Under the Vine:

Planted in 1771, the grape vine that provides summer shade in the courtyard at Heritage Square is the oldest fruit-bearing vine in Africa. Planted when many of the buildings that surround her were still sporting their first coat of paint, she is thought to be the oldest in the southern hemisphere - and wine is still being made with her grapes.

The vine is a Chenin Blanc, a varietal introduced early to the Cape. It was considered a very versatile grape that could be used to make both sweet and dry wines as well as a base for brandy. It seems incredible that today it is possible to taste wine made from a vine planted over 250 years ago. This is thanks to the gentle coaxing by winemaker Hennie Huskisson supported by hotelier and philanthropist Victoria Engelhorn. Hennie harvested the grapes for this year’s vintage in March and is busy with the process of producing an astonishingly rare single vine wine from the crop.

Previous harvests have produced barely 20L, but a great deal of work has been done to secure the vine’s future. Hennie has been working to coax her through Eutypa dieback, a disease that attacks the wood of vines. With this done and her tendrils secured, she received a new support structure that allowed her to spread over more of the secluded courtyard at Heritage Square.

All this care and attention produced a significantly better crop for the 2022 vintage. When it is ready, as in previous years, the wine will be auctioned at a special event to raise money for some of the philanthropic projects supported by Victoria Engelhorn, and to ensure the vine’s board and lodging at the Cape Heritage Hotel for years to come. Care of this historic vine is intimately wrapped up with the preservation of the buildings that surround it. Since she took on the responsibility for the vine with the purchase of the property in 2007, Victoria Engelhorn has made it one of her key concerns to nurture it.

Telling the story of the vine and its role in the Mother City’s history through all the philanthropic projects in her portfolio is another. It’s a small miracle that she’s still around. What we now know as Heritage Square was slated for demolition in the 1960’s to make way for a parking structure. The building and its ancient vine were left abandoned for over a decade.

Part of this tale of rising from the ashes of nearly-demolished heritage buildings spreads to other preservation projects. Cuttings were taken from the old Heritage Square vine and planted in pots outside the Visitors Centre at the Company’s Garden in September 2018. Two years later on the 24th of October 2020, once they had established a strong root system, they were transplanted into the Company’s Garden. So now the oldest fruit- bearing grape vine in Africa has offspring in the oldest garden in South Africa.