great feature on Warwick Wine Estate in the September House & Leisure magazine. We LIKE.

The new Warwick Wine Estate iPad app is now being used for visitors to the winery

THE OLDEST AND MOST FAMOUS CHARITY WINE AUCTION

Some perspective ...

The Hospices de Beaune is the result of more than six centuries of history. Founded with the aims of healing the sick and comforting the destitute, the hospital has never ceased to develop, thanks, in large part, to numerous benefactors who have enabled the Domaine to grow, thanks to their gifts of vineyards. The funds collected at the Hospices de Beaune wine auctions are entirely destined for the institution’s charities.

An annual event not to be missed, the Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction is an opportunity to come together as a family or between friends, to discover the rich variety of the 44 wine Cuvées offered by the Hospices. Superb quality, young Burgundy wines - vins primeurs – can be acquired, at prices to suit all budgets, and it is possible to customise the bottles with your name, or that of your business or organisation, being printed on the labels.

Hello London - good news

We just listed the entire Warwick Wine range at the Hurlingham Club. Well done James & Arabella

a new angle on Warwick's 'First Lady' Cabernet Sauvignon

An edited extract from a speech about Leadership in the Wine Industry made by Michael Ratcliffe

An edited extract from a speech about Leadership in the Wine Industry made by Michael Ratcliffe at the Stellenbosch  launch of the book ‘Grape - from Slavery to BEE’ by Dr. Wilmot James, Prof Jakes Gerwal and Jeanne Viall.

A way forward for the South African wine industry?

Would it be inappropriate to ask just who is in charge of the South African wine industry? Who is providing overall leadership for the industries growth and development and who is laying the groundwork for a sustainable future?

Warwick Managing Directo - Michael S. Ratcliffe

The South African wine industry is having a tough time. The trading environment is brutal and global economic conditions show little evidence of improving. The industry is beset with challenges and is in need of direction. Where is the decisive strategic thinking, the ambitious and bold master plan and the careful thought that characterises the most successful global businesses? Where is the cut and thrust?

The leadership vacuum is not a new phenomenon. In the past decade, this leadership challenge lead to complex efforts to create a leadership body called the South African Wine Industry Council (SAWIC), but this well-intentioned project failed due to unnecessary politicisation of the process and through the unfortunate triumph of vested interest over best practice. Since the demise of SAWIC, it has been very quiet. Our industry has many organisations (VINPRO, WKSA, WOSA, SALBA) which provide valuable, but localised leadership. What is urgently needed is a legitimate overarching body to corral the industry in one unified direction?

Of late, there have been questions asked of Wines of South Africa (WOSA) concerning their efficacy at providing leadership to our industry. This is misguided as WOSA is a marketing body with a simple mandate to create a generic marketing capability in the export markets. WOSA does this very well on a limited budget and they are a valuable industry asset. WOSA does not have the mandate to provide broader strategic industry leadership. WOSA’s board is also conflicted as it is (in effect) an organ of the South African Liquor Brand Owners (SALBA) and Wine Cellars South Africa (WKSA) whose majority vote enables them to determine the best use of industry monies for generic export marketing.

One of the key functions of a National leadership organ would be to create and maintain relations with government. Government largely ignores the wine industry apart from an occasional hand-out from the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI). The wine industry is a major employer, a disproportionately large contributor to the fiscus and an unutilised secret weapon for South African Tourism. Why is it so difficult for the wine industry to be taken seriously by government? Is it because government is so disorganised and disinterested, or is the wine industry to blame for lacking focus?

What should be done to provide leadership? This speaker does not pretend to know the solution, but is humble enough to venture at least a few points that hopefully will fuel the right kind of debate.

I believe that we need to find a way to resurrect a central representative body with WOSA, DTI, VINPRO, WKSA, SALBA & Government (local and national) all invited to the table. It should be composed of the best people for the job and not strive to be all encompassing in its representation. This board should have a lean staff of well paid senior strategic thinkers, lobbyists and perhaps a few admin personnel. It should have the aim of empowering the intellectual capital that resides in our industry to create a forum for strategic planning. The board should be mandated to establish and foster a high level relationship with local and National government including the departments of Agriculture, Finance, Labour, Public Enterprise and Tourism. It should participate actively and openly in lobbying at the highest level and should have a dedicated budget for this purpose. In order to keep this body lean and accountable, it should be funded by government and should not provide funding to any other bodies.

