Water and drought

Spring has arrived in the Robertson valley, and normally the dams should be full. We have experienced an extremely dry winter, which is our normal rainfall period. Some farms in the area rely on water from the surrounding mountains to irrigate their crops. Most of these farmers’ dams are completely dry, and there is little hope for decent rain before April next year. They will probably have to go into preservation mode, where crops are kept alive, as opposed to being allowed to bear a crop. This will be a huge financial loss to them, as employees still need to be paid.

Fortunately our catchment area is about 60km north of us, and there they received adequate rain to fill our reservoir. As summer progresses water will be let down the Breede River, and this will then feed into our irrigation dams.

Because we receive very little rain even a normal rainfall year, we have to irrigate in order to grow vines in Robertson. I believe this is a great advantage as we can feed the vines exactly what they need. If we have too much growth we can just turn off the taps. Farming in a dry area also reduces the need to spray fungicides, as we have very little disease pressure. This means lower costs, and more environmentally friendly grapes.

So farming without rain has its advantages if you can import the water from elsewhere!

Texas

I have been in the US on my annual sales trip. I am from Africa, but I experienced the hottest weather that I have ever encountered in Dallas, Texas. The temperature was pretty much always above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and reached about 108 Degrees (42ºCelcius). What made the temperature more unbearable is the fact that it never even cooled down at night – the minimum seemed to drop to only 85 degrees at night (30 ºCelcius). It was a real shock to the system, as I have arrived from our winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Despite the heat I had a great time. The wine market there is vibrant, and Eric (Baum – Cape Classics) and I got some good work done.

Cab 2010

Yesterday we tasted through our 2010 Cabernet Sauvignons. We taste every sample blind, and form an assessment of the wine based on colour, tannins, and amount of fruit.

The wines are aged differently, some in barrel, and some in tank, and all blocks are kept separately. Obviously they all taste different, but the general quality is good, and they taste similar to previous vintages – which is the most important factor.

What stands out this year is that the fruit is bright, and the wines are very soft. The colours are also very good, but not quite as deep as the 2009 Cabernets.

I am very pleased, as 2009 was a tricky year in the vineyards. Mother Nature gave us wind, rain, drought, and a horrible heat wave in a crucial ripening period. It just shows that work in the vineyards does pay off.

soccer and wine

An interesting fact about the 2010 Soccer World Cup Finals is that every major wine producing country is represented, except China. Let’s go through them one by one in order from largest producers.

1) Italy – Always vies with France for the top spot and sometimes battles France to see who gets knocked out first.
2) France – See above.
3) Spain – The largest producer by area, but only the third largest volume producer due to low yields.
4) USA – Possibly the only big producer not to be reliant on exports.
5) Argentina – The home of the very fashionable Malbec, and Messi.
6) China – The only country in the top 12 that is not represented.
7) Australia – The country has grown tremendously in the past decade, but has a severe over supply.
8) South Africa – Managed to reach the World Cup by virtue of hosting it, but its reputation for wine production is well earned (call me biased)
9) Germany – The home of precision Riesling and precision football.
10) Chile – This is another country that has grown tremendously and is home to great value wines.
11) Portugal – The worlds largest collection of different cultivars, not even the Portugese know all of them.
12) Greece – Grower many unpronounceable varietals.

And at 16th we have Brazil, but I suspect their end position in the World Cup will be higher than 16th.

Other noteworthy producers that are represented include New Zealand, Uruguay, Mexico, Algeria and Slovenia. I have personally met a wine grower from the Netherlands, but I od not think that we can include them as one of the larger producers. And let us not forget about the UK, as they seem to be turning out a lot of sparkling wines these days, but I doubt they will be using it to toast football success…

Quite times

It is that time of year where the days are getting cold, and the nights long. It is one of my favourite times of year, as I always regard it as the start of the next vintage. Yes I know we have about 8 months to go before we harvest any grapes for the 2011 vintage. But, I believe harvest starts as pruning, as that is when we start preparing the quality for the vintage.

Autumn is also the time of year where wine producers scour the planet, looking for new markets, and maintaining old ones. This is no easy feat, as the world economy very jittery. The USA seems to be buying, and there have been some nice developments in China.

Another activity that takes place this time of year is a Wine Festival called the Wacky Wine Weekend. This takes place annually in Robertson on the first weekend in June. It is a festival with a difference, as it is completely decentralised. All activities take place on a different farm, so there are over 50 different venues. Each winery is in charge of its own activities, and each tries to outdo each other. The festival attracts about 18 000 people, with is great as June is normally a quite time of year as far as tourism goes.

