THE PLEASURES AND EVILS OF DRINK (2)
History was made on Sunday, February 2, 1659, when ‘wine was made for the first time from Cape grapes, mostly Muscadel – very fragrant and tasty’
DID Jan van Riebeeck and his men deliberately befuddle the Khoikhoi inhabitants of the Cape by supplying them with alcohol to suppress their resistance to colonialism and destabilise their livestock-based economy – or were they merely providing hospitality according to long-established European custom?
The simple answer to this very complex question is probably that the Dutch veneer of good manners and benevolence wore thin when the Khoi proved reluctant to trade on the scale that the VOC required, revealing darker and more cynical objectives.
In time, the dubious practice of manipulating outcomes with drink evolved into the notorious “dop system”, which blighted the lives of thousands of subjugated workers on South African farms over the next three centuries.
The Dutch were not the first people to bribe workers with alcohol – 5 000-year-old clay tablets reveal that the inhabitants of Uruk in ancient Mesopotamia were paid for their labour in liquor and some of the workers who helped to build Egypt’s pyramids received servings of beer three times a day as a reward for their efforts.
In the middle ages, tea and coffee were virtually unknown in Europe and beer was the common drink. Peasants consumed it during harvests and wine and beer were served to sailors on long voyages to try to delay the onset of scurvy.
Meanwhile, the indigenous inhabitants of southern Africa – black and Khoi – fermented plants, fruits and grains and used the liquor for cultural purposes.
Beer and wine were seen as vital adjuncts to the vegetables that were grown at the Cape and Van Riebeeck did his best to promote these fledgling industries. Attempts to brew beer were unsuccessful in 1657, so Ensign Jan van Harwarden tried again in October 1658.
Having risen nicely in the cooler, the liquid was placed in a barrel and began to ferment.
Orders were given for more to be brewed so that casks could be sent to Batavia and Holland to test its keeping qualities.
History was made on Sunday,February 2, 1659, when “wine was made for the first time from Cape grapes, namely from the new must fresh from the vat. The grapes were mostly Muscadel and other white round grapes, very fragrant and tasty”.
Small quantities of Cape beer and wine could now be offered to the crews of the annual outward bound and return fleets, together with fresh meat, fruits and vegetables and milk. However, viticulture didn’t really flourish until the arrival of the French Huguenot refugees in 1688.
The 1659 vintage marked the modest start of the South African wine industry, which is the seventh largest in the world, producing 10.8 million hectolitres in 2017. Beer is still this nation’s favourite alcoholic drink, however, with consumption reaching 3.21 billion litres last year.