For this body to have a chance at success, it needs to have someone in Government to talk too. Incompetence, a stubborn lack of interest and unacceptably high staff turnover in the Dept of Agriculture has long been a stumbling block for wine industry leadership. Government and more specifically Agriculture needs to show some leadership, get some focus, stop messing around with the well being of the people and give the wine industry the attention that it deserves.

Through effective leadership, the industry could start to perform closer to its potential, start delivering a meaningful return for all and realise a ‘Grand Plan’ of uplifting an entire generation.

There will be much disagreement with the positions taken above, and many of these comments might be construed as being controversial. However, it would be my wish that the South African wine industry enter into more rigorous debate around the topic of leadership.

“If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.” Henry Kissinger

What a great vibe at Warwick Wine Estate today - full house

Woohoo - Warwick Wine Estate just got awarded the Trip Advisor 'Certificate of Excellence' for 2012!

The launch function for Warwick Three Cape Ladies at ten Bompas Hotel in 1997

Norma Ratcliffe, Mike Ratcliffe, Pieter Aucamp & Christoph Van Staden

Warwick going even greener...

The Warwick Wine Estate team will plant 300 new trees at The winery by the end of July in our annual 'greening' strategy.

Warwick Wine Dinner at Pinotage, Beijing

Wine Tasting, Tapas and Live Music..Don't miss this!

A lovely introductory video to Warwick Wine Estate on Skybok

Will you be joining us at the Taste of Durban – 27-29 July??

Mike is in Western China in the city of Chengdu. He hosted a high-end wine dinner for 80 local dignitaries pairing traditional Chinese cuisine with Warwick wines. The interpreter was obligatory.

"Warwick has 5 wines listed at the best restaurant in Shanghai called 'Mr. & Mrs. Bund''

The Menu for a truly memorable Warwick dinner that Mike Ratcliffe hosted a few days ago in Shenzhen, China

Good Luck picking from our delicious Warwick Tapas Menu this winter...

Click to view our Tapas menu

Warwick Winemaker Nic van Aarde at Top 100 SA Wines tasting event

WARWICK WINTER TAPAS - Available May - August 2012

Caprese Salad

Warwick Home-smoked 
Salmon Trout Niçoise

Beef & Tomato Tartare

Bookings between 11:00 - 16:00
visit@warwickwine.com or call 021 8844410

Banged a case of 1985 Warwick Cabernet Sauvignon on the head this weekend

Have you entered our Mothers Day competition? You could win Warwick Wine for a Year!

Warwick in Wonderland - The best kids entertainment this rainy Easter Weekend!!

Leave it to Alice, The White Rabbit, The Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts to keep your kids entertained this rainy Easter Weekend. See what fun we are having...

 

  

 

  

 

Book now

021 8844410 or visit@warwickwine.com 

Mike Ratcliffe with Bartholomew Broadbent, Adie Badenhorst, Brian Rosen and Shem Hassen from Arrowine in Washington DC

Buyers and Cellars: Business Students Learn from South African Vineyards

Back in Cape Town, business students headed to Warwick Estates in the famed Cape Winelands with Dr. Alysse Morton, this semester’s professor of Operations Management and Global Management. Morton, a Semester at Sea alumna who last sailed as a college student herself, brought her two classes on a one-of-a-kind field trip to the vineyards to better understand how a small business operates in today’s global market.

 

Student Photo: Nick Hamilton, Drake University

Warwick Estates is a third-generation family-owned winery in Stellenbosch, an area of the Cape famous for its vineyards, and the small company invited SAS students to witness wine production firsthand. “We toured the facilities first,” explained Taylor Goddu, a business and psychology student from the College of William & Mary, “then we went into the vineyards. Our guide literally plucked bunches of grapes straight from the vines for us to try them. They called it a ‘Winelands Safari,’ and they referred to the different varieties of grapes as members of the Big 5.” To clarify, the Big 5 is a term typically used on safaris to refer to big game like elephants and rhinos which, coincidentally, SAS students also saw in South Africa.

