The home of the legendary Ronnie Melck, home of the first SA pinot noir and preserver of 40 year old cob webs…a absolute must see…great shiraz, and amazing atmosphere…

This is a great wine farm to visit for a bit of history, a dose of great wine and a stack of cobwebs! The tasting room is next to the old fermentation tanks (which double as a restaurant) and does nothing to hide the fact that this is a small, family affair. From the pictures and cobwebs on the walls, the pages and artefacts that reflect its past, the piano (that David will play for you if he isn’t too busy) and the two arm chairs to the friendly and knowledgeable staff, Muratie is quirky enough to be intriguing and authentic enough to be quite fascinating. The cobwebs really are something – so be warned but by all accounts the spiders seem to be quite friendly.

The wines are more expensive than the latest Tops special, but it’s a boutique winery and the prices are more than justified. In fact, I’d say it’s good value for money. At R75, the Cape Ruby is a steal and the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz are fabulous.

The restaurant next door is possibly one of the coolest places I’ve ever visited. The fact that trendoids aren’t banging the doors down is beyond me – I guess it’ll happen in due course. Until then, phone ahead and book a ‘traditional farm lunch’, which if it’s lamb shank or neck is perfect with the Shiraz. Tartaric acid on the walls and ceiling, paintings of the mistress and limited seating mean a repeat visit for most.

Been here many times, nice little wine farm hidden away well, so you can’t get there unless you really want to. Worth it!

Nice to visit, but wines are very expensive.

One of my very favourite wine farms in South Africa, authentic, historic and great wines. Always been a favourite since i first sampled their Merlot years ago and their 2003 Shiraz was something really special, see our wine blog http://blog.travelconcepts.co.za/wine

If you visit the winery also make sure you take into the old manor house, its like being transported back in time!!

Expensive and unfriendly. Not my recommendation

History in every glass. The port is not the only gem worth tasting.

Enjoyed Ansella van de Kaap my favourite wine.

My 90th farm and how appropriate!! Loved It!! Is Annandale slightly Muratish or is Muratie slightly Annandaleish? Mmmm – I would like to think that they both deserve the title of being unique in their own right. In this case, I guess that with a lot of history come a lot of character and drama and with these questions that we hit our hostess, Christine, with. Being her first day on the job, and an aspiring Pilates instructor, I must say that she did quite well to keep us entertained. The scariest was that she looked like the portrait from 1605 behind her. Rustic Royalty and wines to match.

Love the authentic cobwebs. The Ansela is just gorgeous, but I found the port a little too much like cherry suckers for my taste. Atmosphere is great, staff are very friendly and knowledgeable.

I love this place and almost expect to find a rocking chair with Miss Haversham covered in cobwebs and Pip rustling up some bread & cheese. The staff are unbelievably friendly and so enthusiastic about their wines. Clearly they love this place as much as I do. The Ansela never disappoints.

Great old settings. Nice wines and nice host

This is one of my favourite estates because of the history of this farm. They have presented this in a brilliant way with attention to small details that make you feel this farm has been going to hundreds of years. There are old bottles of wines with wine evaporating from the bottles, many thick spiderwebs on the ceilings and a tasting room that feels damp and cold on a hot summer’s day. On top of this the wines are really tasty.

Old school setting great coz of the farm like feel but we kept thinking that some huge spiders where going to pop out and bite us.
the Melck’s red is good and the service was good and we felt at home because they were all campus buddies

Muratie looks like a fairytale from the outside with small old buildings and big old trees……but on the inside you can experience your worst nightmare if you have a fear for spiders! Never in my life have I seen so many spiders and spider webs in one place. Some of the spider webs date back as far as 70 years……………. FREAKY!!!!

Needles to say, we had to drink as much wine as possible to take our attention away from the nightmare that was playing off around us. Luckily that was not a problem, because the wine was fantastic! The price that you pay for the wine is worth every cent. Our host Wikus was awesome. One can see that he has a passion for wine and that made him one of the best hosts that has served us up to date. We even forgot about the spiders.

What a fascinating history this farm has – steeped in erotic encounters! On account of the heat we ate the prebooked picnic lunch indoors. It was good for the price but needs some changes. There was too much cheese (6 of us took doggy bags of cheese back) and not enough veg and varied carbohydrate. The bread was world class but should have been supplemented by more biscuit or bread roll offerings. Bright red baby tomatoes and other raw vegetables in season such as raw red, green or yellow peppers would have made it more varied and appetising. We left some of the salami. The melon was good. I would go back again for a lunch at R75 per head sharing, which is great value for the meal and the ambience, but only if they put more thought and creativity into the picnic. Hopefully it would save them some money because the above suggestions with less cheese and salami should more than compensate for the cost of greater variety.

I have visited countless estates and Muratie is one of the few that I return to. The ambience is truly unique and drags you back in time. Their flagship wine – Ansela van der Caab – is indeed the best of their offerings as it isn’t as heavy as other reds (esp the Cab Sav). The Melk’s range also represents good value for money.

Thanks for the wine tips Wikus. As they say: sharing is caring!
(One of the most beautiful Wine farms in the country)