Both families have deep interests in wine. The Rupert
family also owns two wine estates in the Franschhoek
Valley: L’Ormarins and La Motte. The Rothschild
family owns Château Clarke, a cru bourgeois
in Listraz as well as two nearby wine estates (Peyre-Lebada
and Malmaison), and are partners in first-growth Château
Lafite-Rothschild in Pauillac.
Fredericksburg is situated on the slopes of the picturesque
Simonsberg mountains between Paarl and Franschhoek.
The farm was founded in 1690, more than three centuries
ago, by the brothers Jean and Daniel Nortier (Nortjie).
Life started as a simple whitewashed two-roomed Cape
Cottage. In these two rooms, built of stone with a
thatched roof, lived the widow of Daniel Nortier,
Marie Vitu. Marie, an enterprising refugee of the
French purge of the Protestants, built her humble
two-roomed home some time around 1700.
The manor house, built around 1711 and originally
also a simple two-roomed home, was transformed over
the next two centuries by a string of owners, each
adding his own piece, dictated by necessity, prosperity
and the fashion of the day.
The late Anthonij Rupert, youngest son of Dr Anton
Rupert, acquired Fredericksburg in 1984. His aim was
to produce wine of the highest international standard.
Replanting of Noble varieties on the 90-hectare farm
started in 1986. Restoration of the original buildings
commenced in 1991 after extensive research into the
history of the farm.
With the love of wine as a common interest and with
Fredericksburg’s past firmly rooted in two cultures
– French Huguenot and Cape Dutch – the
Rupert and Rothschild families share one goal: to
produce world-class wine.
