The history of Annandale Wine Estate traces back to the founding of South Africa. Annandale is the oldest farm in the Helderberg Valley. In November 1679, less than one month of arriving at the Cape, Governor Simon van der Stel left Cape Town on horseback to explore the Dutch East India Company’s outpost near the Hottentots Holland Mountains and, amazed by the beauty of his surroundings, founded the eponymously named town of Stellenbosch, South Africa’s second oldest town.

Annandale was first settled three years later, although it would be another six years before Governor van der Stel granted title to Jan Wismaar, Annandale’s first land owner. Reflective of such heritage, a manor house built in the middle of the 1700’s and a cellar which predates 1700 survives to this day onAnnandale Wine Estate.