Groot
Constantia is a National Monument and a living museum which is celebrating its 330th
year of uninterrupted wine production this
year.
Thankfully, initial assessments show that only
a portion of the higher vineyards, all Sauvignon Blanc varietals, have been
damaged by the fire.
Jean Naudé,
CEO of Groot Constantia says that at the moment there is a lot of
smoke and they have been unable to fully assess potential damage. “We are unable to establish the state of the
baboon fence and other sections of vineyard.
The fynbos stretch on the farm to the north west of the wine cellar is
currently on fire but thankfully the wind has changed direction and is blowing
the flames away from the historical core.”
In what was thankfully an
unnecessary precaution in the end, the contents of the beautiful, original
Manor House, which is an IZIKO museum, were all evacuated by IZIKO. The Groot Constantia Manor House was built by
Simon van der Stel more than 300 years ago and most of the artefacts are
irreplaceable.
“The situation currently looks
much better than it did last night and it doesn’t seem that there has been any
serious fire damage for which we are extremely grateful. The situation could’ve
been a lot worse,” says Naudé, who
advises that once the smoke has cleared they will be able to assess the full
extent of the damage but that they plan to be back to ‘business as usual’ as
soon as possible.
“We
are anticipating more smoke damage than actual fire damage – but at this stage
we cannot ascertain exactly how bad it will be.”
The
fire that threatened the historical monument of Groot Constantia is now being
contained in the forest area above the cellar and the Wildfire Services are
doing everything in their power to keep it there.
“We
are so very grateful to the Volunteer Wildfire Services
for saving Groot Constantia and we implore Capetonians to support them by
making monetary donations via the Givengain foundation which will keep the
firefighters going and keep the helicopters in the air,” concludes Naudé.
For more about
Givengain visit http://www.givengain.com/cause/2486/