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.

Christmas wines

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

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.