Vintage report 2023
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Merlot 2023
We look gratefully back to a good, if not always easy 2023 vintage!
It started with an 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 with late varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon. Nevertheless, great wines are expected of this vintage, as long as they have been harvested before the rains.
- Bein Merlot 2023: Harvested on March 4, 2023, and vinified as
a pure Merlot, this wine matured for 12 months in French oak barrels
(30% new, the remainder two- and three-year-old barriques).
Bottled on April 12, 2024, in 3,170 0.75L bottles and 1,225 small 0.375L bottles,
it was released in March 2025 after another year of bottle maturation.
- Alc 14.3%, TA 5.4g/l, pH 3.54 TSO2 78mg/L - Merlot Reserve 2023 was harvested on March 3, 2023, and after fermentation, aged for 24 months in 100% new oak barrels of the finest French origin. After two years of barrel aging, it was bottled into 1,800 bottles at the end of March 2025 and will now be allowed to mature for another year in the bottle, until its expected release by mid-2026.
- no Little Merlot has been produced in this vintage
- Pink Merlot 2023: Harvested on February 8, 2023, and as always,
carefully sorted, slowly cold-fermented over three weeks, and then
racked only once
to preserve the delicate fruit flavors.
- 2,985 x 0.75Lt bottles were produced from this vintage.
- Alc. 12.8%, RS 2.3g/l, Sre 5.15g/l, pH 3.55
- Best drinking pleasure until 2026 - MCC brut rosé 2023, our sparkling wine,
produced by the Méthode Cap classique, of course from Merlot grapes! Harvested on January 25,
2023, the base wine was slowly cold-fermented for two weeks,
after which it was put for three months into older barrels for MLF
and further
stabilization, which
ultimately gives it the typical mildness that we value so much in our MCC.
On May 10, it was bottled for second fermentation and finally
disgorged 15 months later, on August 13, 2024.
- 3,000 x 0.75Lt bottles produced
- Alk 11.6, RS 8.3 g/l, Sre 6.3 g/l, pH 3.2, TSO2 73mg/l
- Best drinking pleasure until 2028
Reports from the 2023 vintage
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.
