the horse's mouth

Hands on Harvest 24 - 26 Feb 2012

2012-01-28T03:06:00.000-08:00

The Robertson Wine Valley is proud to host it's fourth Hands-on Harvest festival. This boutique event will take place 24 – 26 February 2012 and offers wine aficionados and budding vintners a chance to experience the magic of harvest for a day – without having to quit their day jobs!

Guests can look forward to: * Grape Picking * Bunch Sorting * Stomping your own grapes * Grape vs Wine Tasting * Harvest Market * Vineyard Tractor Trips * Must tasting * Wine blending experience * Wine tasting by Horse Cart…. and much more.

Celebrate love this Leap Year at Excelsior Manor

2012-01-28T03:00:00.000-08:00

HEART TO HEART VALENTINE GET AWAY SPECIAL
Always wanted to blend your own bottle of Wine?
Here is a great way to share that bottle of wine with the one you love. At Excelsior Manor Guesthouse, this Valentine month we have a wonderful special of R650 per person sharing per night. This includes wine blending, a romantic dinner overlooking the
This offer is valid from 01 – 14 February 2012 (subject to availability)
Book now to avoid disappointments. Tel: (023) 615 2050
Email: cellar@excelsior.co.za
vineyards and a bottle of sparkling wine.

Medieval function

2012-01-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

In December, we put together a Medieval function for a client. This company booked the entire guesthouse for their year-end function and they loved the medieval theme. Here are some pics of the evening.

Join The Excelsior Wine Club

2011-12-16T04:44:00.000-08:00

Joining The Excelsior Wine Club is a fantastic way for South African consumers to buy our wines at cellar door prices anywhere in South Africa! Membership also gives you access to wines that the wider public never sees, older vintages from our temperature controlled cellars, as well as many other benefits.

Annual membership fees are R100 per person.

Benefits that members of The Excelsior Wine Club are entitled to include:

· Being able to buy wine at cellar door prices anywhere in South Africa.

· Free delivery anywhere in South Africa for a minimum of 12 bottle shipments.

· An automatic 15% discount on wines purchased at Excelsior’s tasting room.

· Access to exclusive wines that are not commercially released.

· A 15% discount per couple for stays at Excelsior Manor Guesthouse.

· Quarterly newsletters, with tasting notes and seasonal recipes.

T’s and C’s apply

Book at Excelsior now for the GRAPE ESCAPE!

2011-12-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Wacky Wine Festival June 2012

2011-12-14T11:47:00.001-08:00

Wacky Wine Weekend @ Excelsior Wine Estate
Starts : 07 June 2012 Ends : 10 June 2012
Location: Excelsior Wine Estate
Description: Join us at Excelsior to blend your own bottle of wine and label your own creation and enjoy the traditional home cooked meals.
Take a trip on the donkey cart through the vineyards or visit and feed the Alpacas.
There is a children's playground and arts & craft market.

Nianell/Romanz Duisend Drome concert

2011-12-14T11:46:00.001-08:00

Tickets for the Nianell/Romanz Duisend Drome concert on 25 February are available. Contact Ernma for more details & to book your tickets: ernma@excelsior.co.za

Book now for Hands on Harvest - Feb 2012

2011-12-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

Festive Season Special

2011-09-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

Learn to make preserves with us

2011-09-08T04:51:00.001-07:00

Book your year end function now!

2011-08-26T04:01:00.001-07:00

Winter special

2011-08-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

Excelsior Manor Guesthouse announces events in the area

2011-08-26T03:46:00.000-07:00

Excelsior Manor Guesthouse is located betwen Robertson and Ashton in the Breede River Valley. General Manager, Carin Visser has let us know about the upcoming events in the area. If you wish to attend any of these events, then Excelsior Manor is the ideal place to stay.

