We always say that harvest time feels like a bit of blur but 2019 felt like a raging whirlwind – so much so we didn’t manage to take a tonne of photos – better luck next year! We did take some time in new vineyards up in Skurfberg and brought the kids along for a camping weekend of rock pool swims in between vineyard sampling in the scorching January heat. A nice little break from reality.

From the cooler spring temperatures we were anticipating a more ‘normal’ harvest, starting a bit later than last year and being more spread out on our picks but somehow when it came down to crunch time we were back in mid January with all the vineyards being ready in a densely compressed few weeks. The last few drought years have taught us how to deal with this and it was all hands on deck. We were lucky to have Albert van Niekerk on board full time to help keep things on track along with a super team of interns.

In terms of winemaking 2019 seems to be very much in the groove of the last few years, still contending with the prevailing drought conditions. The experience from the last few dry vintages have certainly made decision-making extremely simple. We needed to pick early to retain fruit and acidity. After that, the wines take care of themselves. We were lucky in having missed all of the later season rains that plagued other parts of the Winelands, so we retained great concentration and didn’t need to contend with any kind of rot.

We’re really looking forward to seeing these in bottle!