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Duncan and his team from Cotage Fromage looked after the food side, Susan and her team provided some wines on tap plus the ‘Feddeerweiser’, Anneke and her team previewed the new releases and two bands provided lots of entertainment. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this possible and of course to our guests who seemed to love the day! Until next year when we celebrate Vrede en Lust’s 325th anniversary!

This year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the new winery and 324 years of passion, since Jacques de Savoye founded Vrede en Lust in 1688!

There are only 120 tickets available and a number of last year’s guests have already applied for bookings, so please book soonest to avoid disappointment.

The Harvest Festival is one of the highlights on our calendar! Those who want to harvest some grapes themselves, will be able to get into the vineyards with Etienne & Susan earlier in the morning – just come prepared with a change of clothes.

Wines to be released

The Boet Erasmus 2009, the Syrah 2009, and Caseys’ Ridge Elgin Viognier 2011. In addition, the 4 wines that make up the exclusive and limited release Artisan Range will be available for tasting and purchase to all guests. These wines are normally only available to Wine Club members: The Chenin-Chardonnay-Viognier 2010 (Elgin), the Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 (Simonsberg-Paarl), The Barrique Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc 2011 (Elgin) and the newly releases Syrah 2010 from our Elgin vineyards.

Theme

Red and white. Please dress accordingly, the best dressed couple will win a special autographed set of the Vryersvoetpad 2008 wine released to celebrate the movie Semi-Soet!

Program for the day

11:00 Jess cocktail, grape picking and grape stomping
12:00 Starters and Federweisser served
12:30 Start of a long, lazy lunch with Wine on Tap!
13:30 Desert
14:30 Blessing of the Harvest, Balloons of Dreams and announcement of the Best Dressed Couple

From 11:00 – 16:00 Tasting of the newly released wines, Boulles  & live entertainment

De Savoye Day Lunch Menu

Duncan and his team at the Cotage Fromage have created a very special menu for the day:

Starter

• Baby onion quiches
•  Gazpacho

 Main

• Duck liver parfait
•  Hot smoked salmon terrine
•  Rare roasted fillet of beef
•  Chicken coronation
•  Cold meats and cheeses
•  Baby beef and chicken burgers
•  Lime potato salad
•  Curried chickpea salad
•  Tuscan panzanella salad

 Dessert

• Special selection of hand made Ice Creams

De Savoye Day Tickets

Public - R295 per person, Wine Club Members enjoy their WineClub discounts for themselves and one partner/guest. Wine Club Members also enjoy booking priority. Tickets include the Harvest Lunch, lots of wine on tap and all activities.

No charge for children of 12 years and younger – there will be a secure play area with nannies where food and cold drinks will be provided.

Only 120 tickets are available! To avoid disappointment, please book your tickets as soon as possible and confirm you’re booking by sending your proof of payment to Elzaan Louwrens. Please note that seats will be allocated on a strictly first-pay basis.

Banking details:
Vrede en Lust at Nedbank, Business Winelands
Branch code: 149821 Account number: 1498080960 Reference: “Savoye” and last name

Accommodation

Our accommodation is already booked up for the weekend, but there are a number of options nearby at a range of prices to meet all budgets!

• Cathbert Country Inn (4 Star) – 021 874 1366
• Babylonstoren (6 Star) – 021 863 3852
• Val d ‘Or Estate Guest House (4 Star) – 021 876 3902
• Le Franschhoek Hotel (5 Star) – 021 876 8900

We look forward to sharing this day with you!

Please note the winery will be closed to the general public on the 3rd of March.

In the winery we have from left to right: Melvin August (cellar worker), Susas Erasmus (winemaker), Anthony Mbombo (cellar worker), Ellen Lubbe (intern winemaker), Danel Morkel (intern winemaker), Baron Willemse (South Africa’s cellar worker of the year 2011), Chris Spurdens (intern winemaker) , Ansonè Stoffberg (assistant winemaker) and Etienne Buys (viticulturist).

