from vineyard and cellar
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August - October 2024
From August onwards the weather returned to "normal", i.e. it was still rainy but no longer torrential, with a total of 142mm in August and 50mm in September, with fairly cold temperatures, but with enough rain-free days for the winter pruning, which was thus completed in good time by the end of September. At the beginning of October, the long-awaited spring arrived with sunny weather, although still quite cold and with little rain for the time of year, so that the soils starting to dry up. The first signs of budswell was observed at the beginning of October, and the shoots finally began to emerge by mid-month, significantly later than last year, but in line with the long-term average.
In September we also had to replace the air conditioning for the cellar and took the opportunity to switch to a modern inverter chiller unit to match the solar system. And the new technology is totally convincing, as the new system only uses half as much electricity as before.
June - July 2024:
After an exceptionally mild autumn with lots of sun and warm temperatures up to and including June,
the winter weather in July was even more severe: very cold temperatures and 350 mm of rain, more
than ever before in a single month! The rainfall was so heavy at times that
in many vineyards, deep gullies and dongas formed, slopes slipped and
there were floods in many places.
A positive highlight of these days was when another of our wines was
voted into the top-10-Merlot of
South Africa in the eponymous competition. This time, our Little Merlot 2021 won the race
for this prestigious award, making us the only Merlot producer to win this competition
three times :-)
April - May 2024: Harvest Review
By now, the usual post-harvest rush has subsided, the new vintage is in the barrel,
and the Bein Merlot 2023 and the new 2024 Rosé have already been bottled. So we can sit
back and reflect on the past season.
It was an eventful year, also a year of extremes.
It started with the wettest and coldest winter we have ever experienced here, culminating in
heavy storms with devastating rainfall at the end of September. But as wet as the winter was,
the growing season was just as dry: from October to the end of February, only 25 mm of rain fell.
The temperatures were moderate, and after a very early bud break, our vines developed a
beautifully balanced canopy. In keeping with the early bud break, there was also an early
harvest, the earliest ever. But after all, it brought a healthy crop with a crisp natural
acidity and the typical aromas of dark berries.
1st of March 2024 - Topping off!
On March 1st the time had finally come and we were able to harvest the
crop
for our red wine at optimal ripeness.
This is always followed by an intensive time in
the cellar, with the vinification of the new harvest, with the transfer and
preparation of the previous year's barrel wines and finally with the bottling,
labeling and release of the new wines into the trade. This must be well
planned, materials must be obtained in a timely manner and the work must
be well organized to ensure optimal treatment of the wines.
But the joy is even greater when everything has worked out once again and there
is another good vintage in the cellar!
And last but not least, we are pleased that we got through the harvest very well
with our solar system, without power interruptions and, above all, in an
environmentally friendly way :-)
February 2024 - Waiting for the right moment
As dry as the last few months have been, there were several rainy
days in February, the ripening month, though with never much rainfall at
once, but a total of 26mm. Thanks to our southern slope location and
proximity to the sea, the temperatures here were within the usual range,
with cool nights (14-18°) and warm days (25 - max. 35°), but further
inland the winegrowers complained about extremely hot days. Accordingly,
the ripening process slowed down for us, but this ultimately benefited
the quality of the grapes, as we will see.
However, we had a different problem this year: a huge flock of starlings
was infesting our area and pecking through our vineyard every day, which
of course reduces our yield and means even more work when sorting out -
well, there's always something ;-)
January 2024 - an early start to the harvest
After three dry months with comparatively moderate temperatures, things got really
warm around the turn of the year, with temperatures up to 35° each time.
The harvest finally
started earlier than ever before, on January 12th with the grapes for our Bubbly. The quality
was great, the grapes with small, concentrated berries, which promises a
lot for a great red wine harvest.
And as it began, it continued, namely at high speed, with the grapes for our Rosé already coming in on January 29th!
December 2023 - we're going off-grid!
Anyone who follows developments in South Africa knows about the problems of Eskom, our state-owned electricity supplier. Eskom is plagued by corruption and mismanagement, produces with a totally outdated infrastructure and is over-indebted to the tune of 400 billion Rand. After the problems started in 2008, things have gotten worse in recent years, with several daily electrical outages - here euphemistically called "load-shedding" - of 2 to 4 to 6 hours each, which makes life very difficult. So we started early on, first with a diesel-generator, then in 2012 with some solar panels and a battery as an emergency back-up. But now we have taken the plunge, greatly expanded our solar system and kissed Eskom good-by. To top it all off, we also switched to an electric car and are now sailing into the future with 99% green energy - by the way, as far as we know, as the only wine farm in South Africa. What a great start into 2024!
Weather-wise, December continued to be rather cool and dry, with only a short rain (1.5mm) in the last week of the year. However, thanks to the rainy winter, the soil had enough water reserves, so we didn't have to irrigate for the first time until the end of December. This was at the same time as the onset of veraison, the color change, which came significantly earlier this year, corresponding to the early budding.
October-November 2023
As wet as the winter was, it has now become very dry: in October it only drizzled once with a total of 1 mm of precipitation, while in November we had a few showers, though with a total of just under 25 mm. But that was apparently enough to encourage downy mildew in some parts of the wine country, which needed special attention. The temperatures, however, were moderate, so our vines have developed ideally so far, with good fruit set and beautifully balanced foliage.
September 2023
Throughout September, the weather remains wet and cold! And as I write this, on September 24th and 25th, severe storms with
torrential rain are sweeping across the Western Cape. As a result, there were dams bursting,
widespread power cuts and flooding of streets, low-lying settlements and
townships. Almost 200mm of rain poured down on Stellenbosch on that
weekend (read
here more about it).
