OUR
HISTORY

1689
Jacques de Villiers arrives at the Cape

In 1689 Jacques de Villiers, ancestor of the present day de Villiers family of Landskroon, arrived in the Cape together with his brothers, Abraham and Pierre. They came from Niort in the La Rochelle Province of France.

1692
The farm Landskroon was granted to Jan Holsmit

In 1692 Governor Simon van der Stel granted the farm Landskroon to a Swede Jan Holsmit, from the town Landskrona in Sweden.

1715
Jacques de Villiers acquires the farm Boschendal

After farming in the Franschhoek Valley for a number of years, Jacques bought the farm Boschendal and the family farmed there until 1879.

1812
Homestead at Boschendal completed

In 1812 Jacques’s grandson, Paul de Villiers, completed the well-known homestead at Boschendal.

1850
Paul de Villiers, son of Jan Jacobus was born

Paul de Villiers, son of Jan Jacobus de Villiers, was born in 1850. Jan Jacobus, was the great grandson of Jacques de Villiers and the last de Villiers to own Boschendal.

1874
Paul de Villiers acquires the farm Weltevreden

In 1874 Paul de Villiers, son of Jan Jacobus, left Boschendal and with the help of his father-in-law, acquired the farm Weltevreden in Suider-Paarl. This Paul de Villiers (I), made the first wine at the farm today known as Landskroon.

1880
Paul de Villiers (II)
In 1880 Paul de Villiers (II) second wine maker at Landskroon was born.
1905
Paul de Villiers (III)
In 1905 Paul (III) was born. He was the third wine maker at the farm.
1931
Paul de Villiers (IV)

In 1931 Paul (IV) was born. He was the fourth wine maker at the farm.

1948
The cellar building

Paul de Villiers rebuilt the cellar in 1948. He also established Jersey cattle stud producing milk to be sold in Paarl.

1956
Paul de Villiers (III) bought two farms adjacent to Weltevreden
Two farms adjacent to Weltevreden, were bought in 1956 and planted with vines. In the same year Paul de Villiers (V) was born.
1956
Paul de Villiers (V)

In 1956 Paul (V) was born. He is currently the cellar master (V) at Landskroon.

1963
Paul de Villiers (III) passed away

In the same year Paul (III)’s sons Paul & Hugo, bought the original Landskroon farm and consolidated it with Weltevreden, Schoongezicht and 50 ha near Klapmuts. The two brothers farmed together with Paul looking after the vineyards and making the wine while Hugo attended to the growing Jersey Cattle stud and established this stud as one of the top studs in South Africa.

1974
First wine bottled under the Landskroon label

Although wine was made on the farm from 1874, the first wine was bottled a 100 years later in 1974. A Cinsaut was the first wine to be bottled.

1980
Planting of more noble grape cultivars

During the 80’s more classic cultivars like Pinotage, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc & Cabernet Sauvignon were planted.

1982
Establishment of Suid-Agter Paarl Irrigation Scheme

An irrigation scheme was built pumping irrigation water from the Berg river to farmers in the Suid-Agter Paarl Region. This helped in growing quality grapes even during dry years.

1994
Export of first wine from Landskroon
During 1994 the world started to open up for South African wine and the wines from Landskroon were exported to Europe for the first time.
2000
Diners Club Winemaker of the Year

In the year 2000 Paul (V) was awarded the Diners Club Wine maker of the Year award for his 1997 Port.

2000
Major cellar upgrades

With the size of vineyards increasing, the fermentation and storage space had to be increased and this was done during 2000/2001. This was also the year when the first mechanical grape harvester was bought.

2002
Paul de Villiers (IV) passed away

After a long wine making career of more than 40 years Paul (IV) passed away in October of 2002.

2003
New bottle cellar

In 2003 a new airconditioned bottle cellar was built. The old bottle cellar was revamped and the wine barrels were moved to this building. Temperature and humidity control of this cellar was upgraded.

2005
New Bottling & Labelling Line

During 2005 a new bottling & labelling line was installed and an upgrade on the old label was completed.

2006
New cooling facilities

During 2006 a new cooling plant for the cellar was installed together with better mash cooling of crushed grapes.

2010
Replanting of older vines

Every year a small portion of Landskroon oldest vineyards are pulled up and replaced with new vines – a on-going process.

2015
Landskroon dam repairs

In 2015 major repairs was done to the “Landskroon dam” wall. The dam was ordinally built in 1963 and can hold 300 000 m³ of water.

2020
Label Upgrading

In January 2020 an upgrade of the Landskroon labels took place with the moving away from the old “entrance gates” to the well-known De Villiers family crest.