The intern winemakers are all South Africans this year. Ellen was the Dux (top) graduate from Elsenburg in 2011. Chris graduated from the University of Brighton in 2009 with a BSc Hons in Viticulture / Oenology. Danel graduated from the University of Stellenbosch in 2010 with a Bsc in Viticulture / Oenology. We sincerely hope they really enjoy their harvest at Vrede en Lust and make a big contribution to the team overall.

No, Susan did not develop a ‘boep’ during the summer holidays, she is 6 months pregnant! Congratulations to her and Arnè ; we hope her 6th full harvest at Vrede en Lust is kind to her and the unborn little Erasmus. With a viticulturist (at Plaisir de Merle next door) as dad and winemaker mother, the little one is really born into wine.

I was lucky to take this photo of 2 Kaapse grysbokke in one of the Cabernet blocks on Ricton this morning. The block is in veraison and I hope they were more interested in the leaves than the green berries!

These are two females but there was also a male deeper into the bloc. It is always great to see them around! Lets hope they do not end in some-one’s sights.

The Chardonnay grapes harvested today comes from a 3.5H (nearly 9 acres) block at our Ricton vineyard. The Ricton vineyard is located next to Babylonstoren, about 2 km up the road from the winery. We expect the Vrede en Lust Chardonnay that goes into Marguerite to start coming in next week.

Ricton is also classified as Wine of Origin Simonsberg-Paarl, with a more uniform, lighter,  decomposed granite soil that is well drained, lighter soils. We also grow Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage (for Jess rosè ) and Cincaut on the farm.

We harvest the grapes by hard into plastic lugs. The lugs are emptied into half-ton plastic bins and then transported to the winery. At the winery, the bins are stored under-roof and out the sun. The bins are next rotated into the receiving hopper, where the grapes are weighed prior to release to the automatic sorting machine.

In the sorting machine, the bunches are destemmed (the bunches for Marguerite will undergo whole-bunch press) and the berries sorted. The berries that make it through the sorting machine then gets pumped though the mash cooler and into one of our two presses.

The pressing process takes nearly 6 hours under low pressure. Next the press juice gets pumped into the selected fermenter, in the white wine section of the winery. Susan will decide when to kick off fermentation, which will take place at low temperatures for nearly 3 weeks in order to preserve the more delicate flavours of the white wines.

The harvest starts today with the Chardonnay and will end in early April, probably with the Cabernet Sauvignon from our Elgin vineyard. A long harvest ahead – we hope and pray it will be a great one!

Healthy Grenache during Veraison 26 Jan 2012. Note the sandy soils!

The 2012 harvest is rapidly approaching. We expect to start harvesting the first grapes during early February. The first grapes in are normally Chardonnay from the Simonsberg-Paarl vineyards and Pinotage for our Jess Rosè, also from our Simonsberg-Paarl vineyard. The harvest will most likely end in April, with Cabernet Sauvignon from our Elgin vineyards; thus a long harvest window if the weather does not change dramatically.

At present we are optimistic about both the quality and quantity of the 2012 harvest, but berry sorting will significantly reduce the volume of grapes reaching the fermenters. We had a cold winter in 2011, cool spring and cool early summer. The first real heat waves hit in mid January. While some areas are concerned about rainfall and water reserves, we fortunately received sufficient rains during winter and spring.

Our major concerns at present are re some sunburn damage and the unevenness of some cultivar’s bunches, due to volatile weather conditions in the late spring. The photo on the right shows a Grenache bunch with both raisin berries from sunburn during last week’s heatwave, as well as uneven berry development.

Small unripe berries, premature raisin berries, rotten berries and MOG (matter other than grapes) such as leaves, small pieces of stem as well as a lot of pips, will be rejected during the berry sorting process. The toughest tannins come from the stems and pips, so quality of the resultant wine goes up! See Below.

