News
Dear Friends Of The Winery,
We hope you had as great an ending to 2008 as we did!
21st of December we bottled the Radford Dale 2008 Freedom Pinot Noir from Elgin. We haven’t stopped drinking it. Jacques de Klerk our new winemaking team-leader (he speaks French) was “blown away” by the elegance and finesse this wine is showing. It will be released in September 2009! Make sure to get your hands on some! (If there will be any left after me drinking it all!)
Alex was supporting the sales of
the imported wines, while...
Stephen was enjoying himself in
other ways...
After that we closed the door to 2008 and went for a well deserved holiday! As you can see, some of us were working hard, even during holiday!
Meanwhile, I was working hard on eating, drinking, gaining weight and tanning my legs in the beautiful summer sun, when the great news from Obama land, came! The news did not only expose that the American people got a great new President, but also that they have amazing taste in wine!
Wall Street Journal reviews wines from all over the world and rates them in categories: “Yech, Ok, Good, Very Good, Delicious & Delicious!”
Simply-put, they are looking for great wines that have a true expression of the place where they are grown, the soil, true character of the grape varietal, not over extracted nor with excessive oak -and where the winemaker is confident in expressing natural rather than contrived individuality. Obviously, our interest was heightened when we realised that one of our wines was the only South African wine which made the cut for their selection of the most outstanding wines of 2008, but, beyond that, there are some salient comments regarding quality and value, not least given the current position in the US (and global) economy. Click here to read the whole article.
It continued when the Wine Enthusiast, in their March 2009 Buying Guide, rated The Winery Of Good Hope Chenin Blanc 2008 as their Best Buy in the whole US market, for $10 and under. We are very proud and happy not just because it was us, but because, more significantly, a South African wine came top.
That we thought was a fantastic way of starting 2009!
First fruit of the vintage!
Getting ready to be bottled!
Since we opened the cellar doors to 2009, we have been busy preparing, not only for Edouard’s return, but to make space in the cellar for the harvest, with much bottling and labelling of the 2007 reds and 2008 whites!
Mother Nature kept us waiting until the 5th of February 2009, the first grapes arrived at The Winery, and it was Chardonnay from Swartland, for our Black Rock white blend.
The 2009 harvest is now up and running and we have a fabulous cellar team this year, joining our regular crew we have three “Froggies”, two from the Rhone Valley and one from Burgundy.
Everything looks and smells amazing (the wine, not the cellar team they never have time to shower), it is the best time of the year! We finished the white harvest on 26th February and will now switch our attention to the remaining reds...
The harvest in Swartland seems likely to go into the history books as one of the best in many years. R 8000 a barrel. Sufficient rainfall during winter and spring and a very cold November, made a big difference for the area, the vineyards are looking green, healthy and have had no stress so far.
The first tank of the vintage is dedicated to our friend Jude in London.
Stellenbosch is looking very good, a small crop but excellent quality! Pinot Noir from Faure has been cropped and it is now fermenting in open-top 600 litre Burgundy barrels. Smells fantastic! Pinot Noir from Elgin behaves like a true Burgundy!! Proud, elegant and full of potential for the future! We picked that on the 27th February and it is looking simply beautiful.
We anticipated that the harvest was going to be later than normal, which is preferable. Longer hanging time, results in better ripening and great, deep fruit concentration. Cold weather in November and all the rain resulted in the vineyards experiencing even-growing and that gave rise to great flavours.
This year looks very healthy all-over from a vineyard perspective; more people start to employ (and value) viticulturists and it is paying off.
One can see that the vineyards are in much better shape and far more healthy than just a few years ago. Viticultural-focus is the only way forward to increase the long term quality in our vineyards.
We can “trick” our way through many things, but Mother Nature is very clever and brutally honest.
All farmers/winemakers want to have a long life for their vines, to reach the point of outstanding quality due to healthy vines.
They would like natural low yields and a true expression of terroir, a sense of place, while getting paid fittingly for the quality!
International!
The economy in Europe is in a dreadful recession and it is not looking very positive for 2009. But, when things get though, the tough get going! 2009 harvest is predicted to be down by 2% in Europe compared to 2008; main reason is that France is decreasing its production of wine by 5% due to dryness in certain areas. Spain is predicted to go down by 10% and Germany is increasing their Riesling production.
