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Newsletter June 2009
Harvest 2009 T-shirt
Dear Friends Of The Winery,
Amazing how fast time goes when you are having fun!
2009 Harvest has been fantastic, intense and long!
It is the best time of the year when the whole team is at The Winery, working, talking, laughing, eating and drinking together. I love the harvest. The harvest team has been working very hard and now finally will have time to take a shower; the music that has been pumping in the cellar has gone from Metallica down to Bob Marley!! We are in autumn and now the marketing and sales team (me) is starting its harvest!
Jacques is breathing out!
Jacques and Edouard comments were, “this harvest, was the first time we have seen the vines being in such a natural balance”, thanks to Mother Nature. The result of the season being so cool, gave very spicy and aromatic white grapes with a lot of concentration, balance and elegance. For the red grapes, no green flavours, lower alcohol and packed with elegant fruit.
We kicked off our harvest with the first grapes from Swartland arriving on the 5th of February, it was Chardonnay and she was a beauty and the latest we ever have started taking in white grapes in The Winery history. Cabernet Sauvignon from the farm was the last to arrive, took until the 7th of April to be ripe –and that’s the latest we’ve ever harvested !
Merlot had a big crop and was on time, perfect phenolic ripening, and longer hanging time thanks to cooler weather. Shiraz doesn’t show so much the spicy notes yet, for now, he is showing more plum fruit and sex appeal! Pinot Noir from Elgin was the most extreme, Elgin is higher and has markedly cooler weather, this year it was even cooler and it resulted in higher acidity, smaller berries that gave very deep colour and structure : great potential!
Cabernet Sauvignon is still fermenting; it is showing the true Cabernet Sauvignon character, cassis and blueberries.
Gravity, which is the result from our top blocks and only made the vintages when the fruit is outstanding, is showing exceptional concentration of fruit, due to the longer hanging time; it is almost “fleshy” but with beautiful, dense tannins.
Relax, Fran is going to pour you some
Cabernet Sauvignon!
The white grapes were of supreme quality
Chardonnay from both Stellenbosch and Swartland are showing classy fruit with minerals and citrus, with great acidity and low alcohol.
Chenin Blanc from Swartland came in with slightly higher in alcohol than the Chardonnay due to the fact of the heat wave in the second week of February. (That is normal for Swartland for that time of the year when you trying to grasp for air in 48 degrees Celsius heat), but these beautiful old bushvines handle these conditions so well. Some Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch had a touch of botrytis because of the rain we got in the middle of February, which is very good for the complexity of the fruit.
Working hard on their studies!
Viognier, she was very shy in the beginning, and came in lower in alcohol then last year, is starting to show white peaches and rose petals!
Land Of Hope Cabernet Sauvignon was pressed on the 14th of April, as you can see Fran is always in charge! All the children that are involved in Land Of Hope Project came to help and pick the grapes, after the foot stomping it tasted great with a borewors!
We are happy that the cellar team now have some time to rest and have some well deserved off time with their family; I believe some of the wives/girlfriends have forgotten what their husband/boyfriends look like!! Edouard has gone back home to France for a while, but he will be back in July, we miss him already!
New releases for the autumn!
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2008 Radford Dale Viognier, Stellenbosch
2008 vintage was cooler and gave more elegance. She is packed with minerals, peaches, rose petals and paw paw. 20 barrels made, 4 barrels were new, fermented on the skin and matured in the barrels for 9 months. To keep for a while, but she is really beautiful now.
She is saying; “Take me home or lose me forever!”
Previous vintage in Platter 4 ½ Stars
2008 Radford Dale Freedom Pinot Noir, Elgin
Alex tells me, I have to share this wine, I cannot just drink it all myself! 2008 is our second vintages from Elgin, single vineyard. Clone 777 and 115, fermented in 600 litre French barrels, matured in 225 litres Burgundy barrels for 9 months (20 barrels made, was 21, but I drank one myself). This wine has the pure essence of Pinot Noir, sexy, velveteen red fruit, high acidity, fresh and a long aftertaste.
Alex Dale and I had a long lunch with Neil Pendock at Jonathan Steyn restaurant Belthazar in the Waterfront, Cape Town one Monday, to discuss and taste (read drink) Pinot Noir.
Read Neil’s blog with his tasting notes on the wines.
Freedom is unfiltered and unfined, so it will leave some sediment with age. (Will be released for the trade in September 2009). Previous vintage in Platter 4 ½ Stars.
