Pierre Joubert (viticulturalist)
Huguenot winemaker who founded villages in South Africa.
Pierre Joubert (1664–1732) was a Huguenot winemaker from La Motte-d'Aigues. At age 24, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he fled France for Rotterdam in the Netherlands, smuggling a Bible out of the country inside a loaf of bread—that Bible is now displayed at the French Huguenot Memorial Museum in Franschhoek, South Africa. The Dutch arranged for him to join the Huguenot refugee community of winemakers in South Africa, whom Dutch merchants relied on to supply wine to customers across the Indian Ocean. To help him settle, he received 28.20 pounds from the "Bavarian fund."
He departed Holland in March 1688 aboard the *Berg China*, a Dutch East India Company ship, and reached Table Mountain on 4 August 1688 after a three-and-a-half-month voyage. Near there, he founded the village of Provence, then Lamotte, followed by Bellingham, and in 1709 La Roque. Later he acquired the domain of L'Ormarins, originally created by fellow Huguenot Jean Roy from the Luberon, and eventually bought by billionaire Anton Rupert. During the crossing, his wife Suzanne Reyne died, along with 19 other passengers. He then married Isabeau Richard, a 20-year-old Breton woman who had just lost her husband. Together they had six sons and five daughters. One of their descendants became the grandfather of Boer general Petrus Jacob Joubert, who served as Transvaal's minister of justice, was an early shareholder in gold mines, and ran for president of the republic, losing to Paul Kruger.
Joubert's estates were quickly sold to merchant Gabriel Dutoit, but a great-grandson, Gideon Joubert, repurchased them in 1915. Pierre Joubert left behind a body of correspondence known as the Drakenstein correspondence.
Quick Facts
- Birth Date
- 1664
- Birth Place
- La Motte-d'Aigues, Provence
- Death Date
- 1732
- Death Place
- Cape Colony
- Occupation
- winemaker
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Pierre Joubert left Holland in March 1688 aboard the Berg China, a ship of the Dutch East India Company, reaching Table Mountain on 4 August 1688 after a three-and-a-half-month voyage. Near Table Mountain he founded the village of Provence, then Lamotte, Bellingham, and in 1709 La Roque, and later the domain of L'Ormarins (created by Jean Roy, another Huguenot from the Luberon, later bought by billionaire Anton Rupert). During the crossing, his wife Suzanne Reyne died, along with 19 other people. He subsequently married a 20-year-old Breton woman, Isabeau Richard, who had just lost her husband. The couple had six sons and five daughters; one daughter became the grandmother of Boer general Petrus Jacob Joubert, who served as minister of justice of Transvaal, was an early shareholder of gold mines, and was a candidate for the presidency of the Republic, defeated by Paul Kruger.
Reader's Guide
Pierre Joubert's significance lies in his role as a Huguenot refugee who transplanted French winemaking to South Africa under Dutch sponsorship. The Dutch East India Company relied on Huguenot winemakers to supply wine to customers in the Indian Ocean, and Joubert received 28.20 pounds from the 'bavarian fund' to settle. His founding of multiple villages—Provence, Lamotte, Bellingham, La Roque—and his association with L'Ormarins established a lasting viticultural footprint in the Cape region. The estates were quickly sold to merchant Gabriel Dutoit, but a great-grandson, Gideon Joubert, repurchased them in 1915. Joubert's legacy is preserved through the French Huguenot Memorial Museum in Franschoek, South Africa, which displays the bible he smuggled out of France in a loaf of bread, and through his Drakenstein correspondence, which documents the early Huguenot wine community.
Did You Know?
- Pierre Joubert smuggled a bible out of France hidden in a loaf of bread, now displayed at the French Huguenot Memorial Museum in Franschoek, South Africa.
- His voyage from Holland to Table Mountain on the Berg China took three and a half months.
- One of his descendants was Boer general Petrus Jacob Joubert, a candidate for president of the Transvaal Republic.
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