The Journey of the Grape

“È un pensierino per te” (a little gift to you)

At the end of dinner at Morii, you will receive a small bottle of balsamic vinegar and some biscotti to take home. It is a small gesture that lets the evening linger a little longer after you have left the table.

The label on the vinegar says that it is “from our garden to your table.” Which tends to raise a fair question.

Why is a hotel making balsamic vinegar in the first place?

The short answer is curiosity. The slightly longer answer starts in the gardens, and in our name. If you have wandered through the property, you have probably noticed the vines. The grapes they produce have quietly shaped a few different chapters of the hotel’s story over the years. 

As the story goes, The Vineyard Hotel takes its name from the original 20,000 vine farm established on the estate by Lady Anne Barnard and her husband Andrew, who built their country residence here in 1800.

Fast forward more than two centuries, and a section of our gardens became a vineyard once more, this time as a small, slightly experimental project. The kind of project that tends to happen when people who love food and wine decide to see what might be possible.

Over the years the vineyard was developed in partnership with five wine partners who shared an interest in the fruit and the wines it could produce. Simonsig, Meerlust, Klein Constantia, Warwick and Waterford each took turns working with the grapes, bringing their own approach to the vineyard and the winemaking. 

When the wine chapter eventually came to a natural close, Klein Constantia continued their involvement by taking over the care of the vines, helping guide the vineyard through its next chapter.

Of course, when the wine experiment ended, the grapes did not. And in a kitchen that believes strongly in cooking from scratch, letting ingredients go to waste simply is not an option. When something grows on your property, it is less a problem and more an opportunity waiting for the right idea.

So the grapes became jelly. Proper grape jelly, made from fruit that had been ripening in the sun just a few steps away. Guests started seeing it at breakfast, spreading something bright and slightly wild onto warm toast or enjoying it alongside the charcuterie.

But creativity has a way of nudging things forward. Eventually someone wondered what else those grapes might become if given enough time and patience. With the relaunch of Morii as an Italian restaurant, that question led us quite naturally to balsamic vinegar.

How balsamic vinegar is created?

Creating the complex, balanced flavour of balsamic vinegar begins with grape must, the thick, sweet juice pressed from the fruit. From there it is slowly reduced, fermented and aged in barrels.

In our case, those barrels once held Vin de Constance, the historic dessert wine produced by Klein Constantia. Over time the flavour deepens and shifts, transforming from bright sweetness into something darker, richer and more layered.

It is a slow transformation, but also a satisfying one. Watching a simple grape from the garden evolve into something complex and intensely flavoured feels a bit like witnessing the ingredient grow up.

It also reflects how we think about sustainability. The gardens are not just there to look beautiful, although they do that very well. They are productive spaces that feed both the soul and the kitchens, inspiring new ideas and occasionally sending us down unexpected paths.

The bottle you take home is part of an ongoing experiment.

A small batch, made thoughtfully, from grapes that have already lived several different lives in the kitchen. And if history is any indication, it probably will not be the final chapter.

Someone will taste something, try something new, or notice another ingredient growing in the garden that has not quite found its moment yet.

For now, though, the grapes from our garden have become your balsamic vinegar, a reminder of how a simple ingredient can take on new life with a little imagination.