2006 Radford Dale Gravity, Stellenbosch
2006 is the fourth vintage of Gravity and made from the top blocks from the farm with 50% Shiraz, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot. Fermented and matured in Burgundy 600 litre barrels. After fermentation is done, we leave the wine on the skin for a few days.We then take all the free run juice off without using the press, the moist grape skin that is left is all transfer to the big tank, (Edouard says; “The Fatthy tank, translated to the big fat tank”) and left to by Gravity press out the last drops over night. No press means, less bitterness and harshness, bigger barrels gives a slower and gentler maturation. The wine is silky, packed with lushes red fruit and finesses, leaves you with a taste of more...
A wine to leave in the cellar for some years before drinking, if you can resist the temptation!
Gravity are made only the best vintages and in very small quantities. Micheal Fridhjon wrote about the Gravity 2006 in Business Day, you will find his article in the enclosed file. Enjoy!
Previous vintage in Platter 5 Stars.
Johannesburg Wine Show runs from the 29th of May to the 31st of May at Gallagher Estate, Midrand, Johannesburg. Come and meet me, Heather and Jacques, enjoy and taste through the wines of many of South Africa’s top wine producers. There is something going on every day, show kitchen with highly rated chefs, famous winemakers, Longitude and Latitude tastings!!
International news
Fran’s Hubby Tubby!
United Kingdom
A German great-grandmother called Maria Thun is making a big stir in the British Wine industry. She has published a calendar in 1950s where she is categorising days when it is better to taste wine according to the moon and stars, dictated by the lunar calendar.
Supermarkets Marks & Spencers and Tesco in United Kingdom, have picked up on this and are supporting her philosophy and says that they are only going to invite critics to taste their wines on the “good” days according to her calendar.
Sometimes I think people have too much time on their hands, I know wine taste different on certain days, but we have to be realistic and make people drink more wine first, then we can worry about on what day they should drink what wine !
Australia
The Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the body responsible for importing and distributing vine plant material in Australia is really in the hot seat!
It seems that the DNA is mixed up with what they believed to be the Spanish Albariño grape, actually is the French grape Savagnin!
The whole thing came to attention last year, followed by a visit of Jean-Michel Boursiquot, ampelographer (grape identification expert), who suspects that there is a mix up of the DNA.
Savagnin is manly found in Jura, eastern France, where it is producing wines similar to Sherry, called Vin Jaune. Both Albariño and Savagnin are genetic mutations of Traminer variety, part of the family that is surrounded by well documented confusion in many parts of the world, including Spain.
The CSIRO subsequently compared DNA samples from both varieties in Spain with vines from its own collection, believed to be Albariño and found a match with Savagnin. The result of this was that the wins produced from vines sourced from this collection cannot be labelled as Albariño.
Producers are sitting on a lot of stock that is labelled and ready to be shipped, they now have to wait for the result from CSIRO and that is costing a lot of money. Tscharke Wines in Barossa Valley was the first and largest producer that planted and produced wine from Albariño grape. Winemaker Damien Tscharke says “there will be repercussions for us financially”. Mr Tscharke will be calling a meeting with South Australian and Victorian producers to get support and to take charge and embark of this to make their own test on the DNA of the cultivar. For the different producers and consumers, let’s hope for a fast result from CSIRO.
Italy
Italian police have raided a dozen mafia workshops in Turin, northern part of Italy. These workshops have been bottling and labelling “Champagne “illegal.
It seems like 300 000 bottles have been produced and restaurants in United Kingdom, London have been unknowing selling these “Champagne” bottles.
Everything was discovered by French custom officials when they seized a batch of 2000 suspected bottles, provoking an investigation by police in Turin and the Champagne industry in France.
The fake labels were realistic, but the giveaways to anyone with even poor grasp of French culture was there to be noted, like The Raymond Vadim selection was a apparent mix up with Roger Vadim, the film director.
Alex, Heather, Edouard, me and Stephen
Of the 300 000 bottles produced, only 25 000 have “hit” the market, seems like they don’t have time to relabel! Shame.
In South Africa, we know the autumn is here, because Alex is leaving for Asia and then around the world (finishing in Burgundy to make this year’s (drinking) import selections), Stephen is off to see customers in Dubai and then the UK and I’m going to Sweden, to make sure we all sell South Africa around the globe and continue to make people choose South African wine above anything else! So the girls at the office will have some very quiet time, (especially me not being there) and Heather is, as always, in charge!
Until next time, make sure you enjoy the autumn with long walks and drink a lot to keep you self warm!
Warm regards
Mia Mårtensson
All about individuality...
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