It's as well that farmers, investors and winemakers' tastes differ as much as they do. Imagine how boring it would be if cellars and tasting rooms followed one design and only differed in size. As Cape wine tourism becomes increasingly global, the number of soaring steel and glass structures in our winelands increases, some real works of art, a few eco-friendly.
Yet sometimes the urge to spend time in a cellar of wood and wine and cobwebs becomes overwhelming. A cellar set in a yard populated by people, dogs, ducks and geese, all of which have their special place. A farm so devoid of glitz and glamour that it's as comforting as pulling on your favourite beanie and kicking off high heels in favour of fluffy slippers.
Such a place is Muratie. Part of the appeal, of course, lies in the demeanour of those who live and work there. The low-key welcome is genuine, tastings are presented free of sales talk, questions are answered readily and honestly.
As evident is an innate courtesy coupled with quiet pride in the heritage that family and staff are protecting and preserving. Then there's the sense of history which emanates from Muratie's walls and woodwork, as three centuries of habitation, cultivation and winemaking have added an ancestral presence that's tangible.
At the close of the 17th century, German immigrant Lourens Campher married Ansela van de Caab, and settled at Muratie, building a modest house and planting the first vines. After her husband died, Ansela, daughter of a slave from northern Africa, became the first freed slave to own land in Stellenbosch.
Visitors today are likely to be greeted by two handsome German Shepherds as hens scatter from the path to the tasting room, where aromas of damp earth and fallen leaves give way to wine-soaked wood and a slow-simmering stew. Walls that have not seen whitewash in a long while are partially covered with framed wine awards, there are packing cases and portraits, a venerable safe and a well-worn wakis and a counter of sorts. Then there's the celebrated window, adorned with its impressive curtain of cobwebs dating back to 1977, also the date of the calendar hanging crookedly to one side.
A small notice asks visitors not to disturb the spiders - although Rijk Melck admits to an occasional cobweb trimming session - as we settled by the window to taste Muratie's current vintages. First up was its maiden Cap Classique, 70/30 chardonnay and pinot noir, an impressive début that is available only from the cellar at present. Its name, 1763, recalls the year when the first Melck acquired Muratie for his daughter Anna Catherina.
The family lends its name to a trio of well-priced wines for everyday enjoyment: a delightful sauvignon (R35), showing little sign of having just been bottled, and a low- alcohol rosé (R35) made from cab franc, perky partner for the estate's summer cheese platter. For R48 the Melck Red - merlot-led blend with shiraz, cab and cab franc - has substance and style.
With lunch waiting, we moved to the gallery-cum-restaurant next door, where tables fill the spaces between the arches, and walls are crowded with the works of George Paul Canitz in a variety of frames.
This early 20th century owner put Muratie on the map as a destination for bohemians as well as for his plantings of pinot noir.
But the diners around the tables that Friday were more intent on catching up on Boland gossip as they tucked into Annatjie Melck's popular wintertime meals of Karoo offal given heritage treatment, followed by a comforting dessert. This tradition seems to connect friends and family to the era when Rijk's father, Ronnie, returned Muratie to the Melck family in 1966. This larger-than-life and popular winelands personality initiated a development programme which continues today.
Rijk's wife, Kim, another accomplished cook, has introduced appetising Saturday and Sunday winter lunches of lamb shank and mashed potato, served with a glass of good Muratie red. The weekend fare costs R100, the Friday meal is R180 and booking is advised.
Muratie's flagship wines include the impressive chardonnay that sports the name of blue-eyed daughter Isabella, a cabernet in fine Stellenbosch tradition, and the 2006 vintages of the four-star Ronnie Melck shiraz and hugely impressive Ansela van de Caab, a merlot/cab blend. Meanwhile Muratie's merlot is my current favourite, a mellow companion to robust meatless fare.
Art exhibitions and musical evenings are regular events at this romantic Simonsberg farm, simply the soul of wineland Stellenbosch.