For more information, visit www.excelsior.co.za

Sep-11 17-18 September Kloofzicht Festival www.robertsonwinevalley.com/gauteng/kloofzicht_festival.html

Oct-11 14 - 16 October Wine on the river http://wineonriver.com/

Nov-11 4-6 November Bonnievale Bonanza www.bonnievalebonanza.co.za

Feb-12 24-26 February Hands on Harvest www.handsonharvest.com
Up the Creek Music Festival Swellendam

http://www.upthecreek.co.za/

Jun-12 7-10 June Wacky Wine www.wackywine.co.za

Aug-12 10 - 12 Aug Robertson Slow www.robersonslow.co.za

27 Aug McGregor Food and Wine http://www.montagu.org.za/events/food-and-wine-festival/
Goldmine Bazaar

1st Weekend in Aug Canola Festival Swellendam http://www.canolakarnaval.co.za/
Oct-12

Montagu Annual Rose Show http://www.montagu.org.za/events/annual-rose-show/

Robertson Slow 2011

2011-08-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since we last blogged. But they say good things come to those who wait. The Robertson Wine Valley host each year in August the Robertson Slow. This I not your typical festival with heaps of visitors flocking to the area. Although we love to share our beautiful area with everyone as the Breederiver area is a gem in the making.

The Robertson Slow focuses more on Food and Wine. Winemakers and owners open their houses to visitors to dine with them. This is much more intimate and any question that you had about wine but were too shy to ask can be asked at the Robertson Slow.
This year was the 5th Robertson Slow Festival and was held from the 5th until the 7th of August. Around 30 wineries and Guesthouses from Robertson, Ashton, Bonnievale and McGgregor participate.

Excelsior Manor Guesthouse’s theme this year was ‘the Klein Karoo Experience’. Chef John du Plessis no stranger to Excelsior Manor Guesthouse cooked up a storm for our 32 guest. John originally from Rawsonville but currently living in Cape Town just loves this area, it’s wine, food and off course people. John is a private chef in Cape Town for high-end celebrities and was recently featured in the Idees/Ideas magazine of April.

Do you have a napkin nearby as the following menu that he cooked will make your mouth water?

We started the night with Roasted Tomato and Blue Cheese canapés with Excelsior Estates Sauvignon Blanc. The next course was ‘Roosterkoek’ served with local preserved Green Figs, Camembert and Biltong followed by Slow Roasted Bone Marrow and Melba Toast. Springbok Fillet was braaied over the coals and served with Quinces. The highlight of the evening was the Lamb’s Neck served with butternut pancakes. The classic 1980’s Individual Lemon Meringue tarts were served as dessert with muskadel.

During each course Excelsior Wines where served by Jacques and Peter de Wet sons of Freddie and Kathy de Wet.

On the Sunday for the 4th time since the festival started the Regional Food Market was enjoyed by many. The focus is definitely Local and Regional is Best!!! With food, crafts, wine, flowers and many more from this area visitors could relax eat something, buy something and drink something to live music.
The Robertson slow is a festival not to be missed.

Looking forward to next year!!!!

Excelsior Manor Guesthouse opens its new conference centre!

2011-02-16T01:35:00.000-08:00

4 Star property located on a working wine farm - Robertson www.excelsior.co.za

The new function venue at Excelsior Manor is renovated from a one hundred year old stable block where the De Wet Family used to keep their thoroughbred stallions. These stables have been renovated to perfect condition with the original Oregon ceilings, windows & doors and also the original feeding troughs!

The conference facility is suitable for small conferences of up to 30 people in a variety of configurations. These can be catered for according to the client’s requirements. Standard conference equipment is available, and additional equipment is on request. Small weddings can also be held in this venue.

The guesthouse offers 9 classically styled en-suite bedrooms, a swimming pool, stunning views and an in-house chef for your gastronomic pleasure.
For relaxation or teambuilding, you can blend your own bottle of wine and taste the EXCELSIOR wines with the sound of water beneath your feet. Walks in the vineyards will refresh the senses.
To book: Carin Visser 021 6152050 or guesthouse@excelsior.co.za

Water and drought

2010-10-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-30T01:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-03-30T00:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-08T00:07:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-11T04:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T21:39:00.001-08:00

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.

