In small villages like our own things do take time. Nothing happens like overnight. It is sometimes makes you love this place and also can lead to some frustration.
Our cottage renovation took more than a year and is now ready for old and new friends to enjoy. With older buildings the facelift takes longer and usually there is some surprises underleath the layers of cement. You might also find that some small problems can easily esculate into something major.
The cottage can sleep 4 and does have an bathroom which is shared. Bath and shower. Small self catering kitchen with microwave, frigerator and small stove. A must is the small braai area and wood will be provided. Less than 300 m from the centre of the town and still on a farm. Something everybody will like.
Do come and enjoy the Calitzdorp scenery with coffee at Handelshuis. Lunch at The Red Coffee Pot and dinner at Lorenzo's. Or order in pizza from the Pizza Place. Have a farmers night out at Bosvarkie or a quiet night / day in with a good book.
As I said nothing happens overnight and that is why you might as well stay the weekend and something might happen.
On the farm we are busy cleaning up like that great song of the rock group Barney states 'Clean up'. It will probably take a few weeks and we still have to take out some of the vineyards / orchards for the new plantings. Also finishing off the last years vineyards with the necessary anchors to keep the cordons in position.
The renovation of the old tasting room is also coming along and I must say not many buildings beats the view on Swartberg and Besemkop from the stoep. A real stoep to sit and chat and have good coffee. Hope to do that within a year.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Withoek fermenting
Withoek decided this year to make a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot with the purpose of ending up with a Bordeaux blend. We are a small cellar and don't get as much chance as the bigger cellars to experiment especially with blends.
Our Cab finished it's fermentation after a week and was basket pressed today. The Merlot was crushed at 25 degrees Balling and really looks good. Our Petit we will only harvest tomorrow and keep in cool storage until the it's time arrives to crush.
With all the wines we try and keep the fermenting temperature between 24 and 26 degrees for slower fermentation. Because of the cold storage of 4 days we do have a maceration period of about 48 hours before fermentation starts. Enough time for a lot of extraction of the flavours. Usually most of your colour is extracted within the first 72 hours of the fermentation process and with it most of your tannins as well. With the lower temperature I believe this happens at a slower rate but more controled.
News from our winemaker, Ronnie van der Walt. He liked Calitzdorp so much and decided to come more regurarly to keep watch as the Nederburg ad states to 'keep an eye on Mother Nature'. He asked to renovate the Withoek old tasting room into a 'bachelors flat'. I must add this must be the flat with the most beautiful view on the town and the Swartberg. Certainly nice having a new face on the Wesoewer road and certainly a big plus for Calitzdorp. Go and have a look.
On our more comercial agricultural side we are busy finishing off the Colombar and later this week the Petit, Ruby Cab and Tinta Barocca will get their turn. Then it is back to cleaning up and making ready for the new plantings for this year.
Our Cab finished it's fermentation after a week and was basket pressed today. The Merlot was crushed at 25 degrees Balling and really looks good. Our Petit we will only harvest tomorrow and keep in cool storage until the it's time arrives to crush.
With all the wines we try and keep the fermenting temperature between 24 and 26 degrees for slower fermentation. Because of the cold storage of 4 days we do have a maceration period of about 48 hours before fermentation starts. Enough time for a lot of extraction of the flavours. Usually most of your colour is extracted within the first 72 hours of the fermentation process and with it most of your tannins as well. With the lower temperature I believe this happens at a slower rate but more controled.
News from our winemaker, Ronnie van der Walt. He liked Calitzdorp so much and decided to come more regurarly to keep watch as the Nederburg ad states to 'keep an eye on Mother Nature'. He asked to renovate the Withoek old tasting room into a 'bachelors flat'. I must add this must be the flat with the most beautiful view on the town and the Swartberg. Certainly nice having a new face on the Wesoewer road and certainly a big plus for Calitzdorp. Go and have a look.
