Drink A Toast To Muratie Estate, SA’s Pioneer Of Pinot Noir, And Enjoy Kim Melck’s Slow-Roasted Pork Belly

Raise a glass of Muratie George Paul Canitz Pinot Noir and drink a toast not only to this beautiful cultivar, but to Muratie Estate, South Africa’s first producer of Pinot Noir.

 

It is George Paul Canitz, after whom the Muratie Pinot Noir is named, whom we have to thank for the Cape’s first Pinot Noir. GP Canitz, famous artist, avid horseman, bon vivant and former owner of Muratie, together with prominent viticulturist, Professor Abraham Perold (who created Pinotage), planted the first Pinot Noir grapes, at Muratie, in 1927, and produced the first ‘Burgundy’ in Stellenbosch. “Muratie Burgundy is bottled sunshine; it gladdens the heart and loosens the tongue!” Such were the words of the charismatic Canitz who had a fine palate for Pinot.

 

After George Paul Canitz’s death, his beloved daughter, the fiercely independent, intrepid Alberta Annemarie (after whom the Muratie Merlot is named), farmed Muratie on her own until at the advanced age of 87, having no descendants, she sold the farm to Ronnie Melck in 1987. One of the first female wine farm owners in the country, she fiercely protected Muratie’s legacy, keeping the farm unchanged, a tradition that has been preserved by the Melck family.

 

George Canitz’s Pinot Noir legacy at Muratie was continued by the late Ronnie Melck - one of the great characters of the South African wine industry, with a legendary palate, a passion for wine, a real joy for life and a wonderful sense of humour, always liked to say, “Pinot Noir is, quite simply, the world’s best party wine”, and he would surely know.

 

With the release of the 2009 vintage of Muratie’s Pinot Noir, Rijk Melck, son of Ronnie and current custodian of Muratie, paid tribute to South Africa’s father of Pinot Noir, George Paul Canitz, by renaming the Muratie Pinot Noir in his honour. At Muratie every wine tells a story. Passionate guardians of Muratie's prized heritage as one of the oldest farms in South Africa, the family is committed to preserving the essence of a bygone era - upholding the age-old traditions of the farm, safeguarding the historic buildings, relics and memoirs, and acknowledging all those who came before. All the Muratie wines have been named after these remarkable characters, each wine with its own enchanting story described on the back label.