Christmas wines

2009-12-22T06:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas is that wonderful time of year when you get to eat and drink to your heart’s content. Choosing appropriate wines to match the food is always a challenge, as Christmas in South Africa takes place in the height of summer. We tend to have cold food, and thus you have to choose the wines a bit more carefully.

This year we will start off with some locally produced bubbly. Robertson is slowly getting a very good reputation for the production of Sparkling wine (made in the proper Champagne method). This will be followed by our Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

Obviously mains will need red. I have found that it is better chilling the wines to 15°C in summer. If you serve them at room temperature, they are normally 25°C, which is far too warm. The wines taste less fruity and more alcoholic. In summer it is also best to serve younger fruitier wines.

The highlight for Christmas this year is a bottle of 1979 Excelsior Muskadel Jerepigo that was given to us recently. Muskadel Jerepigo is a fortified Muscat wine, made in the Beames de Venise style. I have not yet tasted this wine, but generally Muscats do age very well. The wine looks like it is in good condition. We are pairing it with a homemade Green Fig and Port ice cream and hope that we will be pleasantly surprised.

Merry Christmas.

scorched earth

2009-12-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I got an urgent call on my cell phone. There was a fire in the vineyards!

I rushed around trying o find whatever I could that might be usefull to fight fire. The first thing I saw was a rake. Looked promising but ultimately was a failure as it just bent. I eventually settled on the normal standby – a leafy branch.

I called all employees within earshot, and then rushed to the fire (I could see smoke in the distance). After about 10 minutes of frantic beating and gulping of smoke, the fire in one of our Cabernet Blocks was brought under control.

Then the search started for the cause. The fire was in the middle of the block and a tractor was mowing the grass in the rows. We like to have a lot of grass cover, or what is known as mulch, in the vineyards. The reason for this is that it promotes water retention, and provides a food source for microbial life and worms. These creatures are beneficial for the vines as they aerate the soil and help the plants acquire minerals. The drawback of having a lot of groundcover is that there is an increase in fire risk.

Finally we figured out what the cause was. And no the tractor driver does not smoke! He was mowing in a particularly rocky area, and the blades of the mower must have clipped a stone. This in turn caused a spark, which ignited the mulch. Go figure!!

Fortunately this was a “cold” fire that ran quickly over the surface. The vines will survive but have lost this year’s crop.

Spring work is done

2009-11-29T23:17:00.000-08:00

Here I am on the last day of spring, and we have managed to complete all our crucial spring tasks. The vines have been suckered (water shoots removed), tucked and topped. This is when the perfectionist side of me comes out. My absolute favourite thing on the farm is seeing long lines of perfectly manicured vines. Perfectly looking vines do not necessarily produce better quality wines, but I will leave that for my next blog.

The work proceeded quicker this year than the previous two years, as we managed to escape the torrential downpours of the past few years. This has led to less growth, and only needing to trim the vines once. We have also experienced a cool spring, with a couple of extremely hot days of over 35ºC (close to 100ºF). These irregular temperatures do not aid vigorous growth. And did I mention the wind.

We probably experienced more wind this spring than anyone can remember. If shoots were not tucked in on time, they would have been blown off. Wind also restricts growth as the leaves stomata close, and no photosynthesis can take place.

The only job to do before harvest is to remove unwanted bunches from overbearing vines. This helps concentrate the vines energy to help ripen the remaining bunches.

So far things look promising for a good 2010 harvest.

Something for the community

2009-11-16T06:24:00.001-08:00

We recently had the privilege of opening a computer room at the local farm school. For those of you in the first world this may not sound like a very significant event but for the schoolchildren who have very little access to information technology and research resources (the nearest library being not particularly well stocked and about a 6km walk from the farm) it was a momentous occasion.

Last year it was bought to our attention that the majority of our staff’s children weren’t progressing past Grade 8. We set up a meeting to discuss this with the local primary school and to identify what could be done to provide the children with a more solid foundation, particularly in mathematics and language.

