The Old Vine Project Campaigns to Save South Africa’s Historic Vineyards

View original article by Richard Holmes

It was 1920. King George V was on the English throne as Jakobus Hendrik de Wet carefully planted his vines of Muscat d’Alexandrie in South Africa’s Breedekloof valley. In 1936, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected for a second term when the “La Colline” semillon vineyard was laid out on the outskirts of Franschhoek. In 1964, as the Rolling Stones dropped their debut album, farmers Basie van Lill and Joshua Visser were planting chenin blanc on a lonely mountain called Skurfberg.