The facility is available to local wine producers and offers a cost-effective alternative to those producers who either do not have their own facilities or require transportation of their wine over long distances to acquire such facilities.
About us :
MWT Investments Pty Ltd, t/a Compagniesdrift is a black empowerment business funded by the Myburgh Family Trust, Standard Bank and the Land Reform and Development Programme (LRAD) of the Department of Land Affairs.
The Myburgh Family Trust, owners of the world renowned Meerlust Wine Estate in Stellenbosch identified potential projects that would benefit their farm workers in a meaningful and economically v way. With a long history of investing in their workforce through the Meerlust Foundation they wanted to build on this tradition.
This culminated in a R45 million black empowerment business venture to realise this project.
The companies involved, MWT Investments and Faure Agrivillage, are jointly owned (50%each) by the Myburgh Family Trust and the Meerlust Workers Trust, which is comprised of 72 people with longstanding relationships with the Meerlust, Vriesenhof and Ken Forrester farms in the area.
The project affords these individuals an opportunity to obtain an interest through the Meerlust Workers Trust in two companies which will conduct commercial farming as well as a business venture partnership with Meerlust.
Our services :
Our Services include Wine Storage, Bottling and Labeling. Compagniesdrift offers a modern temperature controlled and secure storage facility that has storage capacity for 3 million bottles of wine.
Bottling facilities are available as well as in-house labeling comparable with the best in the industry.
Housing :
We own 9 farm cottages, three of the cottages were renovated recently and we rent it to private individuals. Meerlust Administrators rents 6 farm cottages from us for their workers and their families.
Wines :
We are planning to release at least three wines under the Compagniesdrift label during January 2016 for distribution in Gauteng and Cape Town :
Compagniesdrift Unwooded Chardonnay 2015
Compagniesdrift Chardonnay/Pinot Noir 2015 (capital N)
Compagniesdrift Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2014
Vineyards :
We own 10.55 ha vines.
Currently we rent these vineyards to Meerlust.
Meerlust Administrators maintain and take care of the vineyards on our behalf.
Agricultural Land :
We have 30 hectares land of available which we rent to Meerlust Administrators for their new Nguni cattle farming venture.
The aim of this initiave is to transfer this business to our other BEE company, Faure Agrivillage Pty Ltd.
Vegetable Garden :
Ilse Ruthford was chosen as DAFF Female Entrepreneur 2014, Category : Agri-processing. She used a portion of her winnings to set-up a vegetable garden to ensure food security for the Compagniesdrift and Meerlust workers and their families. We started out with a 2x12m tunnel planted with tomatoes and the outside growing area has been planted with spinach, beetroot, cabbage and carrots. In the near future we would like to involve the children and introduce them to the world of vegetable growing and a healthy lifestyle.