On our more comercial agricultural side we are busy finishing off the Colombar and later this week the Petit, Ruby Cab and Tinta Barocca will get their turn. Then it is back to cleaning up and making ready for the new plantings for this year.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Cabernet is Ready
Today we started to pick the Cabernet Sauvignon. This morning its sugar tested 25 degrees balling. The Petit Verdot and Merlot is still not ready and tested 23.0 and 23.6 degrees balling.
After picking we will cool the Cabernet down to 5 degrees Celsius. Two reason for this. The grapes usually will measure about the same temperature as the air or micro climate around the berries. When this happens in the Calitzdorp that temperature can be around 25 - 35 degrees Celsius. The fermentation will go quickly and put a lot of stress on my allready shaky cooling system. I also feel that a longer fermentation period under less stressful enviroment will lead to a better wine. In winemaking terms we are talking about a cold maceration before the fermentation.
The Merlot and Petit will probably be ready next week. And as with most things they will be probably be ready the same day.
Ronnie van der Walt one of the guys of last years wine school flew in on Saturday. He is planning to make a Merlot based blend. Ronnie previously also involved in restaurant business and an artist by training, works this year with Withoek Cellar to also master the art of winemaking. He allready had to take the samples for sugars and were busy cleaning and preparing the cellar for the grapes today.
We will report on Ronnie's status during this years harvest.
After picking we will cool the Cabernet down to 5 degrees Celsius. Two reason for this. The grapes usually will measure about the same temperature as the air or micro climate around the berries. When this happens in the Calitzdorp that temperature can be around 25 - 35 degrees Celsius. The fermentation will go quickly and put a lot of stress on my allready shaky cooling system. I also feel that a longer fermentation period under less stressful enviroment will lead to a better wine. In winemaking terms we are talking about a cold maceration before the fermentation.
The Merlot and Petit will probably be ready next week. And as with most things they will be probably be ready the same day.
Ronnie van der Walt one of the guys of last years wine school flew in on Saturday. He is planning to make a Merlot based blend. Ronnie previously also involved in restaurant business and an artist by training, works this year with Withoek Cellar to also master the art of winemaking. He allready had to take the samples for sugars and were busy cleaning and preparing the cellar for the grapes today.
We will report on Ronnie's status during this years harvest.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Final Countdown
The 2010/11 season now slowly going into the final phases. Our peach harvest was good and even though the prices weren't the best they still paid their dues.
As with our plums we went straight to the market with the table grapes. The prices weren't that high but we can't really complain. Because of our dry weather in the beginning we had excellent quality fruit in December but with the continuos short spells of rain combinating with humid warm days the fungi attacked big time. The table grapes is usually thinner and thus the fungi get easier hold on them. Further they are mostly planted on strong rootstocks with big vigourous growth which contributes to good fungi growth climates within the canopy.
Even though the weather didn't play along our harvest was good. But we are now reaching a phase in which we started deliver it to the Calitzdorp Cellar. This week we actually starting to do the harvest all grapes very seriously.
Our red wine cultivars sugars are still very low. I think the 40mm of thunder storm contributed more than we think. The table grapes sugar funny enough tends to a higher value than previous seasons.
Our wine making weekend seems to change from the coming weekend to the following weekend because of the low sugars. The quality of the grapes really looks good and I think this might be a good season.
As with our plums we went straight to the market with the table grapes. The prices weren't that high but we can't really complain. Because of our dry weather in the beginning we had excellent quality fruit in December but with the continuos short spells of rain combinating with humid warm days the fungi attacked big time. The table grapes is usually thinner and thus the fungi get easier hold on them. Further they are mostly planted on strong rootstocks with big vigourous growth which contributes to good fungi growth climates within the canopy.
Even though the weather didn't play along our harvest was good. But we are now reaching a phase in which we started deliver it to the Calitzdorp Cellar. This week we actually starting to do the harvest all grapes very seriously.
Our red wine cultivars sugars are still very low. I think the 40mm of thunder storm contributed more than we think. The table grapes sugar funny enough tends to a higher value than previous seasons.