Warwick Estates, despite being a small operation in a competitive region, has crafted a sustainable industry and carved an international business model from production to export and every step in between. “Their company was interesting because nothing goes to waste at all,” Goddu continued. “They have a compost area and they pick the grapes, ferment, and filter them on site.” Additionally, Goddu explained, the family company has a remarkable international reach. Wine barrels are made using wood from France and the Balkans, and Warwick’s two main export countries are the USA and China, proving that everything is interconnected in today’s business sphere.

The students ended their day at the vineyard gathered around a long outdoor dining table on the sunlit brick patio. The winery served freshly baked ciabatta loaves, oak-smoked salmon, and sun-dried tomato pesto as the sun peaked in the afternoon sky. How’s that for a business field trip?

Goddu, a student in both of Morton’s classes, previously visited Bamboosero Bike Company in Ghana, and will soon be touring the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Shanghai along with her business classmates.

Click here to read Dr. Alysse Morton's Bio.

Click here to learn more about Warwick Estates.

Magnificent Warwick gourmet wine dinner at 'Mountain view grand' in northern New Hampshire USA

Warwick in Wonderland - Bigger & better than before! Have you booked your ticket?

BOOK NOW! 

021 884 4410 or visit@warwickwine.com 

Harvest is wrapping up in South Africa

While winemakers inevitably have a multitude of different opinions on the outcome of a harvest, there are some threads that come through that when woven together correctly, can start creating a clear picture. The Vilafonte Vineyards winemaking team wrapped up harvest this week while the Warwick Wine Estate team have another couple of days to go.

In general, harvest 2012 in South Africa can, in my opinion, be considered a huge success. But why? What are the defining characteristics?

The one overwhelming common theme is that an unseasonal heat-wave descended on the Winelands in early January - a critical period for phenological ripeness. With the benefit of advanced weather forecasting being relatively common these days, the heat wave was identified about a week in advance and any and all reasonable responses to the impending temperatures were taken by those that were paying attention. Unfortunately there are very few tools to deal with excessive heat and the most powerful tool is irrigation. For those that have either decided not to invest in irrigation or who have a philosophical preference to dry-grown viticulture - 2012 will probably at least get them thinking that the judicious application of supplemental irrigation is more of a necessity than a nice-to-have. Dry-grown vineyards in the Cape lost significant tonnage and the remaining grapes would have suffered from heat stress symptoms like high pH and dropping acidity. Berry shrivel would also be an unforseen sumptom that can lead to elevated alcohol. All of these outcomes are not good. 

On the other hand, this heat-wave was the only speed-bump in 2012 and for those that were able  to manage it - there was no measurable negative outcome. Since mid January, the Cape has been characterized by refreshing lower than average temperatures which have provided what could best be described as an idyllic environment for the steady accumulation of sugar and the pursuit of phenological ripeness. Interestingly, in many of our vineyards we observed advanced ripeness at lower sugars which again provides an indication that 2012 could be considered a benchmark year.

On observation of the grapes at harvest, we noticed a slightly larger berry size, but excellent levels of all the goodies that lead to colour extraction, flavor compounds as well as nicely ripened tannins which create mouthfeel and texture in the wines. Without trying to 'talk it up' too much, possibly the biggest indicator of quality comes from the significantly reduced rate of berry variability which leads to concentration in the wines and is one of our most important indicators of quality - this is not a subjective measure and at the risk of being technical, we had the lowest berry variability measurement of standard deviation in my career. This basically means that at harvest, a huge proportion of berries were perfectly ripe - simultaneously.

Despite the above, I remain a cynic and I like to see out beautiful wine through fermentation before a truly great vintage can be pronounced but the signs are there at Warwick and at Vilafonte.

Stay tuned.

Mike Ratcliffe

Have you tried the The First Lady Unoaked Chardonnay 2011?

Warwick 'The First Lady' Norma Ratcliffe posing in the Alps

Wow - Warwick is so busy. So many happy people visiting