to Carolus Lynis.
	Records show that the farm was immediately transferred from Lynis to Coenraad Johannes Fick, who in 1811 erected a number of outbuildings with gables ranging in style from holbol to simple neo-classical. The cellar he built has been dated to 1815 and the U-shape homestead, still standing with its neo-classical main gable, to 1830. The homestead exhibits a usually high level of sophistication for Cape Dutch architecture of the period.
	After Fick’s death in 1841, the farm was bought by Pieter Gerhardt van der Bijl, whose son inherited it in 1849. The farm remained within the family until 1886, when a J. H. Wicht purchased it.
	In 1914 Schoongezicht was bought by Elizabeth Katherina English for 18 000 pounds. She changed the name of the farm from Schoongezicht to Lanzerac. She made extensive alterations to the outbuildings, as well as the house, which she elongated. Despite these changes, the house remains well portioned, set in a spacious courtyard formed by the outbuildings, with the tall slave bell set well out in front of the house. The gable is a pilaster gable, with the tall outer pilasters surrounded by vases. The vases of the inner pilasters have disappeared.
	Mrs English bottled the first Lanzerac wine from grapes grown on her land, where at one stage there were reputed to have been 21 varietals growing, all of them imported.
	She died in 1929 and Johannes Tribblehorn, who became a member of the Cape Quality winegrowers Association and by 1936 had established what was then one of the most modern wine cellars in the Cape, bought the farm.
	Angus Buchanan bought the farm in 1941 and bottled his first wines in 1947, earning 20 first prizes over the next decade, as well as a number of trophies at the annual Paarl Wine Exhibition. His red wines won the Champion Red Wine floating trophy for eight successive years.
	He sold the farm in 1958 to David and Graham Rawdon, who converted the homestead and outbuildings to a luxury hotel, furnished with English and Cape antiques. These buildings were declared national monuments.
	Frequented by the rich and famous, one of its more illustrious guests was Senator Bobby Kennedy. It is amusing to note how in the 1967 issue of Sarie magazine, consumers were advised that they could eat a full meal at the hotel for R1, 25 a head.
	Stellenbosch Farmers Winery purchased the Lanzerac trademark in 1958, taking over the management of the vineyards the same year. The company used the grapes as well as those from other sources to make South Africa’s first commercially produced Pinotage, as well as Lanzerac Rosé, the longest-standing wine in the Lanzerac range. This wine was made by “Gravy” Rossouw, with some of the grapes supplied by Lanzerac until the late 1970’s when the farm stopped cultivating vineyards.
	The Rawdons sold the Lanzerac to a consortium in 1988 and in 1991 Cape businessman Christo Wiese and his family acquired it. They extensively remodeled the hotel to bring it in line with international five star standards, replanted the vineyards and established a cellar.

HISTORY OF THE LANZERAC RANGE UNDER SFW

	In 1959 SFW launched the Lanzerac Rosé, the longest-standing wine in the range. Two years later the company also launched the world’s first commercially bottled Pinotage (the indigenous varietal developed in 1925 by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsaut/Hermitage) with a 1959 vintage. The range grew over the years but with the introduction of the Taskelder brand it was virtually culled in 1973, with only the Lanzerac Rosé remaining.
	Despite the brand’s virtual withdrawal from the market, older vintages of the Pinotage continued to excite interest at the Annual Auction of Rare Cape Wines at Nederburg, fetching high prices.
	During the mid-eighties a Lanzerac range was re-introduced and to raise label to the quality standards set by Buchanan, a number of serious wines were added in the early nineties including a Chardonnay, Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines won several Veritas gold medals and were widely acclaimed.
	SFW and Christo Wiese have taken a joint decision, to once again produce wines at Lanzerac, for which its vineyards have been extensively upgraded. The Lanzerac Rosé which remains a national favorite will continue to be made by SFW, as will the Lanzerac Pinotage, which with its distinguished heritage will create the quality benchmark for the new-generation wines. However, all other wines are being produced at Lanzerac itself by wine maker Wynand Hamman in close association with SFW, which provided expertise on blending and undertakes responsibility for the marketing of the full range in South Africa. Quantities of the wines have also been reserved for export.
	The new wines to emerge from the Lanzerac cellars are a 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon; a 1996 wooded Chardonnay and a 1995 Merlot. These three wines will be marketed together with the 1995 Pinotage, the flagship of the range, as limited edition, premier offerings and will carry a distinctive label to set them apart from the traditional dew-drop shaped bottle of the Lanzerac Rosé.