Our wine making weekend seems to change from the coming weekend to the following weekend because of the low sugars. The quality of the grapes really looks good and I think this might be a good season.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
School of Wine
Trying to predict the ripening process of grapes especially if you want to time it to perfection is usually the wrong way of producing great wines. But sometimes situations calls for a little daring. Selma contacted me the other day for another Kairos wine weekend. And it seems after a bottle or what of wine that the time was put on the third weekend of February. With peaches and early grapes ripening 7 days earlier it seems to be a good guess that we might have a little earlier ripening.
The School of Wine - Kairos version - is a weekend in which a few people get around and try and do the whole process of wine making in a weekend. Now a good winemaker or informed wine drinker might tell you quickly this is impossible. Well it is.
This weekend will contain a tasting and welcoming braai in the House of Straw at Zelma's country estate. The tasting will be an introduction into wine styles of the region - Calitzdorp. It will be very informal.
The Saturday is started with a grape pick. After last years heat wave we decided to pick the bulk of the grapes earlier the week and cold store it. This will be followed by Zelma's country breakfast. Something to strengthen the muscles for the day to follow.
The first real action in winemaking is the crushing of the grapes. After which we must inoculate it with the yeast. Do the necessary additions. This will all be shown and the more confident can actually get the chance of doing it themselves. The midday program consist of punch throughs and later pressings. Doing the necessary tasting of the juice and maturing wine will also be part of the midday program.
Towards the end of the day we will be doing a pressing. Yes here we will need all the muscle we can get. The press is an 60 year old basket press.
The Saturday evening will be a quiet one with a wine movie.
The Sunday morning another pressing. This time the grapes harvested the previous day - Muscadel will be pressed and fortified. This will be the wine of the year for the students. Everyone will receive after bottling which take place later the year three bottles of the product as proof of their total commitment to producing quality wine.
The weekend will end with a brunch at Selma's.
If your are interested do contact the lady of the hour - Selma at 0825765855 and join us.
The wine which you will also be part of making will be a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Withoek are planning to make a Bordeaux blend.
The School of Wine - Kairos version - is a weekend in which a few people get around and try and do the whole process of wine making in a weekend. Now a good winemaker or informed wine drinker might tell you quickly this is impossible. Well it is.
This weekend will contain a tasting and welcoming braai in the House of Straw at Zelma's country estate. The tasting will be an introduction into wine styles of the region - Calitzdorp. It will be very informal.
The Saturday is started with a grape pick. After last years heat wave we decided to pick the bulk of the grapes earlier the week and cold store it. This will be followed by Zelma's country breakfast. Something to strengthen the muscles for the day to follow.
The first real action in winemaking is the crushing of the grapes. After which we must inoculate it with the yeast. Do the necessary additions. This will all be shown and the more confident can actually get the chance of doing it themselves. The midday program consist of punch throughs and later pressings. Doing the necessary tasting of the juice and maturing wine will also be part of the midday program.
Towards the end of the day we will be doing a pressing. Yes here we will need all the muscle we can get. The press is an 60 year old basket press.
The Saturday evening will be a quiet one with a wine movie.
The Sunday morning another pressing. This time the grapes harvested the previous day - Muscadel will be pressed and fortified. This will be the wine of the year for the students. Everyone will receive after bottling which take place later the year three bottles of the product as proof of their total commitment to producing quality wine.
The weekend will end with a brunch at Selma's.
If your are interested do contact the lady of the hour - Selma at 0825765855 and join us.
The wine which you will also be part of making will be a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Withoek are planning to make a Bordeaux blend.
Monday, January 3, 2011
2011!!
For Withoek Boerdery the new year arrived silently. Because of the smaller apricot harvest we had a very quiet start to the year. We actually had a bit of spare time to clean up the farm and do some very much needed vineyard work.
Our young vines needed to be trained. We removed the extra young shoots and only the strongest survive. This strong shoot was also cut at the cordon wire and the top three buds left. From those three buds we will choose later the season the two strongest for the the cordons of the vine. The rest is all removed to limit the competition. In the old days this process will only take place after a years growth but with correct irrigation and fertilization we get enough growth to train it very much sooner. This means also sooner harvest and thus more economical vineyard.
