Victoria Falls

Vic Falls was brilliant – we stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel, and it was great to see that it is still running so well. Everything there is perfect, the setting, food, wine (their wine list is very impressive) and staff… if you are ever able, we strongly suggest you stay there… or just go for their brilliant afternoon High Tea!

Vic Falls Hotel at Night

Yes, the town itself is a bit run down (especially compared to the vibrant Livingstone across the border), but we received great service and always felt very safe.

Elephants crossing the path just outside the Vic Falls Hotel

We also visited my cousin Neil in the Caprivi at the Sekaseka Lodge he is setting up. The lodge is on the banks of the Kwando river, and is a very wild place indeed! Part of staying at the lodge are the village visits one can make, and we paid a visit to a local brewer, called Moscoe, to see how he makes his sorgum based beer. Interesting that he sells his beer while it is still fermenting, so on day 1 it’s only 2% Alcohol, on day 2 it’s about 4% Alcohol, and on day 3 he says most people only drink one or two glasses!!

Moscoe the Caprivi brewer outside his Brewhouse

His beer is pretty tasty, but fortunately all of our 2010 wines have long finished fermentation, as I don’t think our customers would be too happy to buy fermenting wine from us!!

Not high-tech, but the results are pretty tasty!

More worrying though, is early budding is usually not very even, so on the same vine some shoots are several weeks ahead of other shoots and this causes problems with uneven ripening, and potentially green flavors in the wine.

Young Syrah Vineyards amongst some serious Organic covercropping!

The 3rd problem is the low rainfall we’ve had which, unless we have lots of late Winter and early Spring rainfall, means there will be low water reserves in the soil and bedrock, and the vines might struggle late in the season. Our neighbour Callie was super relieved at the rain last weekend, as the 50 000 young vines he’s just planted need as much moisture as possible right now to protect their young roots.

So, it looks like it could possibly be a tough vintage ahead. Unfortunately there’s not much we can do except prepare to work really hard in the vineyards this season, and hope it gets really cold and wet the next 4 to 6 weeks!

Drawing Samples of the 2010 White Wines for Blending Trials. Exciting!

In the cellar Andrea and I are starting to look at our 2010 wines in barrel to get and idea which parcels (and barrels within parcels) work well together, with an eye to blending in November. We make several passes through all the barrels, and get to know each one very well. In general we’re extremely happy with what 2010 has given us, and it looks like our best vintage so far, so it’s up to us not to stuff what looks like some incredible wines up!

With all the hard work that lies ahead though, we are off for a week to visit our notorious famous Cousin Neil on the banks of the Zambezi in the Caprivi. He’s celebrating quite a big birthday this month, and we’re looking forward to seeing the work he’s done on his Sekaseka Bush Camp!

We’ll be back in the beginning of September.

Kloof Street

In fact, we have loads of labelling going on this week, as we have several orders going out over the next  couple of weeks to Holland, Germany, Canada, the UK and USA! Sales are also picking up nicely in South Africa, and with each different market we need different information on our back labels.

Old labels on the left, new label on the right... much better!

In the past we’ve stuck seperate stickers on the back labels with importer information, but have never been happy with this as it looks a bit messy. To overcome this, we’ve had our back labels redesigned so that we can over print importer details on them.  We’ve also purchased an over printing machine, and it’s working beautifully!

Progress comes to the Swartland!

I can guarantee that every single farmer in the Western Cape will be extremely happy about this, as the past 2 weeks have been warm and dry. Too warm and dry in fact. Several vines are starting to bud (at least a month early), and this could cause serious problems if it becomes more widespread.

ripe wheat near the paardeberg

It is even more worrying for our neighbour, who has just finished planting about 50 000 young vines, and without good rain the young vines tiny roots will dry out, knocking the vines back and causing massive problems in seasons to come. Thankfully the rains came just in time, and here’s hoping there are more in store over the coming weeks!

Jake and Chris contemplating the next vine

We are starting with pruning, and the dogs are having fun chasing mice, insects and reptiles in the vineyards. Hopefully little jz will be able to join us soon too.

AA Badenhorst Family Wines, Mullineux Family Wines, Porcelain Mountain Wines, Sequillo Cellars and The Sadie Family Wines invite you to the first annual Swartland Revolution Weekend.

When: 12 – 13 November 2010

Where: Riebeek Kasteel

Over the past 15 years the Swartland region has grown in stature and complexity and today there are enough contrasting wines to showcase this diversity over a weekend.

The aim of the revolutionary weekend is to raise general awareness of the area, and although there might be stylistic and philosophical differences in the wines to be showcased, they all share a common sense of place – as with all great wine regions of the world.

For the first forum we have invited Stefan Ogier from Domaine Michel & Stéphane Ogier from Ampuis, France. He is a world-renowned producer of fine Rhône wine.

There will also be tastings conducted by some of the local producers in formal and informal formats as well as great meals prepared by Reuben (of Reuben’s Restaurant fame) and local culinary hero Mynhardt Joubert of Bar Bar Black Sheep.

