August 2002
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Reverse Chic ...a new dimension John M took in the Colmar Wine Show this month just to see what the Alsace growers are up to and mighty interesting it was too. Talk about going back to go forward ...this has got to take the biscuit...read on.... With a lot of talk currently in France on more organic soil methods (the reasoning seems to be that organic soil is now the only way in which a terroir can truly express itself) there's a lot of thought going into the problems caused of compaction of soil. The logic being that organic applications tend to involve spraying less but doing it more often. Apparently 15 tractor trips lead to approx 30 cm of compaction, which in turn gives drainage problems, especially during dry periods when any showers don't get absorbed into the ground near the plants. European row spacing is around 150 cm, so they have to work with mini tractors, but these still weigh around 1.5 tonnes, and so bear down heavily on the 120cm of available turf. To address this problem, some producers are switching to using horses. John attended a demonstration on Le Brand with producer Christian Koehly (see photos), all lots of fun. Currently the horses are only useful for weed control, and ploughing. Still very impressive, the idea being that you contract out to the handlers, they bring the horses and kit and do the work. Apparently spraying equipment is currently being developed. Christian told John that before tractors horse mounted sprayers worked on compressed air, so we expect it'll be some similar system. Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's one of Christian's vine spraying horses! Absolutely mind boggling and romantically French.
Looking at the photos those guys really grow tight. The soil looks very rich and the canopy looks high and dense. It is amazing the sun gets in at all. The vines in the pictures are Gewurztraminer, but the Brand is nearly 58 hectares, which is huge by Grand Cru standards, so it's got just about everything growing on it. Zind-Humbrecht's Gewurztraminer is probably the most concentrated wine to come off the site. The soil is mainly Turckheim Granite with sandy black and white micas. If you look at the photo, and baring in mind it had been raining heavy overnight, you can see what awesome drainage there is. This set us thinking and maybe when we plant again we should go closer, higher up the mountain, on steeper ground (where no tractors can go), with no irrigation and see what the effect is. Then we bring in the horses. Even for a couple of hectares it would be an interesting experiment. To that end J-C had a good look around the "back" of the farm and reported that there are some great sites there for planting a hectare or two of Grenache/Syrah or even Viognier bush vines. The ideal situation to use horses for cultivation. By planting nice and close (1,2 x 1,2m) we could take a few bunches off each vine and make a blockbuster! Another thing J-C threw at us was the idea of vin de paille (the trouble with hiring impetuous youth!). Just 2 or 3 barrels. We can easily pick up some great organically grown Chenin and lay it out to dry on racks under the pine trees behind the cottage. He has made some the past 2 years and loves the process and results. It is the best dessert wine one can achieve with consistency in SA, as it is always assured of a good acidity. John M loved the idea not just for our own consumption but because wine writers have a notorious sweet tooth, and as we intend to do lots of entertaining it would be a top thing to have lurking in the cellar, an exclusive Vin de Paille, that's not on general release. Straw Wines really benefit from decent barrel ageing, often developing a deep yellow colour with time. So we'll make some this year and get the ball rolling. We like idea of sourcing grapes from outside, but think if we do go down this route it's very important that we get involved in the growing of the grapes at the potential site as well, so as to make sure of grape quality etc. If we find going forward that soil compaction is an issue, it may be worth having a look at the French mini tractor, as assuming we could operate it from the side, our generous spacing would mean that the weight never gets close to the plants. Holder seems to be the preferred model in Alsace. J-C thought 4 wheelers were better though as they were lighter and could be spec'd up to everything a tractor can (on a smaller scale). On the equipment front the triage table on display at the show was exactly what we had in mind. Considering we had never seen this before and we had thought it out from first principals just like this was quite spooky (see previous diaries). The idea being that there is a two stage hand triage process, one before de-stemming and another before crushing. The grapes can either be crushed straight into the tank (preferred) or the juice pumped in from ground level. The choice depends on whether you have the space or the resources for the elevator (see pictures). In this example the sorting table with the slots vibrates so that debris from the grapes drops out. These Vaslin Bucher sorting machines cost EUR8400 for a 5 metre table that can deliver 400 kg of grapes every 3-7 minutes, depending on how much you rev the thing up.
On a different note John also managed to get over to Germany, and meet the Vice President of the Sommelier Union for Germany, Fritz Keller, who's also runs his family's top winery and restaurant on the Kaiserstuhl. He also runs a very successful wine merchant. Demand among consumers for wine from organically farmed vineyards is a massive growing trend in the German speaking world so he was very interested to hear about our venture. These guys are only just over the border from Alsace, but are free of the strict French AOC regulations, so are free to grow and produce the ladies' favourite, Chardonnay. Back in Tulbagh all was moving along nicely. The pruning was coming along. By the first week of August Michael and Bob were nearly finished pruning the Cabernet. J-C was pleased with their progress. The casual team was at the last block of Syrah which was good progress for 8 days. But we truly hoped that the terrible weather we were having was going to slow down and disappear before budburst. Otherwise, we wouldn't have much of a crop! At least dormancy will have been broken, and the reserves and water are in good supply. Some areas of the vineyard were a bit waterlogged with all the rain we had but as the soils were draining well it would not be a problem as long as the rain would only slow down.Thinking about bud break we decided that with the variable temperatures, one day warm and sunny, the next cold and rainy, we had better look at encouraging an even bud break otherwise our first vintage would be a non starter. There are no organic equivalents to Dormex or Partner-G and we couldn't use those but we found an organic fish oil stimulator which makes available the required nitrogen to the buds and boosts the naturally occurring hormone. By painting a seagrow solution diluted 1:1 with water and two litres per hectare of stimulator onto the vines we hoped to encourage an even break.
