Mellish Family Vineyards

Mellish Family Vineyards: appointment tasting on Welbeloond

Mellish Family Vineyards is a boutique Wine of Origin Durbanville producer on the family farm Welbeloond, Contermanskloof Road, about twenty kilometres north of Cape Town and nine kilometres east of Table Bay. There is no walk-in restaurant circuit here—visits centre on terroir-driven bottles and a priced tasting of the full range, arranged with the family. Official site: mellishvineyards.com. Address: Welbeloond Farm, Contermanskloof Rd, Durbanville, Cape Town.

For Cape Town day-trippers who want shale-soil Durbanville wines without a large cellar-door crowd, Mellish is the opposite of a resort farm: small production, appointment access, and wines that express coastal Mediterranean climate and stony shale. It sits well on a route day after a restaurant farm lunch—or as a dedicated midweek cellar stop when you want the winemaker’s range in six glasses rather than a long hospitality list.

From Van Riebeeck outpost to family vineyard

Official farm history places Welbeloond in the late 1600s as an outpost linked to Jan van Riebeeck. The Cape Dutch manor house and outbuildings still on the farm were established in 1785. The Mellish family lived on and leased the land from 1918 and purchased the farm in 1934. Grain, livestock and dairy dominated historically; thirty-five hectares of vineyard were planted between 2000 and 2004—a relatively recent viticultural chapter on an old Cape agricultural footprint.

That timeline matters for visitors comparing Durbanville stops: Mellish is not marketing a seventeenth-century cellar museum. It is a family farm that chose wine seriously in the early 2000s, bottling WO Durbanville wines that read the same Atlantic-cooled hills as larger neighbours, but at boutique scale and by appointment.

Core values on the homepage stress quality (“hands on in the vineyard and hands off in the cellar”), family stewardship for future generations, soil-focused sustainability, and social responsibility for the farm community. The stated aim is refreshingly balanced bottles with complexity and depth of flavour that express ancient, stony shale soils and a Mediterranean-like coastal climate—not heavy extraction or fashion-forward branding alone.

Signature wines on the tasting list

The official wine-tasting page lists six wines available as tasters, glasses, bottles and cases—useful if you want to taste everything then buy what you loved by the bottle or six-pack:

• Durbanville Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2026 — entry white (taster 50 ml from R10; glass 150 ml R30; bottle R130; case of 6 R780)
• Bakenkop Blanc Fumé 2023 — wooded white style (taster R20; glass R60; bottle R250; case R1500)
• Bakenkop Chenin Blanc 2024 (taster R20; glass R60; bottle R250; case R1500)
• Klipmynpad Pinotage 2024 (taster R20; glass R60; bottle R250; case R1500)
• Bakenkop Syrah 2022 (taster R20; glass R60; bottle R250; case R1500)
• Mystery Red NV Unlabelled — value red (taster R10; glass R30; bottle R100; case R500)

Site labels (Bakenkop, Klipmynpad) point to vineyard parcels on Welbeloond rather than a generic regional blend story. Vintage years on the live tasting page should be rechecked when you book—stock moves with the season.

Wine tasting by appointment

Official tasting page headline offer:

Individual 50 ml tasters start from R10 (Sauvignon Blanc / Mystery Red) or R20 for the Bakenkop and Klipmynpad lines if you prefer to cherry-pick rather than take the full flight.

Durbanville Wine Valley farm listing confirms facilities: Wine Tasting / Wine Sales / Wine Club; hours Mon–Fri 10:00–15:00 by appointment only—please book 24 hours in advance. Standalone walk-in tasting-room hours are not published on the mellishvineyards.com homepage. WineLand reporting (2 August 2026) mentioned a new tasting room “set to open in September”; researched 1 October 2026, access should still be treated as appointment-first until Andrew confirms any public walk-in change.

Book: Andrew Mellish — +27 82 509 0224 / info@mellishvineyards.com.

What you will not find (and why that matters)

There is no restaurant, picnic lawn programme, or on-site stay on the official site. Facilities listed by Durbanville Wine Valley are wine tasting, wine sales, and wine club only. That keeps the visit focused: phone ahead, arrive in the weekday window, taste six wines for R100, and leave with cases if the shale-driven style clicks. Pair Mellish with a neighbouring Durbanville lunch stop (Tygerberg Valley Road or Vissershok restaurant farms) rather than expecting food on Welbeloond.

Portal metadata left latitude/longitude blank because no OSM/Nominatim winery node was confirmed—do not invent coordinates; use Contermanskloof Road / Welbeloond Farm directions from the producer when navigating.

Opening hours and planning

• By appointment — DWV: Mon–Fri 10:00–15:00; book ≥24 hours ahead
• Weekends: not listed as open hours on DWV or as walk-in on the official homepage—ask Andrew if Saturday visits are possible for your group
• No published festive-closure calendar on the tasting page—confirm December/January availability when booking
• Bring payment flexibility for case purchases; bottle and case prices are already itemised online

Practical tip for the Durbanville route

Book Mellish mid-morning midweek, then continue to a restaurant farm for lunch. Bring a cooler if you buy Blanc Fumé, Chenin, Pinotage or Syrah cases—boutique allocations can sell down. Wine club membership is listed on the valley facilities list; ask info@mellishvineyards.com for current member benefits when you confirm the tasting. If you are writing a multi-farm itinerary, label Mellish clearly as appointment only so guests do not arrive cold after a spontaneous reverse-route drive.

FAQ

Is walk-in tasting available? Not advertised as a walk-in cellar door—appointment only per DWV (24h notice).

How much is tasting? R100 for all six wines on the official wine-tasting page; individual tasters from R10.

Food on site? No restaurant or picnic offering on the official site.

Contact: info@mellishvineyards.com · +27 82 509 0224 · https://mellishvineyards.com/