Introducing "Stories With Rijk", A Celebration of Muratie's Living Heritage

Honouring Heritage Month and frequent requests, Rijk Melck, passionate custodian of Muratie and entertaining storyteller, is starting a dedicated “Stories With Rijk” event at Muratie.

He will be hosting a wine tasting and sharing the estate’s rich, centuries-old heritage at a series of History Talks and Tastings.

The first event is taking place on Monday 25 September where you are invited to enjoy a fascinating celebration of Muratie’s living heritage and sip on Muratie’s icon wines, tasting history for yourself.

“Heritage is the golden thread that connects past, present and future”, says Rijk. “At Muratie it is more than our historical buildings and artefacts, and the famous residents immortalised by our wines. It is the stories of traditions and relationships that have endured through centuries, also values and a team culture that are actively nurtured as part of our living heritage.”

STORIES WITH RIJK

Date: Monday 25 September
Time: 11h00 – 13h00
Cost per person: R495 (includes History Talk, Wine Tasting and a branded Muratie glass)
Bookings: taste@muratie.co.za

Rijk will also be presenting “Stories With Rijk” at the Woordfees in Stellenbosch on 12 October, and more events will follow at Muratie in due course – so watch this space!

Muriate, the historic estate established in 1685 in the beautiful Knorhoek Valley north of Stellenbosch, is one of the oldest farms in South Africa. With this age comes a remarkable legacy passed on by the many extraordinary characters from the farm’s colourful past. Thanks to the Melck family’s passionate guardianship, Muratie is a haven of heritage.

Magnificent ancient oak trees guarding over the estate, and a white gabled memorial celebrating all the previous owners through the decades, greet you on arrival and set the scene for an enchanting experience.

The Muratie memorial

Wherever you are on the estate you cannot help being moved by a sense of the many generations who came before, whose stories still resonate among the old walls of a farm where it feels like very little has changed over the centuries. The unique old-world ambience is almost tangible, with the estate’s prized heritage captured in every nook and cranny. Historic buildings, crumbling statues, ancient wine-making equipment, the rickety cob-webbed tasting room, age-old stained-glass windows, original tartaric-encrusted fermentation tanks, antique carpets, original art, relics, artefacts, and memorabilia all adorn a unique and magical environment honouring a bygone era.

The Muratie tasting room

A multi-sensory wine experience awaits you at Muratie where ‘Every Wine Tells a Story’. The estate’s wines are named after the intriguing individuals from the past who moulded Muratie as we know it today, each wine with its own charming story described on the back label. Says Rijk Melck, “When you sip on our wines you are tasting history for yourself.”

“Each of our wines has its own unique personality and a fascinating tale to tell,” continues Rijk. “Our flagship white and red blends are named Laurens Campher and Ansela van der Caab, commemorating the first owner of Muratie and the remarkable love affair between him and the slave girl Ansela who eventually became his wife; Our Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz pay tribute respectively to our legendary forefather, Martin Melck who established Muratie’s Melck legacy in the 1700’s, and my father Ronnie, a seventh-generation direct descendant of Martin Melck, who turned a dream into reality when he brought Muratie back into the Melck fold in 1987; Our Pinot Noir is called George Paul Canitz after the famous artist and charismatic bon vivant who made the first Pinot Noir in South Africa; Muratie’s Merlot honours Canitz’s intrepid daughter, Alberta Annemarie, who, upon her father’s death in 1959, became one of the first female wine farm owners in the country; Our Lady Alice Cap Classique celebrates Lady Alice Stanford, who, as the wife of a senator who bought Muratie in 1909, was a high society hostess of note adept at turning every event into a dance party; and our Cape Vintage pays tribute to Muratie’s legendary barefoot winemaker, Ben Prins.”