page_title: Oude Molen Distillery
section_title: René Santhagens
hierarchical_section_title: Oude Molen Distillery / History / René Santhagens
caption_attribution_description: English: Oude Molen, Bosman's Crossing, Stellenbosch, South Africa
context_page_description: Oude Molen Distillery is the home of Oude Molen Cape Brandy and is situated in the Elgin Valley near the town of Grabouw in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
  The area is part of the Elgin Wine of Origin district and is home to several celebrated wine estates.
  The distillery is open to the public by appointment.
context_section_description: The distillery was established by René van Eibergen Santhagens, born in Batavia in 1864. He was adventurer, explorer, cavalry officer and chemical engineer.
  René became passionate about wine and brandy after a stay in France on the estate of the Marquis de Pellerin Latouche in Cognac. It was here that he fell in love with the Marquis' daughter, Jeanne de Pellerin de la Fouche, whom he later married.
  In 1897, he answered an advertisement for a distiller in the South African Republic (later the Transvaal Province). Alois Hugo Nellmapius had obtained a concession from President Paul Kruger to erect a distillery near Pretoria. To ensure high quality standards, the distillery had advertised the position to cognac makers. Thus it was that Santhagens arrived on the goldfields of the Witwatersrand, with his own curvaceous alembic copper pot stills in tow. The distillery was a success, but production was halted during the South African war, and was abandoned thereafter. 
  
  In 1903 René moved to the Cape and shortly afterwards Jeanne, his wife-to-be, arrived with her father, the Marquis. By this time he had convinced most of the wine farmers of the area that his distillation methods were superior. In 1909, Santhagens purchased a farm called Oude Molen in Stellenbosch, in the shadow of the Papegaaiberg mountain. In time, Santhagens revamped the simple, single storey tin-roofed house into a double-storey mansion with a thatched roof and gable. The fashionable couple became prominent figures in Stellenbosch and Cape society.
caption: The original Stellenbosch distillery.
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