The legend of Meerendal's wine and bread began in 1702 in a vast and fertile landscape on the slopes of the Tygerberg Hills. More than 300 years later the mystery lives on through families and friends, who visit its grounds and join in the spirit of relaxed lunches, superb dining and celebratory events.

Cellar master Liza Goodwin coaxes award winning wines from hand tended vineyards. These noble varieties include Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinotage, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinot Noir.

It's where our chefs turns Meerendal's fresh produce into moments of magic, filled with natural flavour and the wonder of outstanding preparation, inspired presentation and a love of cooking. Meerendal has truly become the hub of activity for all those special moments with weddings, launches, private functions, meetings and events with its stunning views over the vineyards and the Boland mountains,

Meerendal dates back to 1702 when Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel granted the farm to Jan Meerland. It took a mere 12 years for Meerland's widow, Christina Stans to successfully cultivate 60 000 vines on the farm.

When the Starke family bought the farm in 1929, only a small vineyard existed.  However it displayed Meerendal’s potential as a wine farm and consequently, some of the wheat fields were replaced by vineyards in the early thirties. In his book on Estate Wines of South Africa, Graham Knox refers to the first block of Shiraz planted by the Starke Family in 1932. The first Meerendal Shiraz was bottled in 1969.

Similarly Meerendal was one of the first farms to plant Pinotage vines, the very successful variety that was developed by Professor Perold at the University of Stellenbosch in 1925. We are proud to nuture one of the oldest existing Pinotage vineyards that was planted in 1955 here at Meerendal and that is used to produce our Heritage Block Pinotage. The first Meerendal Pinotage was also bottled in 1969.

When the Wine of Origin legislation was introduced in the South African Wine Industry on 1 September 1973, Meerendal was one of the first 14 farms to be awarded Wine Estate status.

The Estate was purchased from the Starke family in 2004 and the vision since then has been to develop the farm into one of South Africa’s top wine estates.

The unique location and terroir of Meerendal, in one of the coolest wine regions in the Western Cape, is ideal for the variety of noble cultivars that have been planted here: Shiraz, Pinotage, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. A new vineyard of Pinot Noir has been established in 2008, while additional Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay vineyards have been added in the past few years. The high quality of grapes produced, together with modern cellar techniques, ensures fine Meerendal Estate wines of excellent quality.  Meerendal’s gracious Cape Dutch homestead, which has been extensively restored, is a landmark in the Durbanville area.