LANZERAC – THE LEGEND LIVES ON

Settle yourself beneath the shade of the old oak tree with a blush pink glass of wine in your hand. Slip back 300 years. The sun seeps across the Jonkershoek Valley and the first turf is turned on the Cape land now known as Lanzerac.

In 1692 the Sergeant Isaac Schryver of the Dutch East India Company received his first piece of land. Governor Simon van der Stel granted him Schoongezicht – 21 morgen of virgin soil near the small town of Stellenbosch, which was his to toil as he wishes. Hungry for adventure, Isaac soon went off to see his fortune in copper prospecting but 100 years later even after his death; the Schryver family remained at Schoongezicht. The farm finally fell into the hands of a distant relative, Coenraad Johannes Albertyn, who in 1880 sold it to Coenraad Fick. It was Fick who then made himself the first real lord of the manor by building the fine white gabled home that still stands today in the heart of the Lanzerac.

THAT ENGLISH WOMAN

When Fick died in 1841, Pieter van der Bijl bought Schoongezicht. His son took over until 1887 when the title deeds were transferred to J.H Wicht, who in turn passed it on to his son. In 1922 Schoongezicht was to see a few changes – its proud new owner, the aristocratic Mrs English bought it for the pricey sum of £18 000. She restored and developed the outbuildings, added on to the Manor House and filled it with glorious antiques making it a splendid colonial home. She also diligently tended the vineyards and changed the title from Schoongezicht to Lanzerac, thought to be the name of a wine-growing region of France. It was also Mrs English who produced the first wine under the Lanzerac label. When she died in 1929, hundreds of voyagers flocked to the auction sale to catch a glimpse of the treasures up for sale but no buyer emerged to take over the property and for a while it remained in the hands of the bank.

By 1936, a Mr Triblehorn had bought it and developed its cellars into the Cape’s most modern. He sold it to the creative wine maker, Angus Buchanan, who, with his wife, Sushi, revived its gracious spirit and around the mid forties was producing top quality award winning wines as well as sherry and brandy. He later sold some of the land which has since become the suburb known as Karendal, named after his daughter Karen. Then in 1958 when Buchanan sold Lanzerac to aspiring hotelier, Lord David Rawdon, the magnificent homestead started on a glittering new career as what was to become one of the finest hotels in the country.

RAWDON RULES OK

The good looking and magnetic young David Rawdon could only have dreamt of the success that the Lanzerac Hotel was to enjoy when he opened the door to the public in August 1959. With the help of his mother, Marie Rawdon and hotelier brother, Graham, he’d bought the property for R36 000. He then spent a year of intense renovation and restructuring, turning fowl pens, stables, cow sheds and kraals into fetching bedrooms that for the next 30 odd years beckoned travelers from home and abroad. Rawdon was no modern millionaire hotel magnate - money was in scarce supply and with a small team of builders he designed and oversaw most of the work himself. He went from one auction and yard sale to the next in the neighboring countryside buying up neglected furniture and follies which freshened up into smart period pieces, many of which are still in residence at the hotel today.

THE SWALLOWS

There are many things that make the Lanzerac of the sixties and seventies memorable apart from its exquisite beautiful setting amongst historical oaks and the Jonkershoek Mountains. There was the treacle brown bar that welcomed thirsty souls like bees to a honey pot, the inimitable translucent pink wine, four-poster beds, a supper and cellar club, lingering cheese lunches and slabs of moist brown bread rich as a fruit cake but every bit as colorful as the guests who came to stay. Of course they had their share of sixties celebrities like Ted and Joan Kennedy, Ian Smith, Uri Geller, Jean Shrimpton, Cecily Courneidge, Dame Edith Evans, Princess Alice and Laurens van der Post. It was regulars from abroad, affectionately known as ‘The Swallows’ who carved the memories.

