A trio of businessmen turned historic Meerendal into a delightful food and wine destination in the early 2000s, the farm now owned by one of them, Herman Coertze, with wife Aletta and family building on the farm’s reincarnation as a wine and food visitor oasis.
Contemporising History
Originally a wheat farm granted to Jan Meerland in 1702, Meerendal gained prominence as a wine farm in the course of the 20th century, under the ownership of the Starke family.
It was William Starke who built the manor house in 1936, embellishing it with two distinctly different Cape Dutch gables, and his son ‘Oom Kosie’ who put Meerendal on the wine map in the 1970s, notably with Pinotage and Shiraz.
William’s manor house, now restored, serves as the Meerendal Boutique Hotel, offering luxury suites and additional garden suites. The passage windows overlook a sunny courtyard (where meals are sometimes served in summer) and beyond to vineyards reaching up the windswept slopes of the Dorstberg.
These slopes have been identified as the ideal site for new plantings of Sauvignon Blanc and an exciting trial with tricky, cool-climate Pinot Noir. But the vineyards will only extend as far as the long-established cultivation line - the crown of the hill is being conserved for its rare renosterveld vegetation and the protection of a treasured small but growing herd of rhebok up in the kloof.
From the manor house’s front stoep, the view that stretches across lawns, dams and fields to the distant Simonsberg and Helderberg mountains is the same that would have greeted ‘Oom Kosie’ each morning as he set off down to the cellar.
Follow his footsteps down to The Cellar Door tasting room. A contemporary space in historic surrounds with wooden furniture and colorful kelims, this is where ‘Oom Kosie’ used to enjoy a glass of wine with his lunch.
When local businessman Herman Coertze and his compadres bought Meerendal in 2004, their plan was to develop the dilapidated family pile into a fine wine and food destination. And this they did, but without losing the farm’s links with the past. While ageing vineyards were replanted, shy-bearing old stalwarts were nurtured to produce small quantities of exceptional wines.
In the cellar, the original kuipe (open concrete fermentation tanks) are still in use for red wine, while stainless steel tanks and cooling equipment have been upgraded to improve the quality of the whites.
All of this was achieved under the watchful eye of winemaker Liza Goodwin, whose 10-year tenure bridged the property’s transformation before handing over to the new young team of winemaker Thys Smit and viticulturist Damien Cadle.
Bennie Howard, the veteran manager of the Nederburg Auction who was brought on board to manage Meerendal’s metamorphosis and still fondly recalls his annual visits to taste Meerendal’s wines with ‘Oom Kosie’.
Herman’s son Nick joins this threesome in sharing their expertise with participants in the Meerendal Wine Academy’s two-week programme of wine theory and hands-on vineyard and cellar work experience.
Flavours of Italy
A coterie of cooks turn out an eclectic range of dishes for Meerendal’s Mediterranean-styled eateries, all featuring locally sourced fresh produce and home-cured meats, farm cheeses and deli delicacies.
iL Tresoro (‘treasure’) offers fine Italian dining – starters like a creamy craft cheese ‘parcel’; mains including wild boar ragu with spinach gnocchi; desserts such as poached pear in méthode Cap Classique sparkling wine.
Wines to match may include any in Meerendal’s Prestige range in which the farm’s lauded pinotage stars in various incarnations: the rich, spicy Heritage Block Pinotage, made from bush vines over half-a-century old; the fresh, gently wood-treated Pinotage Vine; the locally unusual Intensio, pinotage made in the Amarone style of vine-dried wine made in collaboration with Italian winemaker Stefano Contini; the Sauvignon Blanc Natural Sweet dessert wine; or the farm’s own MCC Brut bottle-fermented bubbly.
Unsurprising then that iL Tresoro provides something special as a venue for small wedding receptions or milestone commemoration events, as well as a chef’s choice of Sunday lunch with a menu paired with selected wines or whiskies.
Carlucci’s Meerendal provides more casual, rustic Italian fare in rainy-day comfort (from thin, crispy wood-fired pizzas to gourmet burgers) or on a breezy summer sundeck with sweeping views across Durbanville’s farmlands.
On wind-still days, tables and umbrellas are set out on a lawn big enough to host an impromptu soccer game, with an extensive wooden climbing frame for the kids while the adults picnic or lounge in stylish rattan-furnished ‘gin pods’ to taste their way through Witley Neill’s range of craft gins.
Meerendal’s Farmstall & Bakery offers farm-fresh, home-made deli fare for picnics and take-away, also catering to vegetarians and vegans. When last heard, busy owner-chef Brendan Payze was contemplating his Crown Restaurant and Wine Bar.
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