Muratie Wine Estate

There are older farms in the Cape Winelands, but few can match Muratie for the sheer density of its history. The story begins in 1685 when Simon van der Stel, Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, granted the land to a German soldier named Laurens Campher. Campher built a modest homestead on the slopes of the Knorhoek Valley near Stellenbosch, and he and Ansela van de Caab — a woman of Cape Malay descent who became his life partner — planted the first vines. The oak tree they planted together still stands on the estate today, a living witness to more than three centuries of winemaking.

The Melck family's connection to Muratie stretches back nearly as far. In 1763, Martin Melck — a Prussian immigrant who became one of the Cape's greatest landowners and most influential stock-and-wine-farmers — purchased the property, then known as De Driesprong. After Martin's death in 1781, the farm passed through his daughter to the Beyers family, remaining in the Melck-Beyers line for a continuous 134 years until 1897.

The twentieth century brought turbulence. Muratie changed hands several times and fell into neglect before being restored by the artist George Paul Canitz, whose bohemian presence filled the old cellar with paintings, music, and the aroma of port wine. When Canitz died, the estate needed a steward who understood both its commercial potential and its irreplaceable heritage. In 1987, Ronnie Melck — a South African wine industry legend and direct descendant of Martin Melck — purchased Muratie and returned it to the family. His son Rijk Melck, who gave up a medical practice in Stellenbosch to take over, now leads the estate with a commitment to honouring the past while producing wines of modern distinction.

The wine portfolio at Muratie is unlike any other in the Cape, because every wine is named for a character from the estate's history. The Ansela van de Caab is a Bordeaux-style red blend honouring Laurens Campher's partner. The George Paul Canitz Pinot Noir commemorates the estate's artist custodian — Muratie was the first producer of Pinot Noir in South Africa. The Ronnie Melck Shiraz honours the man who brought the estate home. The Martin Melck Cabernet Sauvignon Family Reserve represents the Prussian patriarch. The Lady Alice MCC celebrates another chapter in the estate's story. The Isabella Chardonnay, Alberta Annemarie Merlot, Laurens Campher White Blend, and Melck's Sauvignon Blanc complete a range that reads like a family album.

Winemaker Hattingh de Villiers, who has led the cellar since 2014, works with the estate's old vineyards and traditional methods to produce wines that carry the weight of Muratie's heritage without being burdened by it. The estate also holds a special place in South African wine history as a producer of fine ports and one of the earliest sites for Pinot Noir cultivation.

Visitors to Muratie encounter a working wine farm that feels unchanged by time — dusty cellar, cobwebbed bottles, paintings on the walls, and the sense that you are stepping into a story that has been unfolding for over three hundred years.