Thursday, January 25, 2007

Anyone seen our barrels?

We lost a few barrels on the MSC Napoli, which has gone aground off the southern coast of England. If anybody sees one of our barrels please let us know because we need it for harvest.
Harvest has started

It is absolutely crazy here with the warm weather causing all the grapes to ripen at once.

We took in a ton of Chardonnay for sparkling wine on Tuesday and we are starting on the Pinotage today. Next week it will be sauvignon sauvignon sauvignon.

We are off with a bang and it can only be fun.

Fire in the Winelands

Watch the video
On the 24th of january 2007, a ferocious fire swept through the vineyards of Stellenbosch in the cape. Through an amazing partnership between the vignerons and the South African air force, a major tragedy was averted. Pictures and video cannot convey the immense scale o=r the intense heat of the fire. No lives were lost!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Harvest is coming up

Slowly getting ready for harvest here. Me and Ronald had look at the vineyards and they are coming on fine. This year we had a lot less wind than last year and good rains in winter so there is no sign of water stress.

The evenings are cool which is great fro the Sauvignon blanc we will proably start harvesting first. This year we will be harvesting about 70 tons of Sauvignon blanc which will be our biggest harvest to date. Great news for all those clamouring for the Sauvignon blanc.

This year we will have two interns in the cellar. Ben Portet is from Australia and is joining us after a harvest in France. Together with Anne Bullen, who is doing her final year studying winemaking at Stellenbosch University, we will be six people in the cellar for harvest.

Apture