Pinotage Reject Matter Harvest 2011

The automatic berry sorting machine will have to work hard and earn its keep this harvest. I am sure Susan and Ansone are both very happy that we have the Pellenc Selectiv in place to ensure that raisins and unripe, small berries do not make it into the winery! The quality improvement from the first full harvest using the automatic sorting machine in 2011 has been significant.

We have a few new cultivars and vineyards coming into production this harvest. The first Grenache Noir grapes from the 2.5Ha (6.25 acres) block planted on Vrede en Lust in 2009. The vineyard was planted in a sandy, old riverbed section of the farm, in order to help tame Grenache’s natural vigor. Excess vigor is bad for quality grape production. Susan and Ans will have new options with Grenache as cultivar.

The Grenache vineyard has established itself well and Etienne’s team have had to drop at least 50% of the first crop, in order to help protect the younger vines. We will harvest every second bunch for potential use as rosè component, leaving the other bunches to enjoy extra hang time for red wine production.

In Elgin we have the Merlot and Cabernet Franc blocks planted in 2008, now coming into first production. Both blocks are only 1Ha (2.5 acres) in extent and planted along the warmer, north facing Bokkeveldt Skalie (an ancient shale) slopes. The soils have a 70% gravel content, are very deep and it takes the vines longer establish themselves. Once their roots get down to rock beds with more water retention, they take off. We expect small maiden crops from both these blocks, similar to the maiden harvest of 1.5 tons Casey’s Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon last year.

I am very excited about the quality of the 4 barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2011 harvest. Bright red fruit, elegant, no green characters and very smooth tannins. If the Merlot and Cab Franc develop in similar style and quality, we will have some really exceptional grapes to work with in the cellar.

There has recently been a lot (two Grape blogs, Pendock, Eedes et al) written about the green character in some Cape Bordeaux style red wines, due to elevated levels of 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine (or IBMP),  resulting in Cabernet Sauvignon with an excessive ‘green’ character.

Hats off to Charles Hopkins from De Grendel for highlighting this important issue and also for giving the local wine press something really useful to write about. It is going to be interesting to see how winemakers tackle issue this harvest. I suspect lots of IBMP level tests running through the labs right now!

Looking out over the Casey's Ridge vineyard in Elgin towards the Palmiet river and Kogelberg mountains

While Elgin’s early acclaim has come from the high quality white wines from wineries like Paul Cluver and Iona, I suspect that in the medium term, the real game changers will come from Elgin red wines, especially where the right soils have been carefully matched to the correct grape cultivars, clones and rootstocks. Our near-neighbor Shannon, a bit higher up the Palmiet river, has already surprised wine critics internationally with their Mount Bullet Merlot.

His focus will be the barrel exchange action when he departs with the group at the end of August 2011. The objectives of the exclusive three to four-week programme are to expand his knowledge of French wine, wine-making approach in the cellar and barrel use in Burgundy. It is a timely trip as we get ready to start making Pinot Noir from our Elgin vineyards in the next year or two.

Baron Willemse, ready for his trip to France

In the South African Cellar Worker of the Year competition 2010, Baron was elected as one of South Africa’s best cellar workers. This year he has made it even further! By doing so well in this local competition, Baron has demonstrated that he is ready to travel to Burgundy with the rest of this competent team.

We look forward to his return with insightful knowledge and some new ideas to implement in the winery at Vrede en Lust. Congratulations to Baron. We are proud of you!

For the press release in Afrikaans, please click here!

The event was sold out early! It was a very warm summer Saturday at Vrede en Lust, pretty much like we experienced for most of this harvest. We had to hire in 10 large fans at the last minute as the regular cooling breezes were missing. Hate the wind when I play golf but need it on the farm!

Thanks to my daughter Jess for taking the photos and making Jess cocktails.

