Groot Constantia Wine Estate

The History of Groot Constantia Wine Estate.

Commander Simon van der Stel of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) arrived at the Cape supply station in 1679.  Estranged from his wife he arrived in the company of his children and sister-in-law, Cornelia Six.  Back in the Netherlands van der Stel had gained a solid background in viticulture at his vineyards in Muiderbergh.  There he learnt the art of wine and brandy making which he was soon to implement here in the Cape.

Commissioner Rijckloff van Goens, a former governor of Ceylon and Council Member of India, visited the Cape while recuperating from an illness. He recommended to the Chamber of Seventeen, the governing body of the VOC, that land should be granted to Simon Van der Stel. After a visit by High Commissioner Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein, Van der Stel received title to 891 morgen (about 2461 hectares) on 13th July 1685.  The land stretched southwards to the neighbouring free burgher farms of Steenberg and Zwaanswyk and to the north it reached as far as the wooded area named The Hell.

Van der Stel named his farm Constantia.  It is thought that Van der Stel named the farm after Van Goens's daughter in recognition of his help and support in obtaining the farm land.  Another theory is that the farm was named after the VOC ship "Constantia" which, with the "Alphen" was anchored in Table Bay.