One of our annual pilgrimages
is the Harvest Festival at Muratie. We love the people there and so enjoy this
very real and unpretentious festival each year. We were seated at the media
table in the shade and Marketing Assistant Jean-Mari Reyneke presented us with this huge sharing platter of cheese, samoosas,
superb rillette, bread, grapes, olives and pickles
Such a feast and there was
wine aplenty with magnums of the Muratie Red and some Laurens Campher
white blend to enjoy
Jean-Mari Reyneke, National
Sales & Marketing Manager Desmond Binneman and Michelle Stewart
Background music from the
band
Where you order and pay for
your lunch. They had a Curry, samoosas, platters, wraps and more
In the tasting room
Rijk Melck shows his wines to
Dutch visitors
Someone’s lunch order: Wraps
and a cheese platter
Inside the working cellar,
the winemakers were busy doing punch downs
Where to find them on social
media
Out on the terrace; it was very busy
A misty and muggy day with a
faint view of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill
What a treat, glasses of the
lovely crisp and dry 2016 Lady Alice MCC Rosé bubbly, made entirely from Pinot
Noir grapes,
so hints of strawberry. Served at the perfect temperature for a
warm day. Muratie planted the first Pinot Noir in the Cape
Good mousse too and a lovely brioche nose from the lees contact
Good glasses for Bubbly are
important
It’s a popular event for
media
Tractor rides through the
vineyards for everyone; the children love this
The Blended Red is soft, full
of berry fruit and quaffable and is made from
40% Shiraz, 30% Cabernet
Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 8% Tinta Barocca, 7% Cabernet Franc
Desmond Binneman, Nina Martin
and Retha Steenkamp at the bar
In the background a student from Hamburg who is
here for the harvest experience
The grape stomping
competitions. Who can fill the jug first? Stomp away!
The end gable of the old
Manor House
Desmond took us on a history
tour of the farm, starting under a 350 year old oak tree
The beehive in an old oak
tree. Looks like the bees were about to swarm?
The dates of ownership of
Muratie are on the wall
The original farmhouse, a small white building, was the first home that Laurens Campher built for his family in the 1680s
Beside the house is the oak tree planted by his wife, Ansela van de Caab
Beside the house is the oak tree planted by his wife, Ansela van de Caab
And, beneath the old plaster, they discovered the hen house
A view of the front of the
cellar from across the road
A lovely chandelier decorates
the modern part of the wine cellar
and they are running a small
still making Grappa from the grape must. Lynne can't wait to
taste it... John did and it is excellent
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