Meerlust Estate

Enjoyable visit and nice wine tasting, especially the Chardonnay. Good to see the obviously personal touches in the visitors centre, certainly adds something to the experience.

The Rubicon is not worth the money anymore, and I think if you can pick up a good bottle of Red (deemed not good enough for Rubicon but half the price) then you are in business. However you cannot help but get lyrical about the place, the history and art. The entire range stands up well, I do like the chardonnay

Incredible red wines stunning. Service also very good although very busy.

The history of this farm can be intimidating but the friendly staff made it so easy to enjoy the fabulous wines and richness the farm has to offer. Early on a Saturday morning it was already very busy – I was quite amazed.

@Ellelinx le Heever – Great to hear that they are back on track with their top notch service.

First time visiting Meerlust (6 May 2010)…what an experience!!! Lovely farm, very personal. Tasting room service was warm, friendly and very proffesional! The lady at the front showed us the historic timeline of the Estate. 8 generations owned by the same family…WOW! The lady hosting the wine tasting was very informative and well spoken. She gave us all the info needed for us to appreciate and enjoy their wines even more. If you are looking to visit a winery with welcoming service, personal atmosphere and fantastic wines produced in the old world style, then I recommend going to Meerlust.

I’ve always experienced great service at Meerlust but on 29 April 2010 (Thursday, 11am) I felt embarrassed with the service that we received. I decided to take 2 friend from Amsterdam to the winelands and Meerlust was our first stop. On arrival the lady behind the counter informed us that she need to assist the guests that were there with payment, informed us that it’s R30 for 3 wines, pour the wines and said that if we are done we can just come to the front to pay for our tasting.

We tasted the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Rubicon. The lady never return although the guests were long gone. We literally downed our wine because my friends said that they did not feel welcome and as we walked to the counter to pay for our tasting I mentioned to the lady that we have learned absolutely nothing about the farm and it’s heritage. She said that she’s sorry, but she’s alone there…..we were the only people in the whole tasting room. She took our money and never even bother to give us any additional information. Why the hell do they employ people who clearly does not want to work? She made no effort what so ever to make us feel at home and we all saw the tasting as a big waste of our time. I really wanted to take my foreign friends to some iconic estates and I’ve always thought Meerlust is one, but this experience left me really disappointed and embarrassed.

I visited the farm at 10.30 on a Saturday morning and was absolutely flabbergasted at how busy it was so early – opening time 10 am. Clearly a very popular place. I enjoyed the old world feel of the farm and the converted outbuilding into a tasting area. The tasting attendant was knowledgeable and she opened some older wines – including a 98 Merlot en magnum and a 94 Rubicon. You also get why the wines are so talked about. They are amazing. Worth a visit for sure.

My first South African tasting experience (I’m here for 5 months, so many more to come) and I couldn’t hope for a better place to start. As said, nice ride through the ‘tree lane’.
Very friendly young lady, and I got plenty of Stellenbosch information from the guy at the entrance.
The Rubicon and the Pinot Noir are the ones to remember. Always good to see small, family owned farms delivering great quality.

Excellent wines, altough they are a bit pricey. The one host was friendly and informative but the other one was one of the worst I have ever seen.

Beautiful winery. The Rubicon is great!

yet again im back here, a great vineyard, yes the Rubicon is over 200 Rand but this Rubicon does better than some original French Bourdeaux blends, enough said… a lovely setting with a Pinot Noir thats worth buying!

Loved the drive down to the main building. Beautiful. Palm tree, normal tree, palm tree, normal tree, palm tree . . .

Pity we couldn’t meet Hannes Mybergh. From what we were told by Lourens (who was as cool as the awesome varieties of wines on offer) Hannes sounds extremely interesting. His fascination with art is what really catches the eye when you enter the tasting garage trough a modest courtyard. The walls are covered with posters and copies which adds to the suave atmosphere. You almost feel like you’re in another country.

Enough about the décor. The wines . . . mmm. Merlot 2005 vs. 1998 – both are fantastic in their own right. The Cab Sauv 2004 vs. 2005 – both have faint spices playing ring-a-ring-a-rosies with your tongue. Luved it!

Yip, like the name says: Ek’s lus vir nog meer, en nog meer, en ….

{m}

Visited there yesterday, buildings needs some major tlc. The guy who met us were not helpfull at all. He said we should wait as the tasting room was quite busy, and promptly went back to his pc. After half ann hour he asked if we did the tasting yet, while we were standing all the time about 10 meters in front of him. Very very unproffesional. The women, Leana, doing the tasting, were,helpfull, friendly and shared her knowledge with us. The wines were great, cabernet sauvignon the best. Definetly visit again, but only if Leana are there. The other guy should definetly get a new job, maybe an undertaker!!!

Very well educated staff who know a lot about their wines. The wines are great just the prices are a draw back but i suppose you gotta pay for quality.

Meerlust is situated in a beautiful setting and it really feels as if you are visiting an historical wine farm in the heart of the Stellenbosch Hills. Living up to their well known and prestigious name, the host was very informative and friendly and gave us a rundown on the history of the farm. The prices of the wine are quite high, but at least they have a good reason. Wine is produced in very expensive barrels that are made from New French oak. The price per barrel is R14 000. We had a go at the Rubicon, which I thought was a bit overrated for the price, but still nice. For the first time we invested in a bottle of wine that was more than R150. That must count for something!

one of my favorite vineyards, classic setting, excellent wines all the time!

well educated staff, well rounded wine. maybe stick to what you know and that is red wine! definatelly worth a visit

Meerlust is a very old, classic and beautiful wine estate. Their wine is well known and of excellent quality. If you haven’t been there yet, I would say that you should put it on your list of places that you ‘must go to’.