Morgenster Wine Estate

Morgenster Estate located in Somerset West in the heart of the Cape wine growing region. It is a thriving wine estate, producing Bordeaux-style red wines and award-winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil and olive products.

Morgenster's flagship wine, the Morgenster 2001 was launched in March 2004 while our second label, Lourens River Valley, has already been on the market for a couple of years. The fourth vintage of this label, the Morgenster Lourens River Valley 2001, was released in August 2003. An exciting new release took place in October 2005 with the launch of Morgenster The Summer House 2002.

Morgenster's liquid gold - their Extra Virgin Olive Oil - has been the recipient of the coveted L'Orciolo d'Oro prize in Italy for seven consecutive years since 1999 and was also voted by Olive Business in Sydney Australia as the best olive oil in the entire Southern Hemisphere. Morgenster's most recent award for its Oil came in just before the close of 2005 in the form of the Extra Virgin Olive Oil being selected as one of the Top 15 Olive Oils in the world (out of 3000 tasted!) and the award for the Best Blended Olive Oil in the world. Morgenster thus features well in the L'Extravergine 2006 guide which lists the 459 oils selected from 26 countries around the globe.

Morgenster's recent wine accolades have come in from various sources and corners of the Globe - two 4½ star ratings in John Platter 2006 for Morgenster and Lourens River Valley; Grape Magazines 5 star rating of the Morgenster 2000 and 4½ for the Lourens River Valley 2000; Steve Tanzer International Wine Cellar gave the Morgenster 2001 91+ - the wine garnered 88 from Robert Parker. The Advocate and Michael Fridjon's Top Ten selection in the December 2005 Wine Magazine - see the list of awards for the full details.

The 300-year-old wine estate was once part of the thriving farm, Vergelegen, owned by Cape Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel. After van der Stel's recall in 1708, the property was divided into four. The section now known as Morgenster was bought by Jacques Malan, a Huguenot who had fled religious persecution in France and was to found a dynasty in the Cape. It was he who gave the farm its name. Some 14 years later he handed over the property to his son Daniel, who was to father a family of 13 children.

A large, well-furnished house in the traditional H-shape, extensive outbuildings and a well-stocked wine cellar were Daniel's legacy to his son Jacobus in 1711. Morgenster acquired the six perfectly proportioned gables, praised in every history of Cape Dutch architecture. The front holbol gable, with its delicate scrollwork and scallop shell apex framing the morning star, is considered on of the finest existing examples of the baroque style in the Cape.

Giulio Bertrand, who bought the farm in 1992, immediately set about restoring Morgenster under the guidance of architect Revel Fox.

Apart from olive trees, the Morgenster hillside today boasts the classic red grape varieties - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and a state-of-the-art wine cellar.

The scallop-mounted morning star from the front gable of the homestead has been adopted as the Morgenster logo. Emblazoned on the dark glass of the olive oil bottle and on the label, it also appears on the Morgenster wine.