Yet interesting enough, the vines are budding much
earlier this year, despite the cold weather. A reason could be our
earlier pruning, but maybe they simply had enough cold-units and are
now longing for an early spring like we are.
August 2023
The early onset of winter meant we were able to start our winter work earlier. So
by now, all the vines
have already been pruned and we would actually be ready for spring. But the weather remains wet and cold!
A touch of sunshine brought about our trip to Switzerland for a stylish Wine & Dine in the beautiful
Wenkenhof Villa in our hometown of Basel - with the most sunny summer weather :-)
June-July 2023: is this the deluge?
After the autumn rains already came early at the beginning of March, it was only the first sign of the deluge, that was to come! Around 600mm of rain has already fallen here since, more than ever before in this short period of time. Driveways were washed out and vineyards damaged by mud slides, and even in Stellenbosch town some quarters were under water. And all this at unusually low temperatures. The returning El Nino shows his muscles!
Review of the season 2022-23
We once again look gratefully back to a good, if not always easy year!
It started with a unusually warm and dry winter, though followed by a very wet and cold August. Budding took place earlier but evenly, and the subsequent shoot development was rather slow, in tune with the dry and cool spring weather. All in all good conditions, if only it hadn't been so dry! That's why we had to apply a supplementary irrigation already at the end of October to support the delicate flowering process. Luckily, heavy rain in the first week of December brought some relief, but also increased the risk of fungal diseases during this particularly vulnerable period. Except for this one shot of rain, however, the season remained dry until the early autumn rains set in, of all things, at the main harvest time. Although we were able to harvest just in time, this was a problem for many fellow winemakers, especially with late-ripening varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon. Nevertheless, great wines are expected of this vintage, as long as they have been harvested before the rains.
April - May - an early winter
The cold, wet weather that set in already early in March continued throughout the following months. However, we are currently busy with cellar work. Firstly, we (finally again ;-) bottled a Merlot Forte, namely from the 2021 vintage, i.e. after two years barrel maturation. Then of course the Merlot 2022, and also the new MCC 2023 has been put into bottle for the second fermentation. And lastly our youngest wine, the Pink Merlot 2023, had to be bottled and prepared for release as a good forerunner for this vintage.
Last but not least, the MCC 2022, which our customers have been waiting for impatiently, had to be labeled and certified - and we can report that it was very well received!
March 2023 - Harvest for the Reds
As every year, we divided our vineyard into smaller terroirs with the help of remote sensing. The happier growing lots were harvested early for the MCC and the Rosé, while the sectors we have earmarked for red wine production were ready for harvest in early March. So we began harvesting for the reds on Friday, March 3rd, happily and in the most beautiful weather. However, an unexpected bad weather front suddenly drove us to hurry, and we decided at short notice to bring in the rest in an extra effort the next day, Saturday - a rather unusual action in South Africa, where weekends are sacrosanct. But it was worth it, and we were able to bring in all our grapes healthy and dry - that continuous rain that started only a few hours later would have watered down our wines for good.
Of course, there was a lot more to do in March beside harvesting. The wines from previous vintages had to be prepared for bottling and - good news for our Bubbly fans - the 2022 MCC had to be disgorged, i.e. the yeast deposits that had formed in the bottle during the second fermentation had to be removed. So we never got bored ;-)
February 2023 - Harvest begins!
As in the past two years, harvest started with the grapes for our
Sparkling Merlot on January 25th. Such an early harvest is necessary in
order to achieve the quality required for the base wine, with low
alcohol and a crispy acidity. Two weeks later, on February 8th, we brought in the grapes for our Pink Merlot.
Overall,
this year's harvest is well a week earlier than usual, and with evenly ripened grapes of
super quality.
After the growing season was very dry so far apart from the downpour
in mid-December, there was eventually another nice rain of 23 mm
on February 20th, refreshing
the vines in their final sprint to full ripeness. But this should also delay
the process a bit, so that we now expect the harvest of the grapes for our red
wines to be in the second week of March.
January 2023
With the beginning of the new year, veraison started, the change in
color of the grapes. As even and quick flowering was, as quickly was
this phase, too, a good sign for qualitatively and quantitatively
excellent harvest :-)
However, not all colleagues had the same luck. As the winegrowers' association reported
at the end of January, the 2023 harvest will be below average, with uneven fruit
development and even hail damage in some districts, as well as fungal disease pressure due to the unusual weather
conditions, and the additional problem of load shedding, the current rampant power
failures in the country, which makes irrigation scheduling very difficult.
November - December 2022
Flowering, which started in the very last days of October, was very even
and completed within a few days only. The fruit set was generous, which allowed us
later to trim the fruit generously in order to achieve an
optimal distribution of the grapes on the vines.
The weather continued
as the year had started, with moderate temperatures but very little
rainfall! Luckily there was a heavy downpour of 45mm in mid-December,
very welcome to the vines which have established
in the meantime a strong and healthy canopy.
September - October 2022 : Spring has sprung!
September 2022 continued with rather cool temperatures and little precipitation. Nevertheless, budding was even and started in mid-September, around 7-10 days earlier than usual. Subsequent shoot development was very leisurely, in line with the dry and cool weather. So we could easily catch up with the usual work, such as breaking out excess shoots and cleaning of the stems. All in all ideal conditions, if only it hadn't been so unusually dry! So we decided to apply a supplementary irrigation cycle already at the end of October to support the flowering of the vines.
July-August 2022: Cape Winter!
2022 has been a dry year so far. From January to July it rained around 70% less than in the same period in the last 10 years. Fortunately, August brought not only biting cold, but also more rain than usual, so that the soil is finally saturated and the region's water reservoirs are beginning to fill up again. At the end of August the dam of our main supplier Thewaterskloof was a good 80% full :-)
Previous reports have been condensed to vintage reports for each year and can be looked up there.
