Vintage report 2019
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Merlot 2019
Summary: The 2019 harvest season will be remembered as arguably the most contradicting season in many years. It started with a strange winter, at first with good rain in June, but then again unusually warm and dry in July and August. So we had to irrigate for the first time already during flowering, very unusual for Stellenbosch. And the weather remained unpredictable and windy until into the ripening season. Harvest quality varied accordingly across the Western Cape, but the yield was generally low. The early batches (rosé and white wines) mostly developed very well, but from mid-February the maturation slowed down - it seemed as if the four dry years before had drained the vineyards and drained their reserves. The sugar levels remained comparatively low, but the phenolic maturity and aroma development was good.
As a result, the 2019 harvest brought us well a very good rosé, while the red wines were not predestined for new barrels, so we exclusively produced Little Merlot from this vintage.
- Little Merlot 2019: This wine is a typical
representative of this vintage in South Africa, comparatively low
in alcohol, but fresh and fruity. For once it is a 100% pure Merlot
and conveys a lot of drinking pleasure. And best of all: In 2022
it was voted one of the top 10 Merlots in South Africa by the new
Merlot Competition SA of the same name:-)
This wine was gently fined (vegan), filtered and bottled on 19.3.2020 into 5775x0.75lt bottles.
- Alc 13.5%, RS 2.5 g / l, TA 5.49 g / l, pH 3.6 - Pink Merlot 2019: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, and
complemented with a dash of Muscat d'Alexandrie from a neighbouring
vineyard.
- Serve chilled, ideally at 5-8ºC, enjoy young
- Production: 3345 x 750ml bottles, bottled on 2nd May 2018
- Alc 13 %Vol, TA 5.0 g/L, pH 3.44, RS 3.5 g/L
Vintage Report 2018-19
April - May 2019
During this time of the year, we are always busy in the cellar with bottling the
previous vintage, as well as the new Pink Merlot, which is supposed
to be available by end of
May.
The red wine is of course allowed to mature further in barrel - and
for the better: during the first racking in June - just after completion
of malolactic fermentation - it surprised us with beautiful black berry
flavors and a delicate texture, despite the difficult season that lies
behind us. Nevertheless it becomes clear that we won't produce our full range
of wines from this year's crop but a Little Merlot.
March 2019
This year, main harvest was on 6th of March. We could harvest everything in one day, as the crop was even smaller than expected with just 5 tons per ha. It appears that the four dry years in a row take their toll, together with the sometimes hot and unusually windy conditions during the ripening season - admittedly not optimal for our Merlot. Nevertheless, the quality was okay and we look forward to the development of the wines in the cellar.
February 2019
Hot days, unusually high winds and too little rain characterize this period. On 11th of February, we started harvest with the grapes for our rosé - and they came in in excellent quality. The new Pink Merlot 2019 should be ready by June for early drinking pleasure - good so, as the 2018 is sold out :-)
January 2019
Up to now, the vineyard is handling the dry conditions very well. And the new year brought even relief with some rain, 16 mm all in all, a good average for January. Veraison started early with the begin of the new year, and was almost completed by mid January already. However, it becomes clear that we must expect a significantly lower crop than usual. Above this, due to the observed millerandage during fruit set, there are still many green berries left in the bunches, which will have to be painstakingly removed at harvest. On the other side, the remaining fruit ripens exceptionally well, and our first sample juice showed already excellent color, so we are quite positive!
October-November-December 2018
October and November were characterized by changing temperatures and
at times strong wind. Despite the good rain in September, we found that
our soils weren't filled up to field capacity, so for the first time, we
had to irrigate a first time already at flowering in order to support this
critical phase. But despite this and the actually very even start of
flowering, we eventually observed a rather uneven fruit set.
Rain was also less than half of the usual rainfall in these last three
months of the year. On the positive side, temperatures were throughout
moderate.
Interesting enough, despite the lack of rain, we observed in our area -
just over Christmas - some downy mildew infestations, on some farms actually quite heavy, though luckily, we got off lightly.
September 2018: Spring
July and August were unusually warm and dry again. Although ideal weather for pruning, it only brought about 30% of the usual rainfall. Fortunately, September compensated for it with some decent rain, and the dams in the Cape are now just over 60% full - okay, not yet full, but at least double than a year ago. Due to the wet and rather cold September, budding was comparably late, but eventually very even. Now we are looking forward to the new season!
June 2018: Winter
Beside the release of our Pink Merlot 2018, June also brought the first decent rainfall in this year. The dried-up soils are replenished and the empty dams receive their first good inflow again. Nevertheless, we decided to implement a rainwater-harvesting installation. The rainwater from the roofs is collected in large tanks and processed through a special filter system, before it is fed into our water network. This makes us hopefully less dependent from the municipal water system - above this, our water tastes better than city water, and is without chlorine or other additives, the best for use in a wine cellar!
Previous reports have been condensed to vintage reports for each year and can be looked up there.
