History

Montagu Wine & Spirits Company has a long and interesting history. It started when Uitvlucht Winery, one of the cellars forming part of the present company, was founded in 1942. This came about when Brink Brothers Ltd was forced to stop their wine making activities in the town centre, thereby leaving the farmers producing for them stranded. They then decided to start their own cellar and named it Soetwyn Boere Koöperatief (Sweet Wine Farmers Co-operative) after the aim of its members to produce mainly sweet wine such as muscadel, which Montagu became famous for. Its cellar building was modelled on the original homestead of the farm Uitvlucht, being the farm on which the town of Montagu was founded in 1853. Mainly for political reasons, its name was changed to Cogmans Winery in 1995, but the winery was compelled, due to an objection by a competitor, to again change its name in 1997, this time to Uitvlucht, thus commemorating the name of the original farm.

The first winemaker, Knox Davies, who had been the winemaker at the cellars of Brink Brothers when it closed down, held this position for seven years. At first Brink Brothers was the main buyer of Soetwyn Boere wines, but later on KWV and Stellenbosch Farmers Wineries also shared in buying very well made wines, particularly muscadel, but also rebate wines and spirits. The cellar’s second winemaker, Kenneth Knipe, enjoyed a long and lustrous career and helped establish the cellar as a formidable competitor in the wine industry. The excellent muscadel that Montagu is best known for, was first produced at this cellar, and inspired the famous Montagu muscadel song by David Kramer.

Uitvlucht also had a long awards history, adding some of the most prestigious names to its list of awards. Boasting with Veritas, South African Young Wine Show and many other trophies and certificates, this cellar is most definitely on the wine map.

Rietrivier Wine Cellar was founded as a co-operative in 1963 on the farm Rietrivier (thus the name) and is situated 27km outside of Montagu on the famed Route 62 towards Barrydale. It was originally named Langeberg Co-operative Wine Cellar (Langeberg being the name of the mountain range running past Montagu), but due to objections lodged by another cellar, the name was changed to Rietrivier in 1964.

The original piece of land that the cellar was to be built on, was donated to the co-op by one of its founding members, WJ van Zyl, but when it came to laying the foundation, it was found that there was a massive rock stratum underneath and the co-op was forced to buy another piece of land to build their cellar on.

In the early years of production, Rietrivier only produced rebate wine meant for brandy, but slowly started moving into the bottled wine industry in later years. In the early days there were no wine competitions in the Boland area like there are today, but there was the Paul de Wet A1 trophy for rebate wine, which Rietrivier won for the 1970 and -71 production years.

In later years the cellar turned to more wine in the bottle, but still produced excellent bulk wines and also bottled a brandy blend.

Then came the 1st of January 2010. This didn’t just mark the beginning of the new year, but also a new beginning for the wine industry in Montagu. A long awaited amalgamation took place between Uitvlucht Winery and Rietrivier Cellar on that day!

Although Montagu saw many amalgamation attempts in the past, nothing came of it. About four years before the amalgamation date the boards of directors of the two co-ops, being driven by mostly economical reasons, came together to discuss a possible alliance of some sort between the cellars. And this time it miraculously worked! Neil Nel, the chairman of Rietrivier at that stage, together with a launch committee, were the main drivers of the process. After much consultation with other role players in the industry and many discussions with members the vote went in favour of amalgamation in 2009. Thereafter it was plain sailing, except for all the legal requirements that had to be complied with!

With a blend of old and new blood, this newcomer promises much excitement in the wine industry. Montagu Wine & Spirits Company has a wide selection of wines that will satisfy even the most discerning wine connoisseur. Let the beautiful, full-bodied reds, crispy, light whites, stunning ports, the best muscadels and delicious grape juices entice you to our world of wine! Wellcome!