Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Vertical wine tasting at Muratie

The welcome board with the prices of the different tastings
A charming sign from past days
The front of the historic tasting room and cellar – the garden restaurant is on the right
The table laid for the vertical tasting of the Isabella Chardonnay, Ansela van de Caab Bordeaux blend and the Shiraz
Francois Conradie, the winemaker and farm manager, tells us about the Chardonnay we are tasting. Greg Landman on the left, Alan Mullins on the right
Also for tasting was a selection of some of Muratie’s best wines and ports
Owner Rijk Melck and Greg Landman, who writes for Country Life
The ‘layers’ of Isabella Chardonnay, ready for tasting - 2008 to 2012
Six glasses of Bordeaux Blend Ansela van de Caab - 2005 to 2010
A typical media tasting: visible, from left to right, are Philip van Zyl, Rijk Melck, Angela Lloyd, Lynne Ford, Joanne Gibson, Jan Laubscher, Anel Grobler, Maryna Strachan at the end of the table, Orielle Berry, Greg Landman and the back of Alan Mullins. All busy tasting and making notes on the wines
Francois shows us the new Muratie wine labels
Mike Bampfield Duggan of Wine Concepts
Kalinka Heyns
Alan Mullins of Woolworths
Francois Conradie, the winemaker and farm manager
Dr Rijk Melck, owner of Muratie, in his snazzy glasses
One of Rijk’s lovely German Shepherd dogs “Collapso Fatso” in front of the port barrels
It’s as good a place as any to store a saddle in the cellar. It has, apparently, been ridden at the occasional party
The day’s menu in the Cellar Kitchen
Lots of wine and lots of history in this cellar. The portrait is of Georg Canitz, Bohemian artist and previous owner of the farm, and the head is his sculpture of a young man who sat for him
Journalist Melvin Minnaar and Muratie PRO, Posy Hazell  having a good time...
.. .  discussing the industry and the wines
Kim Melck and her staff in the kitchen, preparing our lunch
The best lamb shanks we have ever had. Glazed with a sauce and simply cooked in a wood fired oven, served with grated carrots, peas and mashed potatoes.
Heloise Sykes and Kalinka Lombard with Mel Minnaar: "You don’t say!?”
The outdoor restaurant in the warm weather - a super lunch venue for a party of people from the Netherlands
A small ‘snug’ in the cellar building – apparently where Georg Canitz used to entertain the ladies he fancied
An old leaded glass window in the cellar tasting room
Alan Mullins’ driver, reading after his lunch in the cellar
More tasting and eating space in the cellar
A wonderful bit of old Cape wine history (cobwebs) and an amusing old sign from the 1930’s.
An old Dover stove under a portrait by Georg Canitz of a professor from Stellenbosch University

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

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