We are very thankful that we have the water with irrigation installed for all our vineyards, as the quality and quantity of the crop would take a major knock without it, this harvest. Etienne had a tough job getting all the grapes in, at the right time and in the right condition which is so critical for the production of quality wines, so hats off to him and his hard working team.

Early morning starts are crucial to getting the grapes into winery before it gets too hot. Between Norman (based here at Vrede en Lust) and George (based at Caseys’ Ridge), their teams have hand harvested 567 tons by yesterday  (the 8th of March):

• 184 tons  from the Vrede en Lust vineyard
• 255 tons from our Ricton vineyards
• 107 tons from our Casey’s Ridge vineyards
• 21 tons brought in from other producers

We have thus far harvested just over 80%  of the expected 2011 crush. On Vrede en Lust we are still busy harvesting Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Petit Verdot while at Caseys’ Ridge we are currently harvesting Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc, with Viognier and Shiraz, plus a small maiden crop of Cabernet Sauvignon, still to come.

Some varietals, such as Chardonnay, were up on last year, others like Pinotage were down. We experienced major wind damage in our Pinot Grigio and Viognier blocks in Elgin, with those crops hit really hard. Overall, the crush should come in up on last year.

Ansone, Baron, Cyril and Susan Not during Harvest

Susan is happy with the quality of the grapes, but delighted that we had the Pellenc automatic sorting machine installed, as it had to work hard getting rid of sunburned berries, shot berries and some Elgin berries affected by rot.

She believes the investment will pay big dividends in terms of quality improvement. I will drink to that!

The 2011 Jess and Sarah will be heading to the blending bench, in the next week or so. Susan is pleased with the wine components that she and Ansoné have at their disposal. We hope to bottle those new vintages in April, for release in May.

They love the chardonnay destined for Marguerite, which is has completed its primary barrel fermentation. The chardonnay crop was up this year, so we should be able to make a bit more 2011 Marguerite.

The Sauvignon Blanc from Elgin is nearly all in, also ahead of schedule due to the warmer, dry season experienced. The vines at Caseys’ Ridge are maturing well and the fermenting Sauv Blanc looks excellent at this stage. Susan is also particularly excited about the flavours of the Cabernet destined for the 2011 Boet Eramus.

The harvest team have been working very long hours and they are all dreaming about the end of harvest and the intense winemaking phase! They hope to finish up the crush by the 18th of March. That is about 10 days earlier than last year. Lets hope all continues to go well with the 2011 harvest.

Harvest Update

The winery has been getting busy for the past 2 weeks and crushed a total of about 120 tons of grapes thus far. No grapes came in today and next grapes are due tomorrow, as we bring in some Merlot for Red Lady. We have completed the Chardonnay and Viognier harvest from Simonsberg-Paarl, and the Pinotage for our Jess Rosè. The first batch of  Shiraz for Jess 2011 is in and rest will follow later this week.

It has been a hot, dry February so far and the quality of the reds that busy ripening on the Simonsberg look very good. At present we are pumping in irrigation water from the Berg River for the first time in 5 years, which shows how much hotter and drier this summer has been.

Etienne and Susan’s main concern is that a lot of the red grapes may ripen at the same time. We can take in 30 – 50 tons of grapes per day, so pressure may become intense! Our Elgin grapes are still earlier on the ripening curve, with the Pinot Grigio due in first.

The Elgin vineyards are maturing well, with our first decent Shiraz crop expected, plus our first small batch of Cabernet Sauvignon from Caseys’ Ridge. The white are all looking very good at this stage.

Anthony

The Team

We are lucky to have a lively team, working hard in the winery! Locally, Anthony was promoted to the cellar team, as a result of his great performance in his previous position & high potential demonstrated.

