Muratie Amber Forever 2017 (375ml)

The Muratie Wine Estate is in the Knorhoek Valley north of Stellenbosch. The farm dates back to 1685 when it was granted by Cape of Good Hope Governor, Simon van der Stel to Laurens Campher, and is therefore one of the oldest estates in South Africa. It has had a succession of different owners over the subsequent centuries and since 1987 has been owned by the Melck Family Trust under the stewardship of Rijk Melck and his family.

Born into slavery at the Cape (her mother a slave from West Africa, her white father most likely a servant of the Dutch East India Company), Ansela van de Caab – after whom this wine is named – lived at the notorious Slave Lodge and worked in the Company’s Garden until her manumission in 1695, when the original owner, Laurens Campher, brought her home to Muratie, along with their three children. Standing in front of the cellar door at Muratie, there is a small white building, this was the first home that Laurens Campher built and beside the house is the oak tree which Ansela planted.

AMBER’S STORY
During the 1940s, when Muratie was owned by George Paul Canitz, the novel Forever Amber was published by Kathleen Winsor. Set in seventeenth–century England, it told the story of the orphan Amber St Clare, who rose through the ranks of British society by sleeping with increasingly influential men (King Charles II among them). Canitz insisted (almost too emphatically) that his fortified sweet wine was named after this fictitious character but the truth is that the renowned painter and worshipper of wine, women and song had an Amber of his own. She was his model and muse and her picture hangs in the Muratie cellar to this day. ‘To happy days and glorious nights, Forever Amber,’ was his famous toast.

Upon arriving at the cellar, the grapes are transferred into the press and left overnight to help extract those Muscat flavours. After inoculating with the desired yeast the fermentation is allowed to progress at a controlled rate and monitored closely until is reaches the desired sugar concentration. The must is then fortified with grape spirits at the critical time to leave plenty of residual sugar. Matured in older oak barrels for approximately two years before being bottled.