| Lanzerac Manor & Winery |  |
Lourensford Estate |
In 1692, a considerable tract of land in the fertile Jonkershoek valley of Stellenbosch was
granted by Governor Simon van der Stel to Isaac Schrijver. Schrijver immediately set about
planting vineyards on the estate, which he christened Scoongezicht. After Schrijver passed
away it is presumed that the land passed to his widow Anna Hoeks and then to a
granddaughter, Maria van Coningshoven. Van Coningshoven married Jacob Hasselaar and
their daughter Anna Hasselaar, who married Christoffel Groenewald, inherited the property.
In 1970 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-shaped homestead with its neo-classical main gable, to 1830. The homestead exhibits unsually 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 it was purchased by a JH Wicht.
In 1914 Schoongezicht was bought by Elizabeth Katherina English for 18 000 pounds. She changed the farm’s name from Schoongezicht to Lanzerac. 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.
When she died in 1929 and the farm was bought by Johannes Tribbelhorn, who became a member of the Cape Quality Wine Growers’ Association and by 1936 had established what was then one of the most modern wine cellars in the Cape.
Angus Buchanan bought the farm in 1941 and bottled the first wine in 1947, earning 20 first prizes over the next decades at the annual Paarl Wine Exhibition. His red wines won the Champion Red Wine floating trophy for eight successive years. Buchanan 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 a 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, a 1959 vintage, as well as Lanzerac Rosé, a true South African icon.
The Rawdons sold Lanzerac to a consortium in 1988 and in 1991 it was acquired by Cape businessman Christo Wiese and his family. They extensively remodeled the hotel to bring it in line with international five star standards, replanted the vineyards and established an ultra-modern cellar.
The year 2002 also saw the Lanzerac brand bought back from SFW (now Distell) by Christo Wiese. This has led to the re-emergence of this brand as a quality-driven family wine brand, and the reintroduction of the Lanzerac Rosé into the market from September 2006.
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-shaped homestead with its neo-classical main gable, to 1830. The homestead exhibits unsually 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 it was purchased by a JH Wicht.
In 1914 Schoongezicht was bought by Elizabeth Katherina English for 18 000 pounds. She changed the farm’s name from Schoongezicht to Lanzerac. 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.
When she died in 1929 and the farm was bought by Johannes Tribbelhorn, who became a member of the Cape Quality Wine Growers’ Association and by 1936 had established what was then one of the most modern wine cellars in the Cape.
Angus Buchanan bought the farm in 1941 and bottled the first wine in 1947, earning 20 first prizes over the next decades at the annual Paarl Wine Exhibition. His red wines won the Champion Red Wine floating trophy for eight successive years. Buchanan 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 a 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, a 1959 vintage, as well as Lanzerac Rosé, a true South African icon.
The Rawdons sold Lanzerac to a consortium in 1988 and in 1991 it was acquired by Cape businessman Christo Wiese and his family. They extensively remodeled the hotel to bring it in line with international five star standards, replanted the vineyards and established an ultra-modern cellar.
The year 2002 also saw the Lanzerac brand bought back from SFW (now Distell) by Christo Wiese. This has led to the re-emergence of this brand as a quality-driven family wine brand, and the reintroduction of the Lanzerac Rosé into the market from September 2006.
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