The apricots will soon go through the summer pruning. This is needed to initiate new growth and wood. Keeps your trees healthier and more consistant in production.
We also look into the possible grafting of some of our plum trees to another cultivar. This process involves the cut down of the trees to creat new shoots and the grafting on this new shoots. I have personally never done this and looking forward to the experience.
The grape harvest looks good and we just hope the weather plays in our favour. It can rain but must just clear up quickly so that we don't get a wet humid climate which will promote fungi growth.
Our young vines needed to be trained. We removed the extra young shoots and only the strongest survive. This strong shoot was also cut at the cordon wire and the top three buds left. From those three buds we will choose later the season the two strongest for the the cordons of the vine. The rest is all removed to limit the competition. In the old days this process will only take place after a years growth but with correct irrigation and fertilization we get enough growth to train it very much sooner. This means also sooner harvest and thus more economical vineyard.
The apricots will soon go through the summer pruning. This is needed to initiate new growth and wood. Keeps your trees healthier and more consistant in production.
We also look into the possible grafting of some of our plum trees to another cultivar. This process involves the cut down of the trees to creat new shoots and the grafting on this new shoots. I have personally never done this and looking forward to the experience.
The grape harvest looks good and we just hope the weather plays in our favour. It can rain but must just clear up quickly so that we don't get a wet humid climate which will promote fungi growth.
Monday, December 13, 2010
The History of 2010 Apricots
Yes it really came with a bang and our harvest of the apricots is finished. Withoeks production of apricots is much lower than last season. The contributing factors is because of the frost in August - bloom time.
Some of the lower orchards didn't even reach a tonne per ha. After everything added and done our harvest seems to be down by about 40%.
The dried fruit prices also gone south and so we decided to cut our losses and dry much less. The quality of the fruit which we did dry was much better than previous seasons and it shows in the dried fruit quality. The colour is really good and because of the early finish we could do the right thing and get it of the stellations much quicker which means higher water content in the fruit - thus it would be heavier and fuller. Much more attractive product.
Because of the dry weather our vineyards is very healthy and we sprayed this week which might be our last one. Our young vines need some attention and we plan to get to it in the next week or two.
The peaches we are also selling to the canner because of the world wide overproduction of dried peaches. We are lucky when one of the canners closed their depot in Calitzdorp another opened one. The prices is also lower than last year but atleast we do have a buyer. The peach size is a bit disappointing but could be contributed to micro element shortages. I picked it way to late and are spraying like mad to get it back but I think I might have lost this season fruit. In Calitzdorp we usually don't spray to much of the micro element but with peaches you must actually be very aware of it. The peach is a plant which easily shows such shortages and or toxic highs of micro elements.
Some of the lower orchards didn't even reach a tonne per ha. After everything added and done our harvest seems to be down by about 40%.
The dried fruit prices also gone south and so we decided to cut our losses and dry much less. The quality of the fruit which we did dry was much better than previous seasons and it shows in the dried fruit quality. The colour is really good and because of the early finish we could do the right thing and get it of the stellations much quicker which means higher water content in the fruit - thus it would be heavier and fuller. Much more attractive product.
Because of the dry weather our vineyards is very healthy and we sprayed this week which might be our last one. Our young vines need some attention and we plan to get to it in the next week or two.
The peaches we are also selling to the canner because of the world wide overproduction of dried peaches. We are lucky when one of the canners closed their depot in Calitzdorp another opened one. The prices is also lower than last year but atleast we do have a buyer. The peach size is a bit disappointing but could be contributed to micro element shortages. I picked it way to late and are spraying like mad to get it back but I think I might have lost this season fruit. In Calitzdorp we usually don't spray to much of the micro element but with peaches you must actually be very aware of it. The peach is a plant which easily shows such shortages and or toxic highs of micro elements.
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