Rosé days at Muratie, the wine farm with a Table Mountain view

Asked to name my favourite spot in the Western Cape, I’d be torn between three idylls — the ridiculous beauty of the Cogmanskloof Pass between Montagu and Ashton, the ancient crags of Meiringspoort, and the vintage, distressed loveliness of Muratie, the first wine farm I ever visited as a 20-year-old.

To have been blessed to visit Muratie in 2025, 50 years later, has been a highlight of my year so far, although the year is certainly not up just yet.

In the early spring, Rijk Melck walked me through the remarkable spaces of this very special farm, which is full of character and stories, and where the people who once lived there are still celebrated.

Rijk is something of a historian. He told us that genetic studies had suggested links between Khoi/San populations and the Chinese, indicating possible ancient interactions. This against a much more recent backdrop of presumption that our colonial history started with Jan van Riebeeck, who spent hardly any time at all at the colony, a mere blip on our “early” landscape. Rijk, who in an earlier life was a GP, is a mine of information and observation on this and other parts of our history.

My favorite Muratie story will always be the love story of Ansela van de Caab and Laurens Campher, and how a girl born to a slave at the Cape Town Castle grew up in bondage but gained her freedom to wed Laurens, who soon became a free burgher. And whose tenure at Muratie is as essential to its story today as it was when they lived there.

We also discussed the mixed heritage of Simon van der Stel, and aspects of the man after whom Stellenbosch is named that relate to modern-day political scandals. Not in good ways.

On a sunnier note, the Melck family report that October means that life is bursting all over on their vines, and I’ve made a mental note to try to visit when the harvest begins in the new year.

They report: “To celebrate the new growing season and the altogether rosy atmosphere on the farm, we are offering an exciting promotion on the Johanna Rosé. This fresh, vivacious dry rosé is hugely popular and named after one of Muratie’s veteran residents, Johanna Davids, who fittingly is an expert flower arranger! It has a classical onion-skin colour and brims with red berry and cherry flavours and floral aromas.”

Cutting straight to the price, it’s R100 a bottle, and I can well imagine spending a lazy hour or two on their balmy patio with a view all the way to Table Mountain. I could not believe my eyes, quite literally, when Rijk pointed to the mountain a couple of months back.

The Farm Kitchen at Muratie has also prepared a new heritage menu for spring/summer, including caprese salad, biltong mushroom gnocchi, ostrich carpaccio, trout ceviche and more.

Johannes Richter is in jet-setting mode

In faraway Durban, The Richters, Johannes and Johanna, of The LivingRoom at Summerhill are well into jet-setting mode.

Johannes has become a magnet for the people who organise foodie events all over the world. Right now, Richter is cooking alongside Chef Norbert Niederkofler at the Ein Prosit festival in Udine, Italy, until Sunday.

Chef Niederkofler is famed for his Three-Star and Green Star Michelin restaurant, Atelier Moessmer, in Brunico, South Tyrol, in the Dolomites.

Richter, who has led the charge for sustainable cooking in South Africa, has long been inspired by Niederkofler, whose “Cook the Mountain” philosophy has become a global movement focused on hyper-local, hyper-sustainable cooking.

This marks the second Three-Star Michelin collaboration for Richter, the first being with Chef Himanshu Saini at Dubai’s renowned Trèsind Studio, which took place earlier this year.

Richter will also be part of  a fire-led feast, cooking alongside India’s Johnson Ebenezer, Belgium’s Willem Hiele, Portugal’s Vasco Coelho Santos, and Italy’s Gianluca Fusto.

After Ein Prosit, Richter, recently awarded two knives at the international Best Chef Awards, will spend time in Milan mentoring his sous chef, Luckson Mare, who will represent South Africa at the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Grand Finale from 28–30 October.

In November, he will be taking part in the 10th edition of Gastromasa in Istanbul, one of the most significant gastronomy conferences.

Indian hotel group moves into Kruger

Hidden inside the Taj Hotel in central Cape Town is an often overlooked Indian restaurant called the Bombay Brasserie. I visited a few times before leaving Cape Town 11 years ago, and I loved their food. 

Now the Taj Hotels group — they boast of being the “world’s strongest hotel brand” — is expanding into sub-Saharan Africa, with four luxury Kruger bush lodges among the plans.

Taj has acquired three bush lodges in the Greater Kruger National Park, including the Taj Lion Kings Bush Lodge (under renovation), and the Taj Lion Kings River Lodge, scheduled in early 2026. The third, Taj Lion Kings Hilltop Tented Camp, opens later. DM

To ask to be featured on this diary, contact Food Editor Tony Jackman at tony@dailymaverick.co.za