The teachers identified three areas that they thought should be most importantly addressed.
1. There was a need for a remedial teacher to provide additional attention to those children that were struggling to grasp basic concepts.
2. The establishment of an aftercare facility to provide children with the support that they were not getting at home to do their homework.
3. A computer room would enable students to learn computing skills but more importantly provide them with some fantastic educational software.

We were able to address the first two areas almost immediately and Excelsior started an aftercare facility for the Excelsior staff’s children and employed two remedial teachers at the school. The third was to take a while longer. All the local farmers whose employees’ children attend the school, were approached for the funding of the computer room. All donated in varying degrees, and the special room was built. Khanye, an NGO, provided computers, furniture and software with the whole project costing about R400 000 (about $54 000).

It’s great to see wine sales translate into the funding source for such incredible projects!

2009-11-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

Spring and its hazards

2009-10-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

We are half way through spring in the Robertson Valley. This is actually the busiest time of the year in the vine’s cycle. Many people believe that harvest is busier, but I find that harvest is fairly routine. During springtime you have to do the following:
· Suckering – this is the removal of excess shoots (very time consuming)
· Lifting trellis wires – to stop shoots being blown off during strong spring winds, which we experienced last night.
· Trim the shoots when they reach a certain height, otherwise they will topple over and become unruly.
· Monitor for disease – Powdery mildew is the most common disease followed by Downy mildew.
· Spray if disease is identified.

So far the jobs have gone well, but we do have a small outbreak of downy mildew. This is fungal disease, which you first identify on the leaf as an “oil spot”. The disease can attack the bunch as well, especially during flowering. It causes the young bunch to wither away and die, which is obviously a financial problem. Ideal conditions for the development of the disease is known as the 10, 10, 24 combination. This stands for:
· 10 millimeters of rain
· A temperature of greater that 10 degrees Celsius
· The leaf must be wet for 24 hours or longer.

We have had two such events in the last two weeks. We have already seen the first “oil spots” on the leaves, so we have to dust-off the spray carts and get to work. We do not like spraying, and in a normal year we do not spray at all (thanks to Robertson’s healthy climate), but in this situation it is not worth the risk.

We generally use contact sprays, as the plant does not take them up. We are using copper, as this kills the mildew, and as been used for centuries on vines. Organic growers tend to use copper for downy mildew, but in different formats to us.

This is one of the aspects of grape growing where you have to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of certain actions. In this case we believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

US and Chardonnay

2009-10-10T13:37:00.001-07:00

I have just spend close to 3 weeks traveling around North America – more specifically LA, Vancouver, NY, New Jersey and Memphis. Yes I did go to Graceland, and Beale street, and ate great BBQ!

Selling wine in the US is great becomes you get direct honest feedback. If people feel that they can sell your wine and make a couple of bucks, they will buy. One thing that struck me on this trip was how amazed people were with our Chardonnay.

I was often told – I don’t drink Chard, its too oaky, or I have too many Chards on my shelf, so why would I carry a South African one. Once they tried the Excelsior, they were invariably impressed and bought the wine.

We produce a very lightly oaked style (many asked if there is any oak in the wine) that has good acidity. More importantly, there is no malo-lactic fermentation done on the wine, which gives chardonnay those typically buttery flavours. Our flavour profile is lemony, and fresh. The wine definitely tastes like Chard, but we want the consumer to reach for a second (and even third) glass.

I believe the wine industry missed a trick by producing oceans full of those oaky, oily chardonnays, as the consumers have been totally turned off by them.

Snails

2009-09-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

Excelsior prides itself on looking for environmentally friendly practices, and this extends to pest control. Far and away the most costly pest on Excelsior is the humble snail. For the past decade we have moved towards using less and less herbicides, and avoid sloughing as this has a detrimental effect on soil structure. This is known as minimal tillage. The benefits are a more “living” soil, as there is plenty of food for earthworms (which burrow down and open up the soil, allowing oxygen and root penetration), as well as micro – organisms, which help the plant access nutrients.

