Montpellier - a short history

Jean Imbert, together with his friend Jacques Theron, arrived in the Cape as Huguenot refugees in 1688. Both came from the south of France, not far from the historic city of Montpellier , the birthplace of Jean according to some sources. It is therefore not surprising that Jean Imbert called his farm Montpellier, when the 50 morgen of fertile alluvial land was granted to him in 1714 by the then governor of the Cape, Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes. His friend Jacques Theron was granted the neighboring farm Le Rhône. In those early years, the farm was used exclusively for grazing cattle. The first vineyard was planted soon after a homestead was build by Jean and Jacques Theron, working together. This first vineyard, together with a fruit-tree orchard, was meant for domestic usage. Only in the late 1890's the first commercial vineyards was laid out on the farm.

Since the death of Jean Imbert in 1723, Montpellier had for a time many owners. In 1778 it was acquired by Jan Theron, a descendant of Jacques Theron. It later passed out of the Theron family's hands, but was reacquired in the 1880's by three Theron brothers, Hendrik, Jan and Gawie. The farm stayed in the Theron family for the next 100 years.

In 1884, Hendrik Theron bought out his brothers and started planting the first commercial vineyards, mostly Sémillon, Riesling, French grape and Cinsaut (one of the parents of the future Pinotage). For the next 50 years Montpellier produced a certain amount of wine, without any real distinction. In 1945 De Wet Theron inherited the farm and took over the management with a vision of creating quality wines. He then ripped out the Cinsaut, as he believed that the farm is suitable for only white wine production. He replaced the Cinsaut with Clairette blanche, Colombard, Riesling and Chenin blanc.  

In 1954 a wine merchant brought in a German wine expert, Gerhard Kreft, to South Africa . Dr. Kreft experimented to produce high quality white wine by installing the Geisz system, which was a huge success in Germany but a failure in South Africa . The wine produced on the system was flat on the taste and didn't mature well.

In 1958 De Wet conducted experiments to reduce the heat given off during fermentation. He used cold running water to cool the tanks during fermentation. Karl Werner, a well known cellar master, decided to use Montpellier as his basis for his experiments on the reduction of oxidation during winemaking.  The results of his tests were the following:

·          Oxidation can be minimized if CO₂ is used to replace oxygen

·          Grape juice must be cooled down

·          Fermentation temperature must be regulated.

The farm also started to use 20 kg 'plukkissies' to reduce the handling of the grapes and also to get the grapes as quick and as cool as possible to the cellar.

In 1967 De Wet imported active dry yeast to South Africa to produce his wine. Karl Werner didn't use SO₂ during his winemaking process, as was formally done. He only used SO₂ before bottling. On December 2, 1967 the first wine was bottled. Only 1000 bottles of Riesling were hand bottled and corked, before it was laid down for maturation. During the first four years none of the bottled wine was sold but was still kept to find the maturation potential of the wine. The Riesling that was bottled in 1971 was matured for 18 months before it was sold. It was also the first wine to get a Gold Superior classification. De Wet wanted another three cultivars to put on his wine list. He chose:

·          A Gewurztraminer (which was bottled in 1971 as a Traminer - and also got a Gold Superior classification)

·          Rhine Riesling

·          Chenin blanc   

In September 1969 a devastating earthquake shook the Tulbagh valley, bringing down the beautiful old Cape Dutch homestead on the farm. De Wet Theron elected to restore his ancestral home, where it stands today as a witness of good workmanship and fine finish, characteristic of Montpellier wines.

De Wet's two sons inherited the farm. Jan Stephanus Theron was the cellar master while his brother Hendrik Francois Theron was the viticulturist. The two brothers stayed on different parts of the farm. Henrik stayed on Montpellier du Tulbagh, while brother Jan stayed on Constantia du Sud. The farm was later divided between the two brothers.

In 2001, a Johannesburg advocate, Lucas van Tonder first bought Montpellier de Tulbagh, and later acquired also Constantia du Sud. He transformed the old homestead to a guesthouse, built a chapel for weddings and brought in 6 thoroughbred horses for guests to ride on and enjoy the magic of Montpellier.

The Cape Dutch Homestead