Muratie Ben Prins Cape Vintage 2018

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.

Ben Prins, after which this wine is named, was Muratie’s winemaker until 1987. He was a hard-working, no-nonsense man – a perfectionist and a traditionalist – who reportedly considered shoes to be ‘unnecessary novelties’. This Port-style liqueur wine is made from traditional Port varieties (Tinta Barocca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Francisca and Souzão) that were planted in a single vineyard in the 1970s to produce a unique ‘field blend’.