Riebeek West, inland of the West Coast, is Riebeek Kasteel’s sister town lying to the west. The town was the birthplace of General Jan Christiaan Smuts, who was born on the farm Bovenplaats, two kilometres north of Riebeek West on 24 May 1870, and served two terms as Prime Minister of South Africa.

Today there is a cement factory on Bovenplaats and the house in which Smuts grew up is preserved as a national monument. Surrounding the town are many well-known wine estates cultivating award-winning wine from grapes grown in the Riebeek Valley.

Allesverloren has become a renowned wine estate. The story of how the farm got its name is a sad one, but with a happy ending. In order to purchase tools or attend church, early farm settlers had to undertake a long and arduous wagon journey along primitive roads to Stellenbosch.

It was on their return from one such journey in 1704 that they found their houses burnt to the ground and the farm destroyed. Hence the estate’s sad name, “Allesverloren”, which means “all is lost”. The happy ending to the story is the thriving wine farm that has arisen despite the trying circumstances.