June, July, and August are typically the winter months in the Cape, but June surprised us with unseasonably warm weather this year. This unexpected twist had us on our toes, particularly with the potential for budburst to start early on the Chardonnay blocks — yet another climate change aberration. Then the arrival of July brought the rain, cold and true winter, minimising the unseasonal budburst.
Our team’s anticipation and preparation for unexpected weather are a testament to our commitment to quality farming. In July we witnessed a succession of massive storms, originating from the southern Pacific, navigating past Cape Horn, and traversing the south Atlantic and ultimately bringing cold, wet weather to the tip of Africa – the Cape. With our vineyards asleep and the farm prepared we only sustained minimal damage, with some heavy hail damaging our cover crops. As the cold units (chilling hours) accumulate, the vines require several hundred hours below 10°C to achieve maximum health and proper dormancy, depending on the grape variety. With July’s cold temperatures, we are now comfortably past this milestone, and Christo will soon embark on one of the year’s most essential tasks: pruning.
Interestingly, AI has made it to the vineyards, and we are trialling AI pruning glasses, which assist with selecting budding points for pruning decisions – more on this soon! As some readers will remember, during Covid, we were using Zoom in the vineyards to work with Livio, our pruning consultant, who could not travel to the Cape from northern Italy. Vineyards, too, can benefit from technology!
Nic, meanwhile, has been busy in the cellar assessing the 2024 vintage. Several red wines are still undergoing malolactic conversion, a process that transforms the harsher malic acids into softer lactic acids. Nonetheless, the significant features of this year’s dramatically reduced harvest (down 35%) are the high acids and excellent fruit concentration. According to Nic, these higher acids contribute to the lovely freshness and vibrancy of the wines, with compelling tension between the different elements. It all sounds fascinating and in summary we have high expectations from the 2024 vintage.
Late in the month, Vanessa and I were delighted to be asked to present at a dinner hosted by Oblix at the Shard in London. We recently had our wines listed at Oblix, which is on the 32nd floor of what is one of London’s architectural gems. It was an enjoyable evening with delightful food, guests, a killer view over London, and wines that were indeed up for the occasion.
We are proud to announce that the Oldenburg Vineyards Chardonnay 2023 has again been awarded a Gold medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards, scoring an impressive 95 points. This award marks the third consecutive year this exceptional Chardonnay has received this accolade. I have written with excitement about our vineyard transformation, particularly what we have planned for the cultivar. Furthermore, the Banghoek Valley continues to produce an array of spectacular Chardonnays – no doubt we are amid great Chardonnay terroir.
During the month, I listened to an interesting podcast discussing how to practice ‘mindful respect’ when drinking wine. Essentially, this is about being present when you take a sip and appreciate the flavours, aromas, textures, and, importantly, how it makes you feel — the emotions it evokes. To many, it is all too easy to have one’s mind elsewhere — focusing and enjoying the moment can bring simple yet enjoyable benefits. One thing I love about wine is the vintage – when drinking wine, I always think about what was happening in the particular vintage and how the weather impacted the wine. At the same time, I find wine part of the memory process – what was I doing that year – to my mind, it is one of the unique things about wine – it is a time capsule, connecting us from the present to the past.