By the third week of August the weather was brilliant for pruning and we were going strongly into the third hectare of the Syrah. The vines were coming alive. Serious bud swell and sap movement. We decided to bite the bullet and to spray the 2000 vines with the bud break enhancer remedy. The recipe was 10l of seagro, 2l of symspray and 5l of spraytech oil per hectare. As we are using backpacks for the application our application rate is much lower than the spec so we could carefully control it and there was ample for a second application in case the rain washed it out. In the last week of the month the weather lightened up and was beautiful. The pruning was completed just in time for another cold front. We were ahead of schedule so there was no trepidation. The cover crops in the 2001 cabernet were looking awesome but the aphid population was quite significant. They were residing in the cover crops for now but where there are no cover crops the windbreaks were covered with them. Something to watch for. As far as the cellar was concerned we had another think about the tanks and were persuaded to look at the Ganimede option. The inclusion of the Ganimede tank option into the equation was good, as it's got us thinking as to what we should be doing in the cellar, and why. What we considered first and foremost is the fact that we will be operating on a relatively small scale. The whole approach is hands-on, and thanks to our size there is absolutely no reason why it cannot be done so. We can take it to the extreme. The more hands on, the more attention to detail, the better. People who pay more for their wine want to have a bit of a story behind the bottle, and they also want to know that a bit of effort went in. That's why the sorting table is a stroke of genius. Hands-on obviously equates to open fermentation with pigeage. We are not saying that the wine will be infinitely better done punched through. In our opinion yes it will be better, but more importantly pigeage goes with the whole ethos of the estate. If we were a larger set up (over 500 tons), we would be excited with the Ganimede tanks. They would save a lot of labour, effort and time... but we're not. Generally the Ganimede tanks look quite good, but there are a couple of issues. We would always have to put a certain volume of grapes into each. Variations in yields from each block from year to year will make keeping everything separate during fermentation difficult. The manufacturer states that there is a continuous mixing of the cap giving good extraction, but we struggled to see how the extraction can be better than the physical working over of punching through. We really believe in the concrete lined with Munkador option. The cooling, lids and doors need looking into, but will be sorted out in time. To get a further opinion Manie and J-C went to visit Hildenbrand winery, just outside Wellington. The owner showed them around the cellar which they had restored. They have concrete tanks, and lined them with munkador. This has been in use for about 7 years now, and the tanks look brand new. The tanks are of similar size (8-10 ton), and have very small cooling elements (using water). They have no complaints. As for our cellar, it was looking awesome. We'll certainly never get depressed working in such an inspiring place!
J-C went to a good tasting of the supposedly 50 top reds in the country. About 5 of the 50 were truly great. Buitenverwachting's 2000 Christine was his favourite (awesome concentration and elegance), followed by wines from Cordoba, Vergelegen, Neil Ellis, Rustenberg and De Trafford. A good surprise was the 1999 Plasier de Merle Cabernet. Maybe in the past they have been a bit over-oaked, but they finally seem to have found a balance. Another uplifting experience was the Farmers Ball in Tulbagh. An absolute must if you need to sharpen your Langarm (Afrikaans dancing style that does not come easy to Englishmen). We met a couple of good people and had the type of fun you only can in the company of complete strangers. It was a great success. J-C's date was crowned Miss Tulbagh, so he truly felt like the King getting home afterwards! Scanning the wine press this month we picked up an interesting article in Harpers. Wise words indeed on the subject of the growth prospects for New World competitors of Australia. Harpers point out the success of Kumala as an entry point wine for consumers. The success of this is immeasurably important in getting people on the first rung of the ladder with SA wine, and long may it continue. Kumala can do (and is doing) what Jacob's Creek did for Aus. The fact that it is owned by a UK distributor matters not one bit and certainly not to the consumer. What is important is that the buyer is accepting an SA brand. Arniston Bay is another that provides a "ladder" to the premium sector and the success of these (and other major producers such as Bellingham, Distell and KWV) is vital if the premium sector is to get firmly established alongside the premium wines from Aus and California, and we dare say, France. The other good point made in the article is the misplaced emphasis on varietal offerings. If you produce a single variety Cabernet, for example, you are asking it to be compared to the thousands at that price point being produced worldwide from Chile to Australia to California. You are in fact left competing on price. Better to produce a blend then you are immediately in a different class. With that thought we are entering the scariest stage of the project so far. The first serious stage in the production of our first vintage. We hope the weather is kind to us, that Spring springs and stays sprung, that the rain stops and the sun comes out. We also pray that disease does not strike and that we get an even and healthy bud break. So wish us luck and we will keep you in touch, don't worry. Copyright © 2000 Tulbagh Solutions. All rights reserved. |
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