Spain is tackling the economic meltdown by investing!
Rioja’s wine district, (one of the most important wine districts in Spain) has decided to invest 100 million Rand in marketing,
targeting certain international markets in particular.
This to make sure that people don’t forget their wines; consumers are spending less money on buying wine so Spain wants to ensure that they drink quality entry level wines from Spain! Great Britain and USA are two of the most important markets for Spain, which is where the biggest efforts are being focused and the largest marketing spend. But Germany, Switzerland, Mexico and Scandinavia are also countries that they are targeting.
The 2008 harvest internationally was very diverse across different countries, but one thing in common is the low yield -due to a very cold spring!
Lunch in the vineyards!
Bordeaux looks very good for the white grapes, except Muscadel, (used for the sweet wines mainly) that was hit by frost which took two thirds of the crop.
Merlot looks very good, thanks to the good “weather window” that came late in the season and saved the harvest from rot.
Rhône Valley had a very difficult and late harvest. June and July were cold and this lead to a small crop. Due to rain, (Chateauneuf du Pape had 300ml of rain in one week) the vines were affected by disease, lack of concentration in the grapes and uneven quality. But like Bordeaux, they were saved by great weather in the late season. Edouard (our Director of Winemaking) says it is a viticultural year; “the vineyards that have been better managed and sprayed for diseases have performed very well, but the “surfers” -those farmers that did not put a lot of effort in to the vineyards- have had a very bad harvest”. So it is like Burgundy, if know your producers, you will still drink great wine.
Germany had the smallest harvest for quality Riesling they have had in many years. A lot of rain drained the fruit concentration, and it is an ‘average’ vintage.
Picture taken from a wedding at De Bortoli Winery
in Victoria!
Australia is having the worst fires in its history!
Mainly Victoria is affected, with many souls lost and damage to property and lives beyond words!
When the fires are out, we will find out what the exact damage will be, but it appears that Fosters have lost the largest vineyard holding of about 20 hectares of vines.
Roundstone Winery has burnt to the ground, also in Victoria.
Temperatures reached up to 50 degrees Celsius.
In the places where it is not burning, the heat is destroying everything.
Our hearts go out to our peers and friends in Australia!
It is a fact that global warming are affecting winemaking: Europe, for example, is getting warmer and alcohols are getting higher, (Even though, they don’t want to talk about it).
In Bordeaux the traditional red grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Carmenère and Malbec and for white grapes, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Muscadelle, Ugni Blanc, Odenc, Colombard, Mauzac and Merlot Blanc. But this is all changing!
It appears that the Syndicat des Vins de Bordeaux (Bordeaux Wines Union) has asked INAO (Institut National d’Appellation d’Origine) for their permission to start a trial experiment with grapes that are not part of the official 14 Bordeaux grape varieties which are authorised for wine production there.
The red grapes they are suggesting for the trial planting are:
Zinfandel, Syrah, Marselan (cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache) and Arinarnoa (crossing between Merlot and Petit Verdot).
White grapes are:
Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, togheter with Liliorila (crossing between Chardonnay and Baroque) and Petit Manseng.
Château Petrus made from Zinfandel and Marselan?
This is an interesting angle taken by the Syndicat, many people are very sceptical about this. But one surely has to try, to be think the unthinkable and take bold decisions if required ?
I am looking forward to follow this.
The test will run for 8 years.
THE WINERY OF GOOD HOPE JOINS MERIDIAN 1ST OF MARCH 2009
2009 is looking very exciting for us in the South African market and we are taking a big step and joining Meridian Wine Merchants for our local distribution as from yesterday.
Meridian is extending its portfolio to 35 farms and will be divided itself into 2 divisions: Latitude and Longitude. The Meridian Longitude portfolio will have primarily the more premium wines with smaller production levels while the Latitude portfolio will have more broad-distribution brands focused on volume growth and wider distribution. The Winery Of Good Hope will be in the Longitude portfolio with our entire range.
We are very proud and excited about this development with Meridian, a very professional and skilled distributor, which will be able to bring our wines to the next level in the local market.
Until next time, I will be indulging Radford Dale Freedom Pinot Noir (I’m not sharing)!
Cheers
Mia Mårtensson