More than just wine

Stellenbosch wine farms have always been about more than just wine

At a quarter past nine on the evening of 12 February 1784, Diederik Jacob Blomer, the owner of Vredenburg, a farm in the district of Stellenbosch, died. History does not record the reason for his death, but only days later, as was the practice of the time, a probate inventory of his farm was drawn up, leaving a detailed list of his possessions for posterity. Five paintings hung in the entrance hall next to a lantern, a couch, and a verre kijker – what must have been rudimentary binoculars. Chinese linen covered his bed, and his kitchen was stocked with iron and copper implements and 24 porcelain plates. These were not unusual signs of affluence for late 18th-century farmers.

Diederik Blomer was able to afford these luxuries because of the other assets listed in his inventory. He was a wine farmer, as the cellar on his farm demonstrated: the inventory taker found 44 leaguers of wine, a leaguer of brandy, several additional empty barrels, and, importantly, several pieces of equipment that suggested the cellar was more a workshop than a storeroom.

But Blomer was not only a winemaker. Outside the cellar was a boiler house, ostensibly to make brandy. Next to it was a stable, with ten waggon horses and four riding horses. His kraal included 23 breeding horses, 41 oxen and 328 sheep and goats. The waggon house included a horse waggon, two ox waggons, a grape waggon and two ploughs. Evidence of crop farming was found in the attic: two piles of barley and wheat, together with 16 empty bags were stored there.

Blomer had built a village of industrial activity on his farm, producing and selling not only wine but goods and services up and down the value chain. The best evidence of this is the fact that he also had a shop on his farm, the 18th-century equivalent of an Agrimark, where he sold all kinds of things: iron hammers, chains, pots, and knives. His specialty seems to have been winemaking equipment: his winkel (shop) included eight vine axes (wingaardbijlen), seven vine knives (wingaard messen) and five vine hoes (wingaard schoffels).

Again, this industrial and commercial activity on farms was not unusual for the time. Probate inventories provided evidence of a wide variety of economic activities. Another example is the farm of Jan Martin Vogel, who had died seven years before Blomer. His inventory included a lime pen, a hay barn, a pharmacy, a carpenter’s shop, a smithy, a wheelwright, and a mill house.

There are at least two reasons why farmers were engaging in such a broad range of activities. First, manufacturing was not allowed in the Colony. All manufactured goods had to be imported. As the Colony was governed by the profit-maximising Dutch East India Company (VOC), they planned to recoup their investments in the Colony through high import tariffs on goods. The way you ensure large quantities of imports is by prohibiting local production. Farmers thus established these proto-factories on their farms, to produce goods for themselves and the neighbouring farmers, hidden from the Company officials in Cape Town. Had these regulations not existed, most of these industrial activities would have shifted to the towns, as was the case in Europe.

Another reason for these industrial farms was slavery. The Cape was a slave economy, with enslaved individuals constituting almost half of the entire population. For farmers, investing in slaves was expensive, and the only way to justify the high cost was to ensure that slaves were active throughout the year – not just during harvest season. In addition, many of the enslaved individuals shipped from territories across the Indian Ocean were skilled artisans. Combining these skills with the need to earn an income during the off-season explains why workshops and other forms of industrial activity flourished on farms.

Fast forward more than two centuries into the future. Wine farms in the Cape winelands today remain more than just wine farms. The reasons are, thankfully, different. Regulation and slavery have been replaced by a transformation of the economy. Although it is now much easier for farmers to visit the local Agrimark to buy the inputs they need, many farms complement their grape and wine production with additional service offerings. This includes everything from wine tastings to accommodation, restaurants, and events (like weddings or trail races). This includes everything from wine tastings to accommodation, restaurants, and events (like weddings or trail races). Blomer’s farm – Vredenburg, today Vredenheim – is a great example. While the farm’s grapes still produce beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon, the farm now includes a wine experience, a gift shop, a restaurant, a guest house, and even game drives. And rekindling Blomer’s ‘winkel’, you can shop in the ‘De Boerderijwinkel’, although I’d be surprised if they still stock vine knives.

And this is certainly not the end of the transformation of the modern wine farm. As fibre connections now allow us to work from anywhere, it is very likely that wine farms will soon see increased residential demand. Education and health services are next. It’s easy to imagine a healthcare facility benefiting from the tranquillity of the vines. (Some farms already offer yoga classes, including – wait for it – goat yoga.) Education, science and entrepreneurship are next. Stellenbosch University has already agreed in principle to move part of its Business School to a wine farm. And it won’t be long before wine farms convert old cellars into co-lab spaces for tech start-ups, to be followed, inevitably, by baristas.

In Blomer’s 1784 inventory (MOOC8/18.73), his kitchen utensils include 1 tinne coffijkan – one tin coffeepot – and 1 coffijmolen – one coffee grinder. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This essay is published in a 50-year anniversary publication of the Stellenbosch Wine Route: Stellenbosch. The Wine. The People. The Stories. This limited edition publication is available from the Stellenbosch tourism office in Church Street for R900. Photo by Jason Briscoe on Unsplash.