A Brand New, Old Vine Gem at Meerendal

Bennie Howard (left), Meerendal marketing manager and Cape Wine Master with Wade Roger-Lund, Meerendal Cellarmaster

Meerendal has revealed that there is a very special single row of Old Vines of Muscat d’ Alexandria next to the cellar. They have established the age of the wines to be close to 90 years, from looking back on photos in the Archives in Cape Town.

The single row of Muscat d’Alexandria

Planted in circa 1936, SAWIS (SA Wine Information Service) is currently finalising it for certification, after which we will register them with the Old Vine Project.

There are 25 vines and Rosa Kruger from the Old Vines Project, assisted last year to prune them to perfection! And the vines performed accordingly to give a good harvest in 2024.

The grapes were protected with bird netting from visitors and birds and the bunches were picked three weeks ago and dried on straw in order to make a straw wine from these grapes.

A small handpress was used to very gentle press all the juice from this small harvest of just a few hundred kilograms during the past week. The wine will be a very limited release.

One of the beautiful old vines at Meerendal

Meerendal was one of the first five producers to join the Old Vine project when it was formally started in 2016. The Heritage Block Pinotage at Meerendal was planted in 1955, and it is the oldest vineyard in the WO Cape Town district. The first wine made from this single vineyard was in 2005, when the vineyard was 50 years old.

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