From the Loire Valley to Paarl

A Legacy Carried Across Oceans

Three centuries ago, on the wild, wind-swept slopes of the Klein Drakenstein Mountains, a young French couple stepped onto untamed soil. Philippe Foucher and Anne Souchay — Huguenot exiles fleeing persecution — had crossed an ocean with nothing but their faith, their skills, and a dream of freedom. Their voyage in 1687 lasted 100 days: it took the life of a brother, tested their endurance, and ended on a shore that would shape the rest of their lives.

Here, on land granted by Governor Simon van der Stel, they built a farm with a name that mirrored their own spirit — De Wildepaardenjacht, “The Wild Horse Hunt”. They tamed the soil, planted vineyards, raised children, and endured heartbreak. They buried two of their little ones within their first years. Here they toiled under a foreign sun, carving a life from stone and dust. And yet—their vines took root.

For centuries, their legacy lay beneath the surface, hidden in the rhythms of the seasons, the heartbeat of the earth. The farm passed through many hands, its story fading into the background, until history turned full circle. In 2017, Michelle and Hein became the new stewards of this land — unaware that Michelle carried the bloodline of Philippe and Anne. It was only later, in the telling of the Huguenot story, that the truth emerged: she is the 13th-generation descendant of Susanna Foucher, the daughter born on this very farm over 300 years before.

And so, a decision was made — a quiet act of homage. The estate once again bore the name of its French beginnings: La Luandière (pronounced la-loo-han-dee-yehr), the ancestral farm of the Foucher family in the Loire Valley. In this return, past and present are bound together. What was planted in courage by Philippe and Anne now flourishes in the care of their descendants, and each bottle of wine carries that lineage forward. It became not just a beacon of their heritage, but a living connection between continents and centuries — the spirit, the earth, and the descendants of exiles reborn as vignerons.

In the grand tapestry of South African history, the names of Philippe Foucher and Anne Souchay are not written in great capitals or feats of glory, but in the enduring spirit. Their journey — across an ocean, through loss to the heartbeat of belonging — is echoed in each bottle of La Luandière, and in the land that anchors it. It is a story for those who seek roots, who taste the past in the present, and who understand the quiet strength that endures, centuries on.