Top of the list of regulars is Lady Iris Southby, ex Mrs Robertson after whom a corner of the bar had been named and who is welcomed still after 33 years. There was Tommy Whitson, the elegant English dame who came out annually on the Ellerman and Buchnall shipping line. In a flowing white gown with a scarf over her head she would walk the grounds at dusk each day. At her request, her ashes have since been scattered under the willows at the Lanzerac. There was her archrival, Bon Walton who impressed the best by bringing her Daimler out with her on the ship and even at her age of 80, sped from the docks through the driveway at the Lanzerac in time for the first gin and tonic. There was the well know comedian, Joyce Grenfell who regularly visited with her husband and alarmed the staff on frequent occasions by removing her glass eye and placing it in a tumbler as she lay by the pool. Another local visitor was her brother-in-law, Harry, who had two wooden legs that were removed at night and tucked under the bed complete with socks and shoes. One morning, David Rawdon recalls the chambermaid requested to know if she should bring another teacup ‘for the master under the bed’. The stories are rife and riveting. Molly Reinhardt summed up the Lanzerac mood in ’64 by writing, ‘It isn’t a hotel, it’s a way of life. They leave you to your own devices and if you haven’t got any devices, it’s not for you.'

…AND AMAZONES

But if the quest were an original bunch, the staff were a breed apart. Interestingly enough, a number of them started out as guests who, seduced by the surroundings, simply came to stay. David’s mother, Aunt Marie Rawdon, known as the Duchess, undoubtedly set the tone. With her charm and poise she was a magnetic presence and her bridge or coffee table was never wanting for candidates. Trained in domestic science, she was of the elite old school but still found time to make not only all the lampshades and tissue box covers for each room, but all the curtains and under blankets as well. There was June Fraser, ex guest from Johannesburg who came down with her mother and parrot, and at David’s suggestion, built a cottage on the premises and promptly became housekeeper. Another was Robert McGregor, David’s cousin, who started out helping at the Saturday night dances and became groundsman. His wife Comfort, a trainee from Constance Spry, followed by helping with the flowers and ended up queen of puddings for 26 years.

It was quite fertile training ground and in those days when hotel schools were still a thing of the future and many a well-known name in the industry today cut their teeth in the kitchens of the Lanzerac. Top restaurateur, Michael Olivier and Graham Hughes, hoteliers Jeanne McDonald, Gert Lubbe and so many more like David worked each hour that God made changing roles from manager to manservant, flower girl to front desk as the moment required. This was a family hotel indeed.

NEW GENERATIONS WINES MADE AT THE HISTORIC LANZERAC MANOR & WINERY

After an interval of more than 25 years, vineyards are being cultivated and a new generation of wines produced on the historic Lanzerac, at the foot of the Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch and home of the recently upgraded and extended five-star Lanzerac manor and Winery. This is the first time in South Africa that a winery has been linked with country hotel, a tradition long famous in France.

The re-establishment of the Lanzerac vineyards (with new dones mainly from France, which have been rendered virus-free for South Africa), and the creation of the new cellars are the realisation of a dream by Cape businessman, Christo Wiese and his family, who bought the property along with two adjoining farms in 1991. He believed that the magnificent setting of the premier country hotel, coupled with a spectrum of micro-climate conditions ideal for a range of the fine wines would make for a top grade establishment in the mould of the French chateaux, sought after for the excellence of their accommodation, wines and cuisine.

Lanzerac dates back to 1692, when Governor Simon van der Stel granted lanc on the outskirts of Stellenbosch, South Africa’s oldest town, to Isaac Schnijver, a former copper prospector and ensign. The property changed hands several times over the next three centuries. The magnificently restored homestead was erected in 1830. Wines were first produced under Lanzerac label in the 1920’s and when the farms were purchased by Angus Buchanan in the 1940’s, he established a prize winner tradition at Lanzerac, earning the Paarl Wine Show’s Champion Red Wine floating trophy for eight successive years. In 1958, when Lanzerac was sold to the Rawdon brothers, David and Graham, the buildings were converted into an hotel and Stellenbosch Farmers Winery took over the management and marketing of all Lanzerac wines, for which grapes were drawn from the estate, as well as other Stellenbosch vineyards.

SFW and Wiese hold the Lanzerac trademark jointly. In addition to the ongoing marketing of the two long-standing wines in the range – the award – winning Pinotage and the popular Rosé SFW will market locally on behalf of Wiese, the new-generation Lanzerac wines made at his winery. The nature of the agreement between Wiese and SFW also provides for SFW’s input on blending and quality control of the new wines.