In 1685 a "certain piece of land" was allocated to a German soldier called Lourens Campher. The Governor at the Cape, William Adriaan van der Stel, instructed Campher to "beplant, bepoot & betimmer" the area. In his first year he planted one bag of wheat and harvested 8 bags. By harvesting the wheat he could pay his yearly tax.
The first house Campher built has survived till present day. If one stands in front of our cellar door and look towards the right, at 2 o'clock, the little white building was his house. Outside the house there is an old oak tree that was planted by Ansela and Lourens.
Whilst Campher was a soldier he met a slave girl who used to look after the "Compagnie Garden". This girl's name was Ansela. Her mother was captured in Angola and brought to the Cape as a slave.
Ansela was born in the Castle - the child of a black Angolan girl and a soldier based at the Cape.
Ansela met Lourens Campher whilst she was tending to the gardens in and around the castle.
Campher moved out to the farmland given to him by Governor van der Stel. This piece of land was one of the first mountain farms at the time.
From 1685 - 1699 Campher used to walk on foot to Cape Town to visit Ansela in the slave quarters. During this time Ansela had 3 children by him.
On the 28th of June 1699, after having been christened, Ansela was set free. Campher fetched her the following day and together they were the first family to farm what would later be known as Muratie.
In 1763 Martin Melck bought Muratie for his daughter, Anna Catherina. At the time, Melck owned Elsenburg, Uitkyk and Knorhoek.
Anna Catherina lived on Uitkyk in the Manor House there. They built the house on Muratie for the Manager of the farm (Today the main house).
The farm stayed in the Melck-Beyers family for approximately one century before being sold off.
In 1926 a German artist got lost whilst out riding on his horse. As he rode up the valley he found the old manor house in a slightly neglected state. Being an artist by profession, he immediately fell in love with the charm of the place.
He managed to buy the neglected estate and immediately infused some of his Bohemian flair.
In 1927 they planted the first Pinot Noir vines in South Africa.
As an artist who trained in Paris in the early 1900's, he continued to paint, have exhibitions, sell a few paintings and slowly started developing the estate. Most of the paintings in the cellar were done by G.P. Canitz. The painting behind the cellar table is the one used for our Amber Forever wine - she was on of Canitz's models and probably his mistress as well.
G.P. Canitz passed away in 1958. His daughter, Annemarie (Annemie) took over from her father. She was one of the first female wine farm owners in South Africa.
The winemaker in her time was the "barefoot winemaker" called Ben Prins. Prins was an absolute teetotaller. He made wine here until 1987.
In 1987 the farm was sold to Ronnie Melck (One century later the farm is back in the Melck fold).
In 1988 a replanting programme was commenced, some minor alterations done to the cellar, as for the rest, the philosophy at Muratie is to stick to as much traditional methods and values as possible
