The History of Wine - Cape Town - South Africa   In 1655 Wine farming started in the region of Cape Town.  The Dutch East India Company arrived in Table Bay Harbour with the ship "Leuwin" on 22 July 1655 with precious cargo on board - settlers from France.   The first Governor of the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck established a farm behind Table Mountain, which he named Wynberg.  In 1659, the first wine could be produced in South Africa, but the quality was not good.   The reason for this was because Jan van Riebeeck had no wine farmers, only settlers and seamen who had no knowledge of wine making.  Also, the ground quality and the position of the farm itself was not ideal.  These conditions made it unfavourable for successful wine production.   Wynberg - Cape Town   After Jan van Riebeeck passed over his governorship to Simon van der Stel, the governors started to focus their interests on the northern regions of Cape Town, a better region for wine farming.  Simon van der Stel established Stellenbosch, 50km from Cape Town.   In 1688 the first Huguenots arrived in Cape Town from France and founded Franschhoek, 25km from Stellenbosch.    In the area of Simonsberg large fruit and vegetable farms were established.  A small wine farm sprung up in this region, Schoongezicht (from 1914 Lanzerac), and on this farm the first "first class" wines were produced.