Summer means mountain views and rosé all day at lovely Muratie

Vines are sprouting all over the Western Cape, and balmy days beckon. And in KZN, The Living Room chef Johannes Richter and his sous chef show up to represent us in faraway competitions.

- By Tony Jackman

and Laurens Campher, and is now a museum in their honour.

(Photos: Tony Jackman)

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.