Tulbagh

Tulbagh
Tulbagh Location in the Western Cape
Tulbagh
Coordinates: 33°17′6″S 19°8′16″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Cape Winelands
Municipality	Witzenberg
Area
• Total	3.52 km2 (1.36 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	6,507
• Density	1,849/km2 (4,790/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)
• Black African	20%
• Coloured	70.7%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	9.2%
First languages (2001)
• Afrikaans	78.5%
• Xhosa	18.0%
• English	1.7%
• Sotho	1.2%
• Other	0.6%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)

Tulbagh's main street with the Winterhoek Mountains beyond

Tulbagh is a town in the Tulbagh valley and is situated in the Witzenberg Local Municipality, with the valley called "Die Land van Waveren" locally. Closest towns are Wolseley, Prince Alfred's Hamlet, Gouda and Ceres in the Boland (Highland) district of the Western Cape Province, South Africa.

The valley has been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Bushmen and Khoi peoples. It was about 300 years ago when, after a land grant by the Dutch Colonial Government to a more or less equal number of Dutch and Huguenot settlers to settle the area, that the town of Tulbagh was founded. The town developed slowly and over time and in the period many notable examples of Cape Dutch architecture, Victorian and Edwardian houses and other buildings such as Die Oude Drosdy (the original colonial Magistrate's complex) were built in the valley. Many of these lovely buildings were destroyed in an earthquake in 1969 but quite a number did survive the catastrophe. Church Street in Tulbagh is now graced by the largest number of original Cape- Dutch, Edwardian and Victorian National Monuments in one street in South Africa and is a major tourist attraction of the town to the present day.

Tulbagh is situated in a bowl surrounded by imposing mountain ranges, with the Obiqua Mountains to the west, the Winterhoek Mountains in the north and the Witzenberg Mountains to the east. The valley experiences a mediterranean-type climate. The southern side of the valley is open to cooling south-east winds during the hot summer months. Accordingly Tulbagh enjoys some of the most diverse and attractive conditions for viticulture in the Cape, and the differences in terroir available to wine makers allow for a wide diversity of distinctive wines of excellence, attributes which have attracted many new producers to the valley.

Wine production

The historic winefarm Montpellier de Tulbagh near Tulbagh

Wine has been produced for many years in the valley on a commercial scale but only recently has this industry developed so rapidly. There are now numerous and some world famous wine estates producing award winning wines in the valley.

The importance of this industry for the valley is unquestionably substantial, so much so that many of the producers are now part of the Tulbagh Wine Route and this is attracting more and more tourists to Tulbagh who are eager to sample the fine wines produced by the members.

Many new vineyards have been planted and more private cellars are either being planned or being built to cope with the expected volumes of top quality wines being produced.

External links

Red wine maturing in oak barrels

• Tulbagh Information - a wealth of information