Hendrik Cloete was born in 1725 on the family farm, Nooitgedacht, near Stellenbosch. The farm belonged previously belonged to the family of Sibella Pasman, Cloete’s mother, who brought the farm into the Cloete family. He was already a well-off farmer by the time he bought Groot Constantia in 1778. Constantia wines were already immensely popular In Europe at that time. This popularity is reflected by the exorbitant price Cloete paid for the farm: fl.90,000, which included the farm, the equipment, and the slaves. Cloete and his wife went to live on Groot Constantia while their eldest son took over Nooitgedacht. After the death of his wife in 1794, Cloete moved back to Nooitgedacht, where he died in 1799. His youngest son, also Hendrik, took over farming on Groot Constantia and became the new owner after the death of his father.
Hendrik Cloete circa 1788
The founder of Groot Constantia was Commander (later Governor) Simon van der Stel. However, it was Hendrik Cloete who breathed new life into the dilapidated estate. He renovated the house, built new wine cellars, extended the vineyards, and improved the production and marketing of the world-renowned Constantia wines.
In this book, a collection of letters and documents is published, which Cloete sent to his friend Hendrik Swellengrebel Jr. in Holland during 1788 and following years in an attempt to obtain the concession from the Dutch East India Company to freely trade and market his famous wines.
Groot Constantia in 1812 (by M J Milbert)
Groot Constantia in 1799 (by Lady Sophia Hamilton)
This material enables the reader to take a close look behind the scenes of Cape politics and economic history and to learn of the daily life and work of the winemakers of Groot and Klein Constantia in the late eighteenth century: Hendrik Cloete, Johannes Nicolaas Colijn and their slaves.
The letters and documents are published in the original Dutch with a complete English translation
QUOTE AND TRANSLATION FROM THE TEXT
III J.A. BARON VAN PLETTENBERG TO HENDRIK SWELLENGREBEL
Windesheim, 4 July 1789
Dear Honourable and Learned Sir,
There is no doubt that there is little I can tell you about the history of Constantia and the delivery of the renowned wines from that estate. At the time of the first sale of the estate, there were certainly no stipulations concerning exclusive rights to the wines as at that time they were hardly known. It follows that there also would not have been an objection at the next sale. Some 25 years ago one could buy Constantia wine at a reasonable price and the delivery to the Company was, if I am not mistaken, fixed at 40 aamen annually. Seldom was there a complaint about the quality and the 10 percent payments to the owners were regularly made each year.
The increased sea traffic, particularly of men-of-war, as well as the growing fashion in Europe to drink Constantia wine, gradually changed the scene, in that one began to consider it a privilege to acquire a small stock of this nectar for cash. The price, as I am informed, rose to 10 rd:s per halfaam for private buyers where it remained, until Cloete became owner of Constantia and in high-handed fashion and without informing Colijn, his neighbour, fixed the price at 80 Spaansche matten.
The foreigners, and particularly the English and French, were not deterred by this, with the result that the inclination was to deliver the least possible quantity to the Company, which in the meantime had fixed the annual quota at 60 leggers, but which I understood to be aamen. Poor harvests and connivance by the Cape government, kept the old quota in place, which could not at all be met due to the outbreak of war with England. The Danes, seeing an opportunity to exploit the unstable times for their profit, arranged a public sale of extra high quality red and white Constantia wine in 1783, as I understand in N.B. Amsterdam!
That the large, inch-high lettering of the printed advertisements caused severe agitation among Lords XVII was, of course, to be expected. A copy….
III J.A. BARON VAN PLETTENBERG AAN HENDRIK SWELLENGREBEL,
Windesheim 4 Julij 1789
Wel Edele Gestrenge Heer!
Ik kan Uw, met zeekerheid, weinig voorligten in het historique van Constantia, en de leverantie der zoo gerenomeerde wijn dier hofsteeden. Bij de eerste verkoop der plaatze, op ordre der maatschappije [de VOC] geschied, heeft men zeekerlijk geen uitsluijtend regt op de Wijn gestipuleerd, als die toentertijt nog niet of nauwelijx bekend zal zijn geweest; dus bij de volgende verkoopen kan er ook geen bezwaar opgelegd zijn. Nog maar voor 25 Jaeren konde een ijder gemakkelijk Constantiawijn, en wel voor eene redelijke prijs, bekoomen, en de leverantie aan de Comp. was (in fallor)* op 40 Aamen Jaarlijx bepaald. Zelden horde men klaagen over de qualiteit, en de 10 p.Ct. rendementen wierden regulier aan de Eijgenaers Jaarliljx afbetaald.
De toeneemende vreemde Vaart, vooral van retourneerende Scheepen van oorloge, benevens de in Europa meer en meer veld winnende mode om Constantiawijn te schenken, maakten langzamerhand eene verandering, in zooverre dat men het als eene gunst moeste reekenen van dien nectar, voor Contante penningen, eenen kleinen voorraad magtig te worden, zijnde de prijs, zoo mij voorstaat, tot 10 Rijxds. de half Aam voor particuliere vreemde gereezen, waarop gebleeven is totdat Cloete, Eijgenaer van groot Constantia zijnde geworden, op eene vrij eijgendunkelijke wijze, en zonder communicatie aan zijnen buurman Colijn, de prijs bepaalde op 80 piasters.
De vreemde, en bovenal de Engelsche en Fransche Heeren, hierdoor niet wordende afgeschrikt, was het natuurlijk gevolg dat men de Comp. gaarne zoo weinig wilde leveren als maar eenigzins bestaanbaar was, die intusschen den Jaarlijken Eijsch bepaalde op 60 Leggers (waarvoor Ik egter Aamen hebbe verstaan). Onvoordeelige Oogsten en oogluijking der Caapsche Regeering beletteden evenwel om van den ouden Eijsch aftegaan, die geheel niet kon voldaan worden bij het uitbarsten van den oorlog met Engeland. De Deenen, van deeze tijts gelegentheid profiteerende lieten in [17]83, zoo mij voorstaat, eene publijke verkooping van Extra puijk puijk puijk opregte Roode en Witte Constantia wijnen aanslaan, die NB in Amsterdam zou gehouden worden.
Dat de Groote, en met duijmsletters gedrukte, advertissementen onze Heeren choqueerden, was natuurlijk te wagent. Ook weird een Exemplaar…..
Editing and preface by Dr G.J. Schutte
Dr GJ Schutte has studied history at the University of Utrecht and Pretoria and is Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam, where he teaches the history of Dutch Protestantism. He has published extensively in the fields of Dutch, Dutch colonial, and South African history. The Van Riebeeck Society published his book Briefwisseling van Hendrik Swellengrebel Jr. oor Kaapse sake in 1983 (Second Series no. 13).