The major drawback is that this provides the perfect environment for snails to breed. There is plenty of shelter, and food all year round. And can they breed! A snail is hermaphroditic (both sexes can lay eggs) and each snail lays approximately 50 eggs each.

Now the harmful snail is the non-edible small white snail called Theba Pisana. It absolutely thrives in the arid lime soils of the Robertson area. It uses the lime to produce a very hard shell, which makes it fairly unpalatable for the traditional snail predator – the duck. Ducks work well for controlling some species of snails and slugs, but not the white snail.

We use a poisonous bait (mixture of Bran and poison) that dehydrates the snail, and is quite effective. The problem is that animals, especially dogs, are also fond of it, and it can kill them. Using poisons is also not good for the environment, and it is damn expensive.

I have been searching for a softer cure for snails, and I believe that I have found one. Iron is poisonous to snails. It is the ultimate diet pill for them, as it completely suppresses their appetite, until they starve to death. I use a common agricultural fertilizer called iron sulphate, and mix it into the bran in place of the normal poison. This year I have done about a third of the farm with this mixture and will monitor the outcome. But so far it looks extremely promising, and the added bonus is that it is very cheap.

competions

2009-09-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

Excelsior has just won a Gold and Double Gold medal in a very important wine competition. We are very proud of this achievement, and it should help sales along nicely. But winning medals is not what producing wine is all about.

Wines in a competition are tasted blind, which means that a judge has no idea of the identity of the wine. This is the only fair way of judging, as our knowledge of a product will influence our judgement of it. If you know you are drinking the most expensive wine in the world, you are going to try and enjoy it no matter what!

If your wine does not win in a competition, it does not mean that the wine is not good. All it means is that it did not stand out in line-up of maybe 90 odd wines.

We place far greater emphasis on things like sales rates - if the wine is selling well, customers must be enjoying it. Another trick I have learned in the past few years is to do a google search of my particular wine, eg Excelsior Cabernet 2007. I get to see what customers are saying about the wine online. This way I am able to track and compare vintages and styles, and what customers feel about them. And comments are spot on. There have been times when I have not been totally sure of a wine, and I will notice more negative comments and descriptions. Obviously you are never going to please all, but if most enjoy the wine, then you are on the right track.

So the best judge is probably the person who is drinking the wine, as he or she is the one who has to enjoy it or not.

the beginining

2009-09-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

I am the fifth generation to be privileged to work and own Excelsior.

Times have changed since Koos de Wet (my Great, Great Grandfather) bought the farm in 1859. The farm was just native bush, with no buildings. Those days he farmed with ostriches, cattle, fruits such as peaches and apricots, as well as producing sweet fortified wines. South Africa in those days had very little infrastructure, so any fruit that was produced had to be dried, and any wine that was produced had to be fortified with spirits to preserve it. Cattle could be driven to market. For the rest agriculture was subsistence based.

My Great Grandfather, Kowie, introduced Hackney horses to Excelsior, and produced sweet fortified wines. The invention of the motorcar ended the Hackney horse industry, so he turned his attention to racehorses. During his time on the farm the ostrich industry also collapsed dramatically.

My Grandfather, Oscar, bred thoroughbred race horses, as well as Dairy cattle. He also produced sweet fortified wines. As you can see we always produced wine of some sorts.

The modern era of agriculture started with my father, Freddie, who introduced dynamic ideas like drip irrigation, and build a modern winery in 1981. This enabled modern dry wines to be produced. In the beginning these wines were mainly white, but in the early 1990’s reds were introduced as they suite the terroir of Excelsior. Due to changes in South Africa’s politics, we were able to export, so this was the next major change in way things were done at Excelsior.

Today Excelsior sells wine in over 20 countries, and we travel the world to sell our wines. So things have changed considerably in the past 150 years – unimagined changes. I am using the technology available to bring you insights into what it is like to be a wine farmer in South Africa 150 years after the business started.