The Franschhoek region is a relatively small area, but one with much tradition. In the two-year period between 1688 and 1690, 200 Protestant Huguenot immigrants fleeing from Catholic persecution in France arrived at the Cape. They were mainly settled at the upper end of the Drakenstein Valley, an enclave to which they first gave the name Le Quartier Francais (the French Quarter), subsequently known as Franschhoek (French Corner).

The general topography of the Franschhoek Valley resembles that of Paarl, though the average rainfall here is higher, at an annual 900 millimetres. The climatic and soil conditions vary considerably from one farm to another, and this, together with the differing geographical location of the vineyards (some riverside and some hillside), results in an unusually wide range of wines. However, Franschhoek has seen its problems, an outbreak of phylloxera in 1885, meant that the vines were replaced with fruit trees. Franschhoek is back to being a wine growing area, primarily due to a group called the Vignerons de Franschhoek being established in 1984.