The good news is that many Cape wine farms are reporting that 2022 has had a great harvest (it has been a long slow cool year with a little heat excitement at the end) and that it will be a good vintage. We love harvest time and being invited to harvest celebrations, so accepted when we were invited by Rijk Melck to attend Muratie’s second Summer Wine Down on Saturday 9th April to celebrate another fruitful harvest. The last two years have seen a very long period of trials and isolations, so it was so good to see peoples' unmasked faces and have a good laugh at life and its twists and turns. We have survived. So far
Lawrence White, Desmond Binneman, Jean-Mari Reyneke and owner Rijk Melck,
members of the Muratie team, who informed and entertained us on the day
We walked down to Granny's Garden area where they had arranged for the media to meet
and were welcomed and entertained by Rijk Melck with some farm history
The farm itself dates back to 1685 when it was granted by Governor Simon van der Stel
who was Governor of the Cape of Good Hope at the time
This makes Muratie one of the oldest estates in South Africa
and along with that age come many characters and truly fascinating stories
Rijk is an excellent story teller. He talked about the continuity in how Muratie has worked and had us engrossed
His ancestor, Martin Melck, bought the farm in 1763 and the family owned it until 1897
After 90 years under other owners, Rijk's father, Ronnie Melck, bought it in 1987
Muratie's first owner, Laurens Campher, who owned the farm from 1685 to 1735, was a mercenary
who came from Germany to work for the VOC, which had established a revictualling station at the Cape
Rijk told us that Campher met Ansela van de Caab, child of a slave at the Castle, survivor of a ship wreck
and fell in love with her. He had a two day walk from Muratie to Cape Town to see his bride-to-be
before they could marry and live on the farm. Some of the buildings they built are still in use on the farm
Rijk told us that when it came to interviewing their winemaker Hattingh de Villiers,
he watched to see how Hattingh got on with Rijk's dogs
When he made a big fuss of the dogs at the first meeting, and the dogs responded,
Rijk knew he had the right man
A table of delights was there to feed us with a selection of cold meats, cheeses, lovely warm herb filled Italian Suppli
rice balls, biltong, samoosas, olives and savoury biscuits while we tasted the wines
Rijk told us that he did a stage in Burgundy on one of the famous wine estates and when it was time to come home,
the owner said to him "Grow Chardonnay", so he planted some
We tasted two vintages of Muratie’s Isabella Chardonnay, the 2020 and the 2021;
deservedly, both have been awarded 93 points by Tim Atkin
There is such richness on the nose and palate on both, the 2020 is full of butterscotch oak notes, vanilla and white peach
and, on the palate, full and zingy with lovely lime, lemon and peach
It was made in 30% new oak and they stop the malolactic fermentation
A wonderful expression of Chardonnay; one of the best we have ever tasted
And the 2021 was even better, delicious. Isabella is the name of Rijk's first daughter
The Lady Alice Cap Classique Rosé is usually made from 100% Pinot Noir and it spends 22/24 months on the lees
It has the classic red fruit Pinot Noir nose of cherries and strawberries with lovely fruit and lees complexity,
a lovely prickly mousse and, on the palate, the wine is crisp and dry,
full of the same cherry & strawberry fruit with long flavours
We found it very satisfying; lovely for a special celebration
Then followed two vintages of the Martin Melck Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2014 has a classic Cabernet nose, cassis, leaves and berries, perfumed with violets and roses
It is smooth as silk on the palate, with richness from black and red berries and cherries
Soft chalky tannins, careful wooding, minerality and good fruit acids will carry this wine further; keep or enjoy now
There is a pleasing hint of salty umami on the end palate
The 2017 is very similar on the nose with the same beautiful fruit and perfume
Silky and full of beautiful dark berry fruit, chalky with grippy tannins with flavours of cassis, mulberry and rhubarb fruit
Salty minerality and dark wood with umami flavours on the end
The Muratie Family Reserve 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon is also named for Rijk's ancestor Martin Melck,
who arrived at the Cape in 1746
It is clean and crisp with dark fruit on the nose. Richness of dark berry cassis fruit on the palate,
with layers of flavour, very satisfying, with toasted wood on the end. Such an obvious red meat and game food wine
Ansela van de Caab 2019 is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot
Dark berries and violets from the Petit Verdot and wood is present
On the palate, lovely layers of different flavours open up as you taste
You can distinguish the different varietals as they all come to the fore in an exciting wine,
full of adventure and needing exploration. It is drinking so well now but one to watch for laying down and aging. Superb
Tinotenda Micheal Madzunguruse was the cheerful and helpful sommelier on the day
After the tasting we were taken on a walk through the farm
and noticed the two new members of the Melck family, two Alpacas
and on our walk, we spotted a small distillery called 9 Orphans in one of the barns
It is for gin distillation, and is made by a brother and sister team. There are two very interesting flavours
The Eikesap is flavoured with acorns found on the farm - it has a nice nutty flavour on the classic juniper dry gin
Turksvy Gin is flavoured by Prickly Pear fruit which grows near the distillery and is slightly fruity with a hint of granadilla
Lynne tasted both and was most impressed, this is real distilled gin
(not flavoured spirits bought in and soaked in botanicals)
The Turksvy or Prickly Pear cactus in full ripe fruit
There are some bygones for sale in the adjoining barn with a sign from Oom Samie se Winkel, in Dorp Street,
a Stellenbosch landmark. This display refers to it
The shop is, in effect, a museum, giving an idea of the shops frequented by our forefathers
It was founded by Rijk's mother Annatjie Melck
New raised vegetable beds grow produce for the restaurant
The group then went into the wine cellar to see what was happening there
All those lovely end of summer smells of fermenting ripe grapes filled the air
and we could see the red Port grapes fermenting
Desmond Binneman showing us the grapes being fermented
Some sampling took place
Getting a feel for it, very sticky!
Anyone fancy stomping some grapes?
The garden restaurant was filling up with guests who had come for the celebration, with wine and lunch
Some were still enjoying a wine tasting
and the terrace was full of guests
Rijk talking to some guests
We were seated at the media table under the trees and more wine was opened for us to enjoy with lunch
A magnum of Ansela van de Caab 2018 - it was a beautiful expression of the wine -
and the Martin Melck Cabernet Sauvignon
The Lourens Campher is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Verdelho and Viognier
Richness, fullness, crispness, lovely ripe fruit flavours, a hint of wood
and some ripe peach sweetness from the viognier, so quaffable with food or without
The farm tractor, for taking people on trips through the vineyards
There were some great choices for lunch
John had the sliced steak topped with sweetcorn, shaved parmesan cheese and balsamic on a bed of salad leaves
The Muratie restaurant's new chef is Riaan van Schalkwyk and his food was very good. Lots of freshness
One of the very excellent looking burgers with bacon and mozzarella
It had him wondering if he had made the right choice, despite the side dish of mushrooms in a cream sauce
He is allergic to them
Lynne plumped for the fish, which was fresh hake covered in a crisp coating on a bed of Asian noodles
Dessert was a sharing plate with a selection of chocolate brownies, fresh raspberries,
small crisp koeksisters and spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream
The band played jazz all afternoon
Muratie has a great view over the Stellenbosch wine farms with Table Mountain in the distance
We enjoyed having another memorable day there
All our stories can be seen in the Blog Archive near the top of the column on the right
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