I love the chill in the air at this time of year. It’s a good contrast to the still warm autumn days, and a reminder that the buzz of summer is now over.

All of our wines are in the cellar. The Shiraz is still on skins, a little more extraction time before we press it off, and the whites are all in barrel, having finished their malolactic ferments. In many ways, most of the decision-making is done, and now all we have to do is take care of them until bottling later in the year. The decisions made during harvest define what kind of wine has been made, and anything else we do now is only polishing that up. We had a great time running through everything we’ve done with my parents-in-law, Richard and Mouse Poynton (of Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse fame), who were down to help fatten us up with good cooking and to spoil their grandchildren.

There’s a lot of boring work that has been pushed to one side during the harvest, that now needs to be tackled, but there is lots of exciting work as well. We’re working with Jan and Rohan of Fanakalo to develop our labels, and are thrilled with what we’ve seen so far. It’s great to see all of our ideas take shape through their work. Can’t wait to put our new branding out there!

It’s a little frustrating as we still have a long way to go until our SA wines are available to market, but at least we’re headed to Alsace in September to see how the 2012 Rieslings have done. By all accounts our 2012 Grand Crus have turned out exceptionally well from a very late, cold and wet harvest.