We have had a lovely breather from the hot weather of end of January. We actually had some rain on Friday evening and a really cool weekend in the cellar. We are hoping that the grapes, that have become more sugar ripe the last few weeks, will now also have the opportunity to mature in regards to crunchy pips, soft skins and grape flavour maturity.

So our weekend in pictures. The view from my cellar window: cloudy and cool – just after the night’s rain.

While we were pressing, some of Elsenburg Agricultural college’s students came by for a tasting. Happy to report an enthusiastic and eager group. I wish them well with their viticulture and oenology studies for this coming year. May you learn that in wine, one never ceases to learn!

Sunday morning saw the drawing off of some lovely clear juice to start fermenting our Chardonnay from our De Bos farm in the Upper Hemel –en –Aarde Valley. The grapes are from high density bush vines surrounded by fynbos and some of the most beautiful surroundings known to the wine world. Hoping we will do the area justice with the wine we are pampering.