Barbara Mutch

Franschhoek – “French Corner” – lies in a beautiful valley in the Cape Winelands of South Africa. The town’s history goes back more than 300 years to the arrival of French Huguenots at the foot of Africa. They were fleeing their home country to escape religious persecution. The Dutch East India Company, keen to boost agricultural output in the fledgling settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, offered the settlers land. Since many had come from wine-growing areas in France, they soon began to establish vineyards. And the rest is history… Franschhoek wine farms are now known across the world and their wines have acquired an international reputation for quality.

And that French heritage is visible to this day in the names of the farms, the elegant Huguenot Monument, French festivals and fine local dining.

“This special dirt, ” said Grand-mère, scooping up some earth and rolling it between her fingers, “will decide which cultivars we plant, whether we make a sauvignon blanc, or a merlot that glows in the glass like a sunset. This, ma chérie, is the starting point. The essence of what will come after…”