Making our own Magic!!! The 2008 Harvest
sagoodnews.co.za is one of my favourite web sites. Happy to help and add value where I can, but really, I feel at the moment one just has to get on with enjoying the moment. Absolutely life isn’t a cupcake right now, but - it helps to see the humour in what’s happening around you and not to get tense about stuff that can’t be changed - definitely essential if you want to farm as a livelihood and particularly important skills for getting through the 2008 harvest.
This vintage was just so much part of that 2007/8 cycle of life........ everything looked wonderful..... and then it did the pear-shaped thing.
We picked spectacular sauvignon blanc grapes for 2 days, then rain poured down. We drank a bottle or 2, waited it out, dried it out and began again, and again, and again..... As always the rain and humidity won leaving us with hectically low yields......
depressing???? not a bit, that grape juice was stunning!!
More than one curve ball flew in our direction. Eskom took us 6-LOVE when we’d just finished filling the press. Then we won the next set when roadworks took out a powerline for 2 days -hah! we couldn’t have got any Co2 anyway (no nonchalant Co2 gooi-ing at the sauvignon blanc this year).
Too much rain, too little power, no Co2 - you’d expect a shocker of a vintage report wouldn’t you?
Not a damn!!!
Hardship shared is hardship halved and our wonderful team got on with it and made it a great vintage. We took our luck and turned this harvest around into a stunner. A harvest where resolve was the hero of the day and where we learned to dig deep, find the magic and show our real farming colours.
Hope you enjoy the wines
Bernhard
sauvignon blanc 2008
Lots of work in the vineyard and stunning Durbanville pyrazines show themselves in a magnificent nose this vintage. Hard work from early on in the vineyard and very successful experimenting with 4 different yeasts has accentuated a wide spectrum of flavours at different stages of the palate. A beautiful crisp, clean aspect was protected throughout by hard won Co2 supplies fetched from as far afield as Worcester.
semillon 2008
This rainy season played havoc with the soft skins of the semillon and we lost half our crop to rot. Unfortunately this means there will be no Nitida Limited release for Woolworths this year. However, our Nitida semillon, what there is of it, is wonderful - 50% from barrel and blended (12%) with some of our best sauvignon blanc tank, the wine is full of magic honey and spanspek and big juicy citrus fruits.
noble Semillon 2008
Even while the semillon grapes looked rotten, Lady luck was working on our side. Perfect conditions gave us magic pockets of Botrytis fungus in the vineyard and we have produced 9 beautiful barrels of Noble Dessert Wine. This stunning, amber coloured wine will be available in 375ml bottles. Anticipation for release is high (early September) with lots of pre-tasters already reserving their many bottles.
riesling 2008
A new venture for us, (we hope to emulate the Mossel rieslings with Durbanville flair). this week We are planting a hectare of real Riesling (Weisser not Cape) - for production in 3 years time. The 2008 grapes come from Darling. After whole bunch pressing and copious Co2 (more frantic trips) to avoid oxidation, we are chuffed with what’s in the tank..... lovely rose-petal with strong lime and steely backbone ...... all the makings of a goodie.
pinotage 2008
Demand for this wine of ours is so high that we have had to buy in extra grapes from our neighbour this year. Fortunately for us - here is a case of “give us another one just like the other one”.
This was the only cultivar to behave according to the text book this year. Smooth and gorgeous in the barrel at the moment. Release expected January 2009
cabernet sauvignon 2008
Like the 07, this cabernet is causing a massive stir in the cellar. Work began early in the vineyards with intense canopy management opening up both sides for maximum sunshine hours and fresh cleansing airflow. The effort has been repaid with dividends - flavours from this new vineyard (with its early ripening rootstock and clone) are phenomenal - all deep berry with rich christmas pudding. Another yum!!!
petit verdot /Calligraphy
Our first harvest of petit verdot. Lots of magical flavours are coming through here- lovely dark fruit on the nose and palate all growing smooth and velvety in barrel at the moment. Petit verdot is normally blended into the Calligraphy but because of virus infection in our vineyards, the quality of our merlot and cab franc is not up to scratch which means there is no Calligraphy planned for this 2008 vintage.
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