Excelsior will give visitors the opportunity to blend, bottle and label their own bottle of wine.

So the 2010 vintage has come to an end.

This is definitely the quickest smallest vintage I have ever experienced. We finished 3 weeks early, and no this is not further evidence of global warming! The vines just had too few grapes to ripen, so they did the job very quickly.

For the first time in Excelsior’s history we harvested through a weekend. Some untimely rain was had, and we were scared of rot. We called all our staff out for the Saturday, and 120 pickers arrived eager to earn some extra money. A machine was hired for the weekend as well, so this resulted in an extremely busy weekend. All in all we harvested 175 tonnes and 22 hectares that weekend. It cost quite a lot extra, but the quality and health of the grapes was great.

Overall the harvest is 25% down, but some varieties are more down than others. Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz crops are normal, but Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are down 45%, and 30% respectively. Most importantly, the quality is great, with some of the best colours, and concentration that we have ever had in the winery.

So I am stoked!

hand vs machine

To harvest by hand or by machine?

There are two main methods of harvesting grapes. There are also very divergent views of what is better. Harvesting by hand basically involves cutting the bunches off the vine with a pair of scissors. This is hard backbreaking work in the sun. Machine harvesting involves a huge machine straddling the row of vines, shaking each vine and collecting the falling berries.

In our region we get both forms of harvesting. Interestingly from a cost perspective they are fairly similar. Labour costs in South Africa are not particularly high so we can make the choice between the two forms. In certain countries like the US, or France, a machine is definitely the cost effective method, except for when then slopes are too steep for a machine harvester.

Hand harvesting allows a vintner to select only the best grapes from the vine. This is definitely helpful in a year when the grapes are not all healthy. The benefit of a machine being that you can harvest at night, when the grapes are cool and crisp. A machine can also harvest 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Except when it breaks, which they often seem to do.

The main reason why we harvest only by hand at Excelsior is an ethical one. SA has an unemployment rate that is officially 24%, but unofficially 40%. Many people have actually given up looking for work, so do not get counted. Picking by hand provides work. One machine takes the place of approximately 60 people, so the choice to us is obvious.

drying chardonnay

We are halfway through our Chardonnay harvest. Quality this year looks very promising, with the healthiest grapes that I have seen since the 2006 harvest. So we are cautiously optimistic. The downside is that yields are down by 20%, due to to bad spring weather. Well you can’t have it all your own way!

An interesting addition we are making to our Chardonnay these days is a fraction of what we call “sweet reserve”. We produce a tiny amount of wine from vine dried Chardonnay grapes. The process involves crushing the stem of the grape bunch with a pair of pliers, 2 weeks prior to harvest. This stops the flow of water from the vine to the bunch. The grapes start to shrivel on the vine, concentrating sugar and more importantly flavour. It is similar to Straw wine, and is very laborious.

We do not ferment the wine completely, leaving about 80 grams of sugar. This super concentrated “sweet reserve” is then blended back into the main Chardonnay blend. In tiny amounts – we don’t want the final wine to be obviously sweet. This fraction gives us a rounder, fuller wine with greater complexity.

sauvignon 2010

Well we started to harvest this year. The first grapes to be picked is some Sauvignon Blanc. This is very early (it is not yet February), but it is not a sign of global warming. In fact the harvest seems to be slightly later than normal.

The reason for the early harvest is that we are chasing that elusive compound that Sauvignon Blanc contains called methoxy pyrazine, or just called pyrazines in the industry. Pyrazines are the chemicals that give Sauvignon Banc that herbaceous, grassy flavour. Other descriptors include green pepper, asparagus, and green fig. Cabernet Sauvignon also contains this chemical, although it is generally undesirable, as it gives a green dusty flavour.

The problem with pyrazines is that they are sensitive to heat, and decrease with ripeness. That is why we harvest some of the Sauvignon Blanc early. The grapes have not been exposed to many hot days, so still contain high levels of the chemical. The grapes have a very low sugar (so low alcohol), and a very high acidity. The resulting wine will not be very pleasant, as it will taste thin, and hard from all the acid. But this is what we call building block.

We will use this wine at a rate of about 30% in the larger blend. The remaining wine will be more tropical flavoured, and taste fuller due to the higher alcohol. The early picked Sauvignon will just add that typically grassy character of the Sauvignon Blanc. Think of it as salt in your food. Salt on its own is inedible, but a little bit in your food makes a huge difference.