History of the De Wet family
The first De Wet, Jacobus de Wet, arrived in South Africa in 1693. He was the appointed Cellarmaster of The Dutch East India Company in 1697.
In 1859 a young man with energy and vision came to the Robertson valley and bought a large tract of land. He pioneered the channelling of the river to bring water to his fields. He planted crops and pastures and established vineyards and orchards. In his old age he divided his land among his three sons. Arabella is part of the land inherited by the youngest son. Today there are six estates in the Robertson district owned by different branches of the De Wet family: - De Wetshof, Zandvliet, Le Grand Chasseur, Arabella , Excelsior and Clairvaux.
In the South Western Cape there is a great valley encircled by tall, gaunt mountains. A wide river ( Breede River ) meanders through the valley floor which, during the millennia, created a fertile flood plain for itself. It is an arid land, for the mountains which shelter the valley also shields it from rain bearing clouds. The lack of rain matters not, for the early settlers soon learned to channel the river to irrigate the fertile plain. Here they planted their vineyards, orchards and pastures whose lush herbage makes for a stark contrast to the thorny, stunted vegetation of the veld. The De Wet family have been intimately involved with the development of the Breede River valley. Stephen's Great Grandfather was one of the pioneers of the construction of the irrigation network without which the valley would still be a barren desert.
Wine and horses have always played a prominent role, as the red, calcarious soils favour both. Before the advent of the motorcar, an ancestor bred the best hackney carriage horses. Later these gave way to thoroughbred racehorses and one of the most distinguished studs in South Africa was established. The stud was sold to concentrate on Viticulture, but Stephen and Jamie remain keen horsemen and now breed Arabian horses for competitive endurance racing. Jamie has achieved his Springbok colours in this discipline
Arabella structure
In August 2005 the farm land of Excelsior was divided between the brothers Stephen and Freddie de Wet. In this division Freddie received the Excelsior name and the cellar. Stephen received half the vineyards including all the Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier and more than half the land.
Stephen had been in charge of wine making and marketing at Excelsior and formed a partnership with his son Jamie, who had done bottling and dispatch, to build a cellar and develop a new name. They chose the name Arabella as a word play on the beautiful Arabian horses of which they are so fond.
In December 2005 they received permission from the Department of Environmental Affairs to commence building their new cellar and tasting room. The cellar has just been completed and the tasting room will hopefully be open to the public by the end of the year.
Arabella is a registered Estate with the wine and spirits board.
The 2006 vintage was made at outside cellars under our supervision.
As it would be our first vintage from Arabella, we were most anxious to do everything properly. Great care was taken of applying the right amount of water to the vineyards and of crop and canopy management. We at Arabella are really excited about the results.
In order to have continuity, small amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz we bought in from the 2005 vintage to pair with our own whites. (Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier). We really believe that we have some exciting wines to show.
To assist with the marketing, Stephen and Jamie appointed daughter and sister Nicky de Wet. Arabella is now a complete family business in which every member is passionately involved.
It is the family's desire to establish the Arabella brand by giving our customers the very best quality at the very best price possible. But just good quality is not enough - we want our customers to have a special experience when drinking Arabella wines.
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