For more details including a teaser programme and booking information visit our website.

www.theswartlandrevolution.com

Fryer's Cove - the new cellar

After a 3 hour drive north of Riebeek, first stop was the vineyards, and soon to be cellar, of Fryer’s Cove, north of Lamberts Bay. We met with owner Jan “Ponk”, who gave us a lovely run through his wines, and a superb snoek braai to accompany them. Jan’s special vineyards lie very close to the cold Atlantic Ocean (less than 1 kilometer away), and are strongly influenced by the salty mist and breezes than come off the ocean. Firstly, by acting as a constant air-conditioner they help maintain brilliant acidities and low alcohols, but they also seem to impart a salty, almost Iodine like character to the Fryers Cove wines. This makes their beautiful, refined Sauvigon blancs the perfect  partner for seafood.

Jan "Ponk" describing how he plans to use sea water to cool his wines!

The vineyards at Fryers Cove are interesting thanks to their proximity to the ocean, but their new cellar is even closer… it actually sits in the ocean! Jan is taking over part of an old fish factory in Doring Bay (a few kilometers south of his vineyards) and converting it into a winery. This is an extreme building, and I have no idea how it was allowed to be built where it is! It is going to be a very special cellar, with waves crashing against the cellar wall, and the icy ocean waters will be cleverly used to cool the wine. Fascinating, and we look forward to visiting again!

Tierhoek Vineyards. Sublime Isolation

Next up was a visit to Tierhoek vineyard and winery, at the end of a very long, small and dusty road in the Piekenierskloof mountains.  Tierhoek is probably the most isolated winery I had visited (to date), and has a sense of almost standing at the end of the world. This is Rooibos and Buchu country.  It is a very special place, and has a unique rocky sandstone terroir which seems to give great acidity and purity to the wines grown there. Andrea and I are good mates with their thoughtful winemaker Roger Burton, and love getting up to visit him to see how he’s progressing. Roger makes some lovely Chenin blanc, Sauvignon blanc and Grenache (as well as a decent Straw Wine), and is clearly getting comfortable with the sandstone terroir he has to work with.

Cederberg Winery's Water Mill... we felt at home!

Finally, we decided to take a drive to Cederberg cellar, and a new benchmark of isolation was set for us!!! It is only a 90 minute drive from Tierhoek to Cederberg, but we were already in the middle of nowhere, and it is a very windy, bumpy gravel road. Not having visited there before, we felt like we were lost the whole way there. It is FAR away from anything, and when winemaker David Niewoud says he spends his winters shouting at baboons because there is nothing else to do, I understand why! Cederberg winery is interesting because it also sits in a whole lot of Sandstone, but the farm sits on a belt of Shale, very similar to what we have on Riebeek Kasteel. Cederberg is naturally higher in altitude and further inland, but there are some similarities in David’s wines to those we make from Riebeek, especially in the beautiful Syrah’s he produces.

Another brilliant winery in the middle of nowhere, and further reinforcing the fact that Riebeek Kasteel is definitely NOT THAT FAR off the beaten track!

Save the Date. Book tickets. Put your seatbelt on!

THE REVOLUTION HAS STARTED!

Jancis Robinson's Purple Pages

MULLINEUX SYRAH 2008 SWARTLAND

This has come on beautifully since I first tasted it last November.  Lots of north Rhône subtlety and refreshment factor. Great to see something buck the local trend and turn out something, in the first vintage, with real finesse. 17/20

WHITE BLEND 2009 SWARTLAND (60% Chenin Blanc, 10% Clairette Blanche, 10% Roussanne, 10% Viognier, 10% Grenache Blanc).

Stunningly refined and appealing for those of who like dry whites to taste as though they have some of the bedrock (shale in this case) soaking in the wine glass.  Beautifully judged with notes of jasmine, lemon peel as well as all that minerality.  Lovely now but there is so much tucked in there that I suspect it will develop beautifully in bottle.  A great effort for a second vintage. 17,5/20

STRAW WINE 2009 SWARTLAND

Pale coppery colour and awfully viscous but thanks to the acidity of Chenin Blanc, this from a single parcel of nearly 30 year-old vines, this has great refreshment value too. Lovely balance and delightfully approachable already.  This was probably very difficult to make. 18/20

The Italy vs Paraguay Match we Attended in Cape Town, 2010

Though the Swartland did not experience significantly more tourists during the World Cup, we have certainly benefitted from the added attention that hosting the event has brought to South Africa, and we in the Swartland and at Mullineux Wines have been fortunate with some great coverage in international media, and added business opportunities.

Lets hope we can make the most of it and keep up the momentum!

Back home the art exhibition we hosted in our cellar over the weekend went very well… here are a couple of pics:

Weekend Exhibition

But Is it Art?

A good crowd attended, and was treated to some interesting Performances!

Looking to the next couple of weeks… big news is going to be the launch of our new range of wines called Kloof Street… watch this space!!!

The works include paintings, sculptures, drawings and performance art, and artists are Tamlin Blake, Jacques  Coetzer, Lean Coetzer, Loni Drager, Christiaan Conradie,  Greta McMahon, Phillipe Kayumba, and Maurice Mbikayi.