July 2000
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Winter Snows Please double click on images to enlarge After the rain and mud had seemed to drown the whole farm the snow came and adorned the hillsides with a wonderful lustre and stillness. We must be one of the few vineyards in South Africa to get snow. The stillness of the valley was soon broken by the happy sound of children sledging, building snowmen and snowballing each other. Tulbagh itself was fully booked out as weekenders from Cape Town flocked to enjoy the Alpine scenery.
Manie and Jane broke off from their hard work to play with their nephews and nieces in the snow. The whole valley had a festival atmosphere. Meanwhile, in the Northern Hemisphere John M had been enjoying a summer break in the Alsace. He and Mrs. M are very fond of the area and the superb white wines that are produced there. He visited one of his favourite 3 star Michelin restaurants (there are more per head of population in the Alsace than anywhere else in the world) the Crocodile in Strasbourg. Alsace 3 star cooking washed down with 1985 Marcel Deiss Riesling from the Altenberg in Bergheim. Sounds good! John, the poor chap also spent many arduous hours being shown round Altenberg. The vineyard produces awesome wines, with its south-facing marley limestone vineyard. It has been a true Grand Cru since the 12th century. The serious purpose of his visit was to do research for our venture into the deeper meaning of "terroir". The Alsace growers have been doing for centuries what some of the New World producers are only just coming round to. For instance Zind Humbrecht (one of the oldest continuous wine producers in the world) have always been mindful of the soil types in their vineyards and they will happily show you round pointing them out. They really know what character each soil type produces in their wine, from the spiciest Gewurztraminer to the gravel dry Riesling through to the honeyed late harvest. For instance, Clos Saint Urbain is on volcanic soil (the only one in Alsace). The Brand at Turkheim is granite. The Clos Hauserer is chalky clay and the Herrenweg is on richer alluvium. Each is vinified separately sometimes with two or more grape varieties. However they use the most modern techniques in the making of the wine and great care is taken with temperature control. Thermal plaques are fitted inside the vats - a technique learned from the New World. He also met with Christian Koehly the winemaker and oenologist at Charles Koehly et Fils. He has a fabulous modern winery at Bergheim and is seeking out the best soils in the area by leasing vineyard sites. He has one at Rorschwihr called Clos Mayerhof and his Altenberg Reisling is winning awards. He has just spent three years getting Mayerhof going and it will be superb. The marriage is of great terroir and modern, clean wine making techniques. Whether making great white or great red wines this marriage is the key. Back in Tulbagh one of the newest producers, Rijks Private Cellar was winning awards for its young wines. Out of eight wines harvested last year and in the barrel they won six awards. This is great news for us all and the more quality producers there are in the valley the better. Unfortunately during the early part of the year, into the June elections and beyond the situation in Zimbabwe was worsening, casting a shadow south over South Africa. Although the situation is not comparable it is worrying nonetheless. We don't want to judge the reasons for the trouble in Zimbabwe. We have faith in the SA constitution, the fact that the South African Government is trying to right the wrongs of the past and that local initiatives are blossoming everywhere. There is a lot being done to match achievement to aspiration, and there is room for a lot more to be done. Many farms and wineries are engaged in local education, equity sharing and other empowerment schemes. It is only through many small local projects spread throughout the country that steps will be made. In our view residual anger over the past can only be dissipated this way. In our micro-environment work on laying out the vineyard was proceeding apace. It took 4 weeks of solid work to lay out
the blocks in just 4 hectares. The plans were carefully drawn up with the
optimum distance between the rows calculated Another factor was wind. The most dangerous wind is the Easterly which is not prevailing but when it comes rushing down the mountain it can be very strong. By planting E/W this wind will not meet the rows broadside on. Each post supporting the wine cordon is 7.2m apart. For each hectare there are about 600 posts and each of these 2500 heavy posts had to be knocked 60cm into the ground in precisely straight lines. The ever resourceful Manie welded a "thumper" together out of 20cm steel pipe with thick steel handles and cap. In soft ground 5 or 6 knocks were enough with a team of 4 men on the "thumper". After many days hard work a big grid of posts appeared with anchors at each end of every row for tightening the wire. All ready just in time for the arrival of the stokkies. Percy du Trower, the organic man, had stipulated our requirements for mulch and compost. This had to be laid out and was no small task, in all about 2000 bales of straw are involved for our small patch. No wonder farmers turned to the spray on solution. But we are determined to be organic and we start the certification period from the moment the first vine is in the ground. Copyright © 2000 Tulbagh Solutions. All rights reserved.
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