Harvest is always a busy time, and this month has been no exception, with a harvest concertina effect. Each cultivar has ripened faster than what is typical, so all the timelines are closer together. Last year’s excessive winter rains gave the vines ideal conditions for growth in a cool but dry and windy spring. As we crossed into the new year, the dryness continued as did the winds that generally quieten over the warmer parts of summer. With pretty much no rain for over four months and with plenty of wind, the vineyards had become incredibly dry. In January and February, several heat spikes complicated matters, adding some extra stress to the vineyards and resulting in an earlier harvest.
The good news is the overall quality is looking exceptional. Here’s the thing, though; while I may be making it all sound easy, it’s not. For us, each vineyard block reacts differently depending on the conditions. We have used our irrigation during the ripening season, which is unusual, but Christo knows that too much stress on the vines is counter-productive. He turns the water on for six hours and each vine receives just enough to quench its thirst only partially. With the wind, we have had plenty of damage to the vineyard blocks on the south side of Rondekop. In some cases, the vines have had extensive leaf loss, and the remaining leaves are torn and cannot photosynthesise.
Our assistance has been to cut up to 50% of the bunches off (distressing but necessary), then providing some water, allowing the plant to have a new flush of leaf growth to give it some fresh solar panels. We have also done an immense amount of green harvesting this year, assisting the vines with ripening the fruit they have left.
Then there are the sugars. Nic and Christo continually measure the sugars and taste of the grapes to ascertain optimal ripeness, flavour, and acidity. With heat spikes, sugars can jump quickly and the window for optimal ripeness (as Nic says: “when the flavour pops”) can be as short as a day or so. But you can only harvest one thing at a time – harvest is a sequential affair. I am discussing with Nic and Christo whether we are going to miss the window on this or that. The guys are under stress as they work out the picking plan for the next few days, and specifically how they will get everything through the press. Whole bunch pressing is a gentler method, producing a superior result, but it is a much slower process. I ask: “How are you going to manage?”, and Nic replies: “It’s not my first rodeo!”. Suddenly, I know I can relax – they’ve got this!
We proudly announce that our Oldenburg Vineyards Rondekop Rhodium 2021 and Per Se 2021 are included in the World’s Best Sommeliers’ Selection. The selection was invitation only, and successful wines were selected based on their story and overall quality. These wines will be released in May.
We are excited to have been welcomed into the WWF’s (World Wildlife Fund) Conservation Champions program. We are proud to join a select number of wine farms as a biodiversity champion. The program commits members to biodiversity-friendly and regenerative farming practices, conservation of their natural areas, and improving their water and energy efficiencies. When we were showing the farm to the WWF team, Christo and I were driving them around the farm; at one point, we were showing them a recently planted indigenous section of the farm and were commenting about how these ‘fynbos corridors’ were excellent for helping to breed large guinea fowl flocks. Suddenly, and as if on queue, a flock of fifty or so day-old chicks ran from the vineyard cover crop into the fynbos to take cover from us. A magical moment!
Our Chardonnay story continues to take shape with the release of the Oldenburg Vineyards Chardonnay 2023 in March. It contains maiden vintage fruit from some of our newly planted vineyards, and we are incredibly proud of the results. Please see the ReView segment below for more information.
In The Tasting Room, our new team has settled in nicely. It continues to receive great feedback from people who are always somewhere between happy and ecstatic about the experience, the wines and the excellent level of knowledge the team shares.
We still have a few more weeks to capture all that Harvest 2024 offers. One of the things I get excited about is watching the daily changes in the weather and seeing massive diurnal swings of up to 25°C, from a very refreshing 10°C to a hot 35°C, which reminds me how special and unique our position in the mountains is. I have absolutely no doubts that Nic, Christo, and their team, with a bit of help from Rondekop, will produce some absolute gems this harvest – I can’t wait to find out what!