Just as we thought or rather say I and my peach trees thought summer was on its way the winter extends its visit. Yes my peach trees is just about to flower and the colder weather should not have any effect. Peaches are more resistant to frost and cold. More so than the apricots and vines.
The Little Karoo and especially Calitzdorp really keeps you humble. A year ago we didn't know when the water is going to come. Now our dam is overflowing since 17 June and we don't know what to do with the water. For the not so agricultural involved the water is harmless at this stage. More structural damage because of erosion. So we enjoy this with everybody. We allready had three overflow 'beurte' and here at Withoek we flood irrigated all possible lands we could. We even sewn some lucern and oats. We don't have any livestock to speak of but at least we will some for if we want some.
With our new plantings planning it goes well. All the irrigation is in where we could put it in so far. Just two blocks remain. One of the blocks next to the Groenfontein road we have to put in drainage. It seems like one of my own dams are leaking. First things first is to secure at least about a 1,2m of dry soil for the new plantings. We are doing this by doing a cut off drain pipe on the northern side. With the drain pipe we put in old building rubble with a cover of plastic. The plastic will see to it that the soil does not stop the drain pipes holes. The system will the function for a longer period and the rubble will actually enhance the effecitvity of the drain system.
You can also see in the middle of the new plantings a drainage. This is for the water that slip by or enter the land from the eastern side. THis water will be relayed to the river via a channel which is running west.
We also started with pruning last week. With Calitzdorp's unreliable weather we want to avoid the late frost and by pruning late we sort of limit the period the vines will or can be exposed to frost. Further by pruning later the new eyes/ buds on the shoots bearing the fruit for next year will be exposed to more sunlight and thus be more fertile.
Well they will be tasting the Platter wines tomorrow in Barrydale. And Withoek will be there. I am also lucky to be asked again to taste on the National Young Wine Show's panel for Port. This will be also happening tomorrow. You must keep you fingers crossed for a nice cold day in Paarl.
Wines I have tasted recently is my own Shiraz 2009. Really drinking well. The alcohol has integrated well with the wine. Had a dinner at Alex Fick. He makes marvelous curries. It tasted nearly sweet from the fruit with the curry. A real winner. The curry that is. Ya and the Shiraz. My Cabernet was bottled and is being tasted at the Wine Board this week. Labels was ordered and it will be releases soon. A young fruitful wine with lower alcohol level. Typical Cab it needs time.
Axehill also released a red blend which is really excellent. Don't expect anything ordinary. This is wine made of port cultivars and the spices combinates excellent with the fruit. A really beauty. Machado is the name I think. THis wine now joins III from Peter Bayly as one of the 'Calitzdorp' blend wines. Wines made from Port Cultivars. BOth of them is highly recommended.
So take out a port or Calitzdorp blend and enjoy the last bit of the winter or so I think.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Post Port
After the Festival I really start enjoying what is great living in this Capital of ours. The quiet sunny days - sometimes a bit misty - and cold evenings. A glass of red wine and the more daring Port to end it off with. Sounds bad - probably have to call the AA but please waite till the end of the winter.
The feedback on the festival has been good and it seems that we are going to make an annual event of this. I think the town really needs it and it is good to showcase what we have to offer once a year.
This last week also seen a little newspaper: Calitzdorp Focus hit the streets. Very informative and well planned. Something to read for everyone in the community as well as visitors who wants to get to know our little village a bit better. Look out for an article on Port in the next issue.
On Withoek the big bulldozer is doing its bit to really break the soils deep. We want to break the soil as deep as possible. By doing this we create a bigger tank and volume of soil which can be used by the plant to gather the necessary nutrients and water. The deeper the better. We are also busy putting up the trellis systems for vineyards planted last year. This goes on well and we should be finished by the end of this week.
With the Calitzdorp Dam overflowing the farmers all got some extra water. With this all the storage water stored behind the dam wall is lost and the farmers must each use as much as they can. At Withoek we flood irrigated some of our outside vineyards and orchards. Mostly to wash out some of the salts building up because of the drip and micro irrigation. We also help the soils to become moist and so the water will be there when the soil temperatures rise again and the early root growth burst happens. This will help with the adsorption of minerals and nutrients for the plant and leads to better growth and hopefully and excellent harvest.
We also will be bottling our Cabernet Sauvignon next week. It is very fruity style with not high alcohol 13%. Again in the softer style typical of Withoek. So keep your eyes peeled for the first ones.
The feedback on the festival has been good and it seems that we are going to make an annual event of this. I think the town really needs it and it is good to showcase what we have to offer once a year.
This last week also seen a little newspaper: Calitzdorp Focus hit the streets. Very informative and well planned. Something to read for everyone in the community as well as visitors who wants to get to know our little village a bit better. Look out for an article on Port in the next issue.
