***VLOTTENBURG - RARE VINTAGE - 1994 MERLOT - CERTIFIED***

 

Vlottenburg

The original road which connected Stellenbosch with Cape Town travels in parts alongside the Eerste River and indeed through Vlottenburg. Now called Baden Powell Road (R310), the area in which it travels offers a wide variety of activities to keep the family occupied for a full day.

The old wagon road started in Dorp Street, then went left into Adam Tas and over the Plankenbrug (Plank Bridge) River, one of the tributaries of the Eerste River. Just over the bridge, on the right, is a small monument marking the site of a borrow pit (an excavation where gravel was excavated or “borrowed” for the making of the road). Here in 1899, Louis Peringuey discovered some implements proving the great antiquity of human beings in South Africa. The implements are of the type known as the Stellenbosch Culture.

Just past the monument, also on the right, lie some of the vineyards of Distell and Oude Libertas. The roses flowering at the end of each row of vines are not just decorative, but possibly provide an indication or early warning of the threat of disease.

About 3 km from Stellenbosch, the road veers to the left into the shallow Vlottenburg/Eerste River valley. The farm Vlottenburg was granted to two French Huguenots, Pierre Rochefort and Gerrit Hanseret. It was later sold to Antonie Vlotman, from whom the name of the area originated. In 1772, Paul Roux obtained the farm and it remains in possession of the family, under the guidance of Paul Roux V.