We have three winemakers from the northern hemisphere helping out in the winery this harvest:

Laura Roach is from the USA. Laura studied at University of California, Davis Campus and graduated in 2011 with a  BSc Viticulture and Oenology. This is her 3rd harvest, with previous crushes at Schramsberg Vineyards (California) and Domaine de la Vougeraie (Burgundy)

Liam Idzikowski is Irish and working his 7th crush. He completed 3 harvests in California (Williams Selyem and Tyrrells) plus three harvests in Australia. Liam is studying at Brighton University, where he is completing his  BSc Honours in Oenology & Viticulture.

Louise Brown is British and studying Wine Production at Plumpton University. This is her second harvest, following on working the 2010 harvest at Dumol in California.  Louise spent a number of year in the Hospitality Industry. She read Andre Domine’s  wine books and decided to converted to viticulture and wine!

Ansone and Etienne Loading Chardonnay Harvest 2011

The Chardonnay block, from our Ricton vineyards down the road, came in at nearly 30% up on last year, but with a relatively low yield running at about 58%, post sorting and the press. Thus 41 tons yielded less than 24,000L of juice that should translate to about 20,400L of finished wine. We expect to crush a further 15 tons from an older block on Ricton, taking us closer to our target production level for the Sarah 2011.

Chardonnay on the Sorting machine Harvest 2011

We have also harvested the 12 tons of Viognier from Babylonstoren, located next to our Ricton vineyards. It is the same tonnage as last year and the yield is  just below 60%, which means we get 7,200 L from 12 tons of grapes.

We will lose another 12-15% through the wine making process, so the final production of the 2011 Simonsberg-Paarl Viognier will be just under 700 cases of 12 x 750ml. The Viognier from our Elgin vineyards will only come in during late March.

On the 2nd of Febryuary we started taking in the Pinotage for the 2011 Jess (just in time for her birthday on the 3rd!). We aim to increase production of both Jess and Sarah by about 50% this harvest, due to rapidly growing demand. Etienne prepares the vineyards specifically for Rosè production, thus the grapes come in earlier and with the right levels of acidity and desired flavour profile. People do not want their rosè to smell like bananas – more like strawberries!

Rejected Chardonnay Matter Harvest 2011

Automatic Sorting

It is the first harvest that we have the  automatic sorting machine permanently installed, replacing the destemmer/crusher of previous years. It seems to be working very well, but the new flow and speed does represent a learning curve with adjustments required downstream.

The Pellenc destems and sorts about 100kg of grapes per minute, which translates to about 1 ton every 10 minutes or 6 tons per hour. The stems get blown to a trailer and next stop for them is the compost heap.

Pinotage Reject Matter Harvest 2011

The sorter has to remove berries that are too small (unripe) and the berries that have been spoiled and damaged ahead of harvest.

Looking at the matter rejected by the sorter, one sees small stalks, small green berries, a lot of pips that get shaken off during the vibration process and grape skins that have been spoiled.

The small green berries are clearly visible amongst the Pinotage reject matter.

Will the already delicious Jess taste better with this kind of matter removed ahead of the press? Time will tell, but I feel very optimistic about the outcome.

The harshest tannins reside in the pips & stalks, so by dramatically reducing the contact with the wine, one ends up with more gentle tannins. It is amazing how many pips get removed in the sorting process!

Stems post Sorter Harvest 2011

We experienced a blazing heat wave in early January, that resulted in some ‘sunburn’ damage. The sunburn results in some of the berries turning into raisins.

The destemmer seems to do a great job of shaking off the softer berries and keeping the raisins on the stems. The photo taken of stems in the trailer clearly shows some of the raisins still on the stems.

The automatic sorting machine has been working very well so far and Susan is happy with the quality of the juice.

Working with 2 presses

As mentioned in the blog about the Cellar Upgrade, we also installed a second press last year. This makes a big difference while processing grapes destined for white and rosè wine, as we can cycle through 2 batches of grapes at the same time. Previously we would have to wait until the press was complete, emptied and washed, before pressing the next batch, which is clearly not optimal in terms of oxidation risk.

Dual presses running Harvest 2011

The next blog will introduce you to the 2011 Harvest team.