What’s the beef with Wellington?

Political revisionism, in the form of place name changes, is nothing new in South Africa.

Take the case of the little town of Val du Charron, which was also known by the Dutch translation of the French, Wagenmakersvallei (Valley of the Wagon-builders).

Located just 75km from Cape Town, the settlement was given its name by Huguenot settlers in the late 1600s and the place flourished as a farming community with minimal outside interference till 1840.

That was when the British colonial government decided to commemorate Sir Arthur Wellesley’s victory over Napoleon’s French armies at Waterloo 25 years previously and renamed Val du Charron after his subsequent title, Duke of Wellington.

Even before it was settled by the French, the area was Limietvallei (Limit Valley) because the mountain range to its east formed the boundary of the Cape of Good Hope.

It was through these mountains between 1849 and 1853 that Andrew Geddes Bain and his gangs of convict labourers built the road identified as the Bain’s Kloof Pass.

This was significant, I was told by aspiring sommelier Pamela Munaro at the Val du Charron Wine and Leisure Estate because it indirectly gave name to the farm’s flagship blend of chardonnay, pinot gris, viognier, chenin blanc, roussanne and grenache blanc called Four White Legs.

The colonial masters, she says, imposed a toll on riders using the pass to reach the hinterland… with the curious exemption of those riding horses with four white legs.

The toll was irksome (and expensive) for those who had regular business on both sides of the mountains but, as the saying goes, boer maak ‘n plan – a farmer makes a plan.

They would time their departure for after-dark and, before setting out, would whitewash their steeds’ legs.

The toll-keepers must have wondered at the sudden increase in late-night traffic and been perplexed at the proliferation of horses exempt from paying tax.

Wellington’s underrated wine tourism potential

Wellington is one of those Boland towns that has been historically overlooked by both domestic and international tourism.

In fact, given its socio-economic makeup, it’s generally regarded as the poor cousin of nearby neighbour Paarl, under whose municipal authority it falls.

This state of affairs should not last much longer because Wellington is a place of remarkable beauty and its wines are out of this world.

Nonetheless, names such as Bosman, Diemersfontein, Welbedacht, Doolhof, Dunstone, Val du Charron, and Wolvenhoek might not be instantly familiar (though just about everybody’s heard of Douglas Green… even if they still can’t find it!) but that’s mainly because their wines are almost exclusively exported.

For this, Dirk Vaeye has to take some of the blame. The dapper “new” owner of Dunstone Wines in the Wamakersvallei – locals still call it that, even Catherine and Stuart Entwhistle of Val du Charron – is well known in the Wellington area as having been an importer of some of its finest wines to his native Belgium and elsewhere in Europe.

“I’d been coming here at least once a year for business and on holiday for more than 15 years and fell in love with the place. Dunstone came on the market in 2022, just before I turned 50, and I felt the time was right for a new challenge. “For my foolishness, I found myself with a wine farm, guesthouse and a restaurant.”

The go Wellington initiative: Revitalising the wine route

Vaeye is one of the driving forces behind the Go Wellington initiative to revive the local wine route and promote tourism to the region.

“People think Wellington is really remote, whereas the contrary is true,” says Diemersfontein owner David Sonnenberg.

“In fact, very few places can boast being off the beaten track within such close proximity to major centres.”

Wellington is a 55-minute drive from the Cape Town CBD as well as the airport, 40 minutes from Stellenbosch, and an hour from Franschhoek.

Part of the town’s charm is that accommodation is largely limited to boutique hotels, guesthouses, and B&B establishments on various farms.

Val du Charron, which is a member of the Cape Country Routes affiliation of more than 20 privately owned and managed hotels, lodges, and guesthouses in the Western and Eastern Cape, is the largest.

It has a variety of stay-over offerings, including 20 four-star rooms (including the funkiest family room I’ve ever seen) and three five-star suites in a coach house that dates back to 1699.

The beautifully restored exclusive-use manor house is ideal for honeymooners or families.

There are two onsite restaurants: The Grillroom, a steakhouse specialising in grain and grass-fed aged meats as well as seafood and poultry options, and Pizza Vista … “based in the farm’s historic cellar and the best place to enjoy rigorously Italian food with fine wine!”

Many of the wine estates have their own restaurants.

Wellington is a paradise for mountain bikers and hikers. There’s glamping and camping in one of those overlooked Boland towns – but you gotta love the story behind wine labels “What’s the beef with Wellington?” alike; the former is AfriCamps at Doolhof wine estate but those who prefer something less swanky will love the Tweede Tol campsite run by Cape Nature on the Wolseley side of Bains Kloof.

Aside from hiking, there’s fishing and swimming to be had in the Wolwekloof River and, if you’re extremely lucky, you might see an endangered Cape leopard in the mountains.

Wine and its enjoyment are the name of my game, however, and I spent a very relaxed couple of hours with Christiaan Nigrini, winemaker at beautiful Welbedacht, which is owned by 1980s Springbok rugby player Schalk Burger and his sons.

I love a good wine with a story behind the label (like the Four White Legs) and the 2023 Bakleiblok single-vineyard cinsault went down a treat with nuts and nibbles on a gloriously sunny day.

According to the narrative, “this block has for many years been so named by our workers, following a long-standing altercation by two of them, both claiming that it was their work and loving care that created the wonderful fruit from these 33-year-old bush vines”.

The vineyards

If the fruit of Wellington’s vines are exported around the world, so are the vines themselves.

The Lelienfontein nursery at Bosman Family Wines is the source of more than a third of all vines planted in South Africa. Export markets include the Middle East and China.

There’s a fascinating contrast; while disease-free clones are created in quarantine laboratories, workers graft cuttings with blinding speed using razor-sharp pocketknives just as their ancestors might have been taught by those Huguenot settlers nearly 350 years ago.

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