Vintage report 2018
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Merlot 2018
Francois Viljoen, manager of Vinpro’s viticulture consultation service, summarizes the 2017-18 vintage as following: "Wine grape producers and cellars in South Africa are positive about the quality of wines from the 2018 harvest, despite challenging conditions resulting in one of the smallest crops in more than a decade. The 2018 harvest was really challenging, due to a prolonged drought, which some believe to be the worst in 100 years, accompanied by water restrictions and frost damage in some areas”.
Though we battled during the season and had a significantly smaller crop, too, the quality turned out to be superb! Interesting enough, that the different batches from our vineyard were of such even quality, that we harvested everything within two days only, on 14 and 15 March - a novum for our winery
The different batches of our Merlots, as defined by Precision Viticulture, were eventually blended in January into our full range of wines, including Little Merlot, Bein Merlot and Reserve Merlot. And like the vintage before, a dash of fine Petit Verdot complemented the wines to perfection.
- Bein Merlot 2018: After 12 months maturation in fine-grained French oak barrels (50% new, 50% 2nd fill), this wine was gently filtered and bottled on 13.3.2019 into 4000 x 0.75 l and 363 x 1.5 l bottles. It is a great wine, dense and concentrated, and will certainly enjoy us for many years to come. Expected to be released by late 2020
- Little Merlot 2018: This wine is a worthy
representative of this vintage, dense and full-bodied. As the SA
wine guide Platter says, there is "nothing little about this wine".
It was matured for one year in 3rd and 4th fill barrels and
eventually gently fined (vegan), filtered and bottled on 27.2.2019 in
4051x0.754lt bottles. released in January 2020.
- Alk 14.7%, RS 3.7 g / l, Sre 5.0 g / l, pH 3.56 - Reserve Merlot 2018: was matured in 100% new
barrels for 24 months, and it developed wonderfully. We consider
2018 as a superb year. This wine was bottled on April 30th, 2020 in
1794x0.754lt bottles. It shows beautifully from a young age, but
will certainly develop well for lovers of more mature wines over
many years to come.
- Alc 14.79%, extract 32.3 g/l, TA 5.3 g/l, pH 3.55 - Pink Merlot 2018:Like every year, this rosé is
made of specifically dedicated fruit from the lusher parts of our
vineyard, identified within our vineyard by aerial imagery,
complemented with a dash of Muscat d'Alexandrie from a neighbouring
vineyard.
- Serve chilled, ideally at 5-8ºC, enjoy young
- Production: 3224 x 750ml bottles, bottled on 14 May 2018
- Alc 13.8 %Vol, TA 5.3 g/L, pH 3.4, RS 3.3 g/L
Vintage Report 2017-18
March - April 2018: cellar work
Fermentations of all wines went through easily. Due to the perfect ripeness of the fruit, we allowed them three full weeks on the skins. Eventually, we pressed on April 4, and the young red wines came straight into barrel. Again, there are very dense, well-structured wines, with deep dark color and excellent fruit-flavors. It seems the struggle with the drought in the vineyard has its good sides, too!
March 2018 - Harvest time!
It appeared that our vines adapted well to the drought, and the
grapes could ripen to full maturity. It is a beautiful autumn, with cool
nights and mild days, ideal ripening conditions.
Finally the time has come, and we harvested on March 13th and 14th,
exactly 55 days after mid veraison. Like last year, the fruit had
ripened very evenly, so we were able to harvest everything in two days.
Admittedly, the crop was slightly down (7t/ha), but it was particularly
healthy and of high quality.
January-February 2018
The new year started promisingly, with a refreshing little rain on
January 1st. However, it was just 5 mm. To put this in the right
context, one must understand that our vineyard consumes at this time of
the year every day about 2.5 mm (= 2,5 lt per day and square meter). If
there is too little rain, it naturally relies on the soil reserves.
These are now running very low, which is why we support the vines with
additional irrigation during this phase.
For the rest of the ripening phase, only once again, on February 13, a
significant rainfall of 14mm brought some relief. Fortunately, the
temperatures were comparatively moderate, and our vines develop
surprisingly well and above all very healthy, as if they were desert
plants. There is hope for a high-quality crop 2018 despite all the
drought.
November - December 2017
As previously reported, we are currently suffering from a serious
drought. Up to now, there was only half of the usual seasonal
precipitation, the dams are emptying quickly, and Cape Town has
implemented the strictest
water restrictions ever. Fortunately, the rain we had until now was nicely
spread over the entire budding and growing phase, and together with
comparably moderate temperatures, the vines developed surprisingly well
and are strong and healthy, with somewhat smaller, but all the more
beautiful grapes.
However, our soil moisture sensors and
satellite-based multispectral analysis of the vineyard suggest that
the soil is now quickly drying up, and we decided it’s now time to start
with additional irrigation during the last days of December. Of course,
we rationed our (this year strongly reduced) water quota such that we
now should survive the following maturation phase well … provided that
all others stick to their quotas, too, and don’t overuse the dwindling
reserves. Slowly but surely it appears that we might hope for another
top-quality harvest, despite all the drought.
During this time, we also visited a few wine fairs in Europe, with
Ingrid going to Berne and Basel, and Luca to Ghent and Zurich, and it
was a great success - many thanks to all our loyal visitors and
customers!
October 2017
The vines are growing fast now, and suckering, the thinning and removal of excess shoots, keeps us very busy during this time of the year. It's a tedious work, but definitely worth the effort, if you are aiming for quality.
September 2017
Winter was quite cold, and accordingly, budding occurred very evenly around mid of September. As mentioned before, however, the winter was also very dry, the upside being that our enemy no.1, the snails, only occurred in small numbers, and our special unit for snail control could sort out the rest :-)
July - August 2017
We are still waiting for the rain. The dams are on a record low, and the forecasts speak about another dry season 2017-18. August is traditionally the pruning month, and so we adjust this according to the dry spell, leaving only short bearers and little reserve buds.
Previous reports have been condensed to vintage reports for each year and can be looked up there.
