A ride from our car to the Vergelegen manor House was most welcome!
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
Wednesday, March 05, 2014
Muratie Harvest Festival
Some of our
wine farms radiate the expense of money and sophistication and lots of bling.
At others you can see reality, the long
history and tradition marked on all their walls, echoed in their wines and
carried on by their owners and staff. Muratie is one of the latter and we love her for it. So missing her Harvest Festival each year is not an option. This took place on the farm last weekend and
we had a ball. Read on here and see the photos
First we were
welcomed by glasses of their Lady Alice MCC
Then it was
time to have a vertical tasting of three of their wines in the large cellar
room
Owner Rijk
Melck tells us about the plans for the farm since the very, very sad and sudden
death of their young winemaker Francois Conradie this year. Francois Haasbroek is assisting them in the
harvest and all the staff on the farm are putting their shoulders to the wheel
and helping where they can this busy year, as the grapes look fantastic and need
to be made into great wine
Then he told
us some of the interesting history of the farm in relation to the wine labels
and names
We had a
vertical tasting of three Muratie wines: Isabella Chardonnay, Ansela van de Caab red blend
and the Ronnie Melck Shiraz. These wines are growing in stature all the time and
you can see how well they mature when you taste the older wines, whites as well
as red
Some happy
festival attendees stomping some grapes
Little girls
having fun in the sticky mess of grapes and juice
The festival
crowd enjoying Muratie wines and lunch under umbrellas and oaks listening to
good music and just having a lot of fun
Young and old
Mike Bampfield
Duggan
Monika Elias
of the South African Wine Tourism Handbook
Our lunch was
a whopping beef burger and chips and some killer chilli poppers washed down
with Muratie's excellent Rose and their Pinotage
Owner Rijk
Melck, also enjoying his Rose
The rock band
that entertained us late afternoon
Sad horn
Lively horn
Good barbecue
chicken wings
Michelle
Stewart and Renee Bampfield Duggan having fun
The most
wonderful bunch of healthy grapes we have seen yet this harvest, right in the
car park!
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
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