In the February issue of Falstaff, a selection of Muratie wines were rated in a wine tasting, with excellent results.

Muratie Wine Estate's Iconic Wines Lauded Locally and Internationally.
Including Platter's 2013 Superquaffer of the Year for Melck's Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2011. The array of prestigious local and international awards won this year by Muratie Wine Estate underlines the significance of their recent rejuvenation. This included improved viticultural practices and the refashioning of the cellar, both to enhance the quality of their wines, yet at the same time adhering to the Melck family’s deep respect for the Estate’s rich heritage.

Welcome at the Greater Simonsberg Conservancy.
The Conservancy is situated in the heart of the Cape Winelands along the slopes of the iconic Simonsberg Mountain in Stellenbosch. The GSC was initially established by private landowners under Cape Nature’s Stewardship Programme as the Klapmutskop Conservancy in 2004, with five founding wine farms (Delheim, Elsenburg, East Hill, Le Bonheur and Warwick) all huddled around the Klapmutskop.

Having been granted to Laurens Campher in 1685, Muratie is one of the earliest of the Cape’s Wine Estates. Some things change at Muratie, some things stay the same. The tasting room and cellar sales rooms are exactly as they were when Muratie was farmed by the feisty Annemarie Canitz, whose father George Paul Canitz bought the farm in 1927. He was a friend of Abraham Perold and the story goes that Perold took the cuttings of Pinot Noir from Muratie at the time that he was crossing the grape with Hermitage, now known as Cinsaut, to create Pinotage.

Dear friend of Muratie

It is hard to believe that we are nearing the end of the 8th month of the year. The year seems to have passed by in a haze.

In spite of Being caught up in all the doom and gloom about global depression, global warming, labour unions wagging the dog and losing the Super 15, we at Muratie have been rather industrious, particularly on the marketing front...

Our proud winemaker, Francois “Hoed” Conradie, proved his mettle yet again walking away with his Michelangelo Grand D’Or – aka DOUBLE Gold – for his 2008 Vintage Port.

He won an additional gold medal for his Isabella Chardonnay 2010 and silver for the Merlot 2007 and Melck’s Red 2010.

Without doubt the centre of the Cape wine universe, Stellenbosch boasts a myriad of producers, varieties and styles but only a handful are dedicated to the most fickle red variety of them all – Pinot Noir.

Those who can be singled out for particular dedication to the grape include Meerlust, Muratie, Vriesenhof and relative newcomer Pepin Conde, all of whom are beginning to master – if it’s possible - the heart break grape.