November 2004
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Peace Circles With J-C back after his trip the preparation for next harvest could begin. There was a lot going on and a lot that needed to be done. By the last week of November the vines had finished flowering, and the bunches were at pea size. The vines were looking very good. Saansie and the crew did a great job while J-C was away. The older blocks were really starting to even out, with fewer and fewer weaker vines. The growth was a touch strong in places, but they suckered and tipped where necessary to slow growth and open the canopy. The younger vines too were coming along nicely. There are still patches here and there where the vines are still behind, but they will catch up. For their age they were carrying too much crop, so we dropped it to what looked like a balanced amount (roughly 2 tons/ha). The patches of erinose mite that we had in some vines in the last 2 years was well under control, so no more of those little blisters on the leaves. In spite of a bit of late rainfall, there was absolutely no fungal disease. We do spray Bordeaux mix as a preventative measure to address potential mildew infections and to address the mite problem. We try to keep this to an absolute minimum because the active ingredient, copper, can build up in the soil. Unfortunately there is no useful alternative, but because we are so isolated, and there is always a dry wind, disease pressure is so low that we can keep the application to 2 to 3 sprays every season. One before bud break to combat the mite, one after flowering when the bunches are tiny and one at veraison. This works out to about 0.7kg Cu/Ha/Year, which is well under the limit of 3kg Cu/Ha/Yr allowed under organic viticulture. There was still some damage from buck, but it was not too bad and it is almost impossible to prevent. There were also patches of bloubessie (blue beetle), the same problem we had in 2003 but in general though, the system looked healthy and balanced which means our organic system is working. Obviously without chemical insecticides and fungicides there will be problems but we hope there are are lots of small ineffectual problems that cancel each other out and not one single one that overwhelms us.
The Mourvedre on poles was doing well. We cut back the rest of the block, and it was looking much more happy. J-C got some perfect ideas for training Mourvedre whilst working in Bandol which will fit in perfectly with what we've already done, and require no further disruption to the vines development. We wait for these with baited breath.
John Merriman's brother Ziggy decided to spend some time on the farm and arrived at the end of October. South African immigration permitting he will stay through to past the harvest. Being related to John M he was always going to be a barrel of laughs. The fact that he is an avant guard artist and environmental scientist in his early 20's means he is a bundle of energy as well and full of wacky ideas. He joined the vineyard team on a labourer's wage and worked alongside the guys just like a machine. In his spare time he and John put up some perches in the vineyard for raptors to survey for bird and rodent pests. These proved very popular with the local Jackal Buzzards and Steppe Buzzards which adds a great deal to the natural environment. Being 4 metres up in the air with clear vision all round these avian characters feel so secure on their perches that you can drive right up below them in the bakkie before they lazily flop off and glide away. Ziggy also did some very artistic stone arrangements around the Lone Tree. In fact in a few years no vineyard will be complete without a Circle of Peace! He also started work on a stone rondavel in the woods above the top vineyard. This is positioned next to the stream bed where the baboon troop gather. The baboons are now huge and huge in number. There are some really big specimens and they are becoming less and less afraid of us. There must be at least 50 individuals in the troop with many babies. The problem is that they have no natural predators since leopards are very rare (leopards are seen from time to time, but the local sheep farmers are not lovers of leopards). Baboons have been very successful in the last few years, but now there are so many and the weather has been so dry that they are running seriously short of food. They are eyeing our vines and making raids into the vineyard. The thought is that by building a hut in the woods and taking it in turns to overnight there from veraison until the end of harvest the presence of humans will keep the baboons away. Apart from the perches and the rondavel Ziggy was busy creating art in unlikely places around the farm. Mrs. G-W was a little surprised to find a life size impression of Ziggy's body pressed to the bathroom wall including a pair of hairy red cheeks in the appropriate position. The work is entitled "Mime" and it is definitely worth a look. To view it best you have to be sitting on the loo in the master bathroom. In the cellar there were two issues to sort out with the tanks - the finishing inside, and the frames for the lids. The builders came back in mid month to start finishing off the tanks inside, and based on the finish they're leaving we will have to line them. We were not happy with the finish. They were 80% okay, but there were still imperfect patches remaining here and there, and they could have spent months without doing a perfect job. As the tanks are the most important of the cellar it is imperative to get them right. Everything we have done at TMV has been done to the highest standards, so we won't be satisfied with anything less than a perfectly smooth finish on the tank walls. The reason being that even the smallest pock mark will be difficult to clean and could harbour all sorts of bacteria. There are a few options for lining the tanks, including epoxy and munkador, but waxing them looks the best option. All other options involve applying a layer that sticks to the cement, but can chip/crack. When a chip or crack occurs, wine can seep between the cement and the layer, and go septic. Wax is ideal, as it is malleable, and cannot crack or chip. It is applied in a heated liquid form that absorbs into the cement, giving proper insulation and really filling all the tiny holes. If it is hit by a spade/bucket, etc it will not chip. The wax will have no impact on the flavor or chemical composition of the wine. We got the guys who apply the wax out to give us a quote. They said as the tanks are new, the cement will absorb a lot of wax in the first year, so it will have to be reapplied in 2006, and thereafter they recommend a new coating every 3-5 years. The Tulbagh Co-Op re-waxes their tanks every 5 years, and is very happy with the quality and hygiene levels. The second issue was the tank lid frames. To allow water to run-off, and not collect on the lids, the frames have been built with a slight fall to the back of the tanks. What this means however is that the frames at the font end of the tanks are slightly raised above the level of the tank walls. To keep the tanks airtight, this gap will have to be filled in with epoxy cement. This means bringing in more builders, constructing more wooden boxing and doing more final finishing. The construction of these tanks has been a constant nightmare. It would have been much easier to order round steel tanks and get them delivered. Every time we think we are finished a new (costly) factor pops up but we now truly believe we're going to have the ideal fermentation vessels for our needs. These tanks allow us to make wine in exactly the way we want. We have a great amount of capacity, so we can have long macerations with no rush to press tanks early for space. The relatively low height of the tanks mean we will have great skin contact, needing less pigeage, etc leading to softer extraction. The concrete walls are great insulators, ensuring almost no loss of temperature at the end of fermentation - great for extraction and ensuring a healthy finish to the ferment. But nevertheless we can't wait until all this construction is over. Copyright © 2000 Tulbagh Solutions. 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