Hannes Myburgh, third from right, owner of Meerlust Estate, with the three winemakers in the estate's history: Chris Williams (2004 – 2019), Wim Truter (from 2020), and Giorgio Dalla Cia (1978 to 2003).
Meerlust Estate, globally recognised as one of South Africa’s leading premium wineries, earlier this month celebrated 50 years of wine production under its own label with a glittering function attended by wine people from around the world on the eve of Cape Wine 2025. This celebration, held on the estate, coincided with the release of the book Meerlust: Beyond the Rubicon, a detailed account of Meerlust’s wine history and future vision.
Despite having a history of viticulture and winemaking dating back to 1693, the first bottled Meerlust wine – Cabernet Sauvignon – was only made in 1975 under auspices of Nico Myburgh, the seventh generation Myburgh to own and manage Meerlust, which is today in the hands of his son Hannes.
Speaking at the commemorative event, South African wine authority Michael Fridjhon placed the achievement of 50 vintages in perspective. Fridjhon said that while Meerlust traces its winemaking back to more than three centuries, the past half-century represents a defining era.
“It was Nico Myburgh’s decision not to sell his grapes to cooperatives but as wine bottled under the Meerlust name that changed everything,” Fridjhon noted. “His first release, the 1975 Cabernet Sauvignon, arrived to wide acclaim at a time when the Cape wine industry offered few sparks of innovation and was still largely controlled by the KWV and other corporate wine bodies.”
The pioneering move quickly led to the development of what would become Meerlust’s signature wine, Rubicon. First produced in 1980, the Bordeaux-style blend announced South Africa’s potential to make world-class wines rooted in classical traditions.
Fridjhon highlighted the dynamic partnerships that shaped the brand. Nico, remembered for his quiet but resolute presence, worked alongside the ebullient winemaker Giorgio Dalla Cia to give Meerlust its early identity. After Nico’s death in 1988, his son Hannes Myburgh, having gained invaluable experience at Château Lafite Rothschild in Bordeaux, assumed stewardship of the estate.
“Hannes would have had time to prepare mentally for the task which lay ahead of him,” said Fridjhon. “Crucially he had spent much of 1983 at Chateau Lafite Rothschild under the wing of Eric de Rothschild. I don’t think Hannes needed Eric to hone his aesthetic sensibility, but I have no doubt that he found it extraordinarily liberating to observe the proprietor of a great estate and the custodian of its legacy in action. I think that it was in this period that he discovered that it was both possible and desirable to allow your own personality to express itself despite the burden of past generations. In that sense I believe that Eric was an important mentor and model for Hannes for when he took over at Meerlust and began making his own decisions about charting its future course.”
Since Dalla Cia’s retirement in 2003, Meerlust has seen only two more winemakers: Chris Williams (2004 – 2019), who modernised cellar practices for a new millennium, and current cellarmaster Wim Truter, whose recent successes, according to Fridjhon, continue to build on the estate’s heritage.
“Meerlust is anchored in its history, yet confidently at the forefront of viticultural and oenological progress,” Fridjhon said. “Every vintage since 1975 has been an expression of that original vision. Today still it is possible to feel the evolution, the confidence with which things have moved forward, the certainties that this ancient property – with a history which dates back to the first decades of the Cape wine industry – is both anchored in itself, free and able to express the particularities of place, but also very much at the forefront of its viticultural and oenological potential.”
The 50th anniversary celebration underscored not only the wines that have brought Meerlust international acclaim, but also the enduring family custodianship that remains rare in today’s wine world.
“This first half century is the realisation of what, when it began, was little more than a dream,” said Fridjhon. “The decades and centuries which lie ahead will build on this foundation. We cannot even begin to imagine the wines that will be coaxed from the soils and vineyards of Meerlust long after we are dead. But tonight, we know that the course which was set 50 years ago has been straight and true, that there is no ultimate destination, only myriads of staging posts along the way, all of which will owe their existence to the success of the vintage brought into the cellars here almost a lifetime ago.”
Meerlust: Beyond the Rubicon is published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. It is available at selected book stores nationwide, as well as from the Meerlust website.