On Withoek the big bulldozer is doing its bit to really break the soils deep. We want to break the soil as deep as possible. By doing this we create a bigger tank and volume of soil which can be used by the plant to gather the necessary nutrients and water. The deeper the better. We are also busy putting up the trellis systems for vineyards planted last year. This goes on well and we should be finished by the end of this week.
With the Calitzdorp Dam overflowing the farmers all got some extra water. With this all the storage water stored behind the dam wall is lost and the farmers must each use as much as they can. At Withoek we flood irrigated some of our outside vineyards and orchards. Mostly to wash out some of the salts building up because of the drip and micro irrigation. We also help the soils to become moist and so the water will be there when the soil temperatures rise again and the early root growth burst happens. This will help with the adsorption of minerals and nutrients for the plant and leads to better growth and hopefully and excellent harvest.
We also will be bottling our Cabernet Sauvignon next week. It is very fruity style with not high alcohol 13%. Again in the softer style typical of Withoek. So keep your eyes peeled for the first ones.
Monday, June 20, 2011
What a Festival
The Port festival of 2011 was a huge success. Thanks to all participating cellars and an organizer like Nita Bailey and the Husband of the Year and sort of headmaster of the festival Tony Bailey. Thanks to both of them for hours and hours of phoning, printing, talking and driving this ended up being one of the most successful festivals and also the best organized.
As most of you know by now nearly all the little food shows - Cheese and Port, Chocolate and Port, Francois Ferreira Bollywood version of South African cuisine, Mysteries of Port, etc. - were sold out. And everybody enjoyed each of these encounters with the food and port pairings. Thanks here to presenters and all the staff envolved with these little 'productions'.
Withoek did really well. Our wines were not sold out so please do still support us but we did a lot of marketing and new faces were introduced to our little cellar. Thanks for those that helped us.
The idea of the port at the different restaurants also helped a lot. I think it really created a sort of town festival feeling.
Thank you also to all the visitors which took the time to come to the festival and enjoy our lovely local drink. There was a great atmosphere around the festival grounds and good quality people enjoying themselves without any overcrowding.
Now the greatest mystery of all: WHEN IS THE NEXT FESTIVAL? Keep your eyes on this space.
Thanks again to the whole community contributing to the successful festival.
As most of you know by now nearly all the little food shows - Cheese and Port, Chocolate and Port, Francois Ferreira Bollywood version of South African cuisine, Mysteries of Port, etc. - were sold out. And everybody enjoyed each of these encounters with the food and port pairings. Thanks here to presenters and all the staff envolved with these little 'productions'.
Withoek did really well. Our wines were not sold out so please do still support us but we did a lot of marketing and new faces were introduced to our little cellar. Thanks for those that helped us.
The idea of the port at the different restaurants also helped a lot. I think it really created a sort of town festival feeling.
Thank you also to all the visitors which took the time to come to the festival and enjoy our lovely local drink. There was a great atmosphere around the festival grounds and good quality people enjoying themselves without any overcrowding.
Now the greatest mystery of all: WHEN IS THE NEXT FESTIVAL? Keep your eyes on this space.
Thanks again to the whole community contributing to the successful festival.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
The Festival kicks off!!
It finally arrives. Before anything I want to thank my good neighbour Nita and Tony Bailey for an excellent festival. I can predict that with more certainty than the weather of this little town of ours. It just started to drip again. I am not complaining because nature really played a big role in making this festival a success. The veld is just green with new growth and looks lifely again. The dam will overflow in this weekend after last weeks good rain. (by the way Withoek measured 65mm).
This afternoon I attended the lunch which was part of the ABSA sponsorship for this festival. It really was an eye opener with lots of info. The short and sweet of the story is: Invest in Agriculture - it is the golden era for agriculture world wide. Aparently our net income is 41bn rand the last year. A big amount. I haven't pocket in but think the wheel must turn. The sad news is that the rand will get stronger and it will end at about R6,30 at the end of the year. It will aparently never go over R7,00 again. VIVA MALEMA. I must try and help it if I can.
Withoek spend some time on the cosmetics this winter. We painted the old 'waenhuis', tasting room. You must come and have a look. The interior also got a bit of a lift. Our new port: The Geyser Vintage 2010 will soon be on the market. It will be sold in the smaller version 375ml bottle and is a great gift. It will be sold for R40 a bottle.
Well Chrissie will be enjoying the Cheese, Chocolate and Bollywood shows tomorrow. I will be presenting the Mystery of Port also tomorrow. On the three days we will run a blindtasting competition which will be free and you can win an Calitzdorp port and wine hamper. So do come and try and be a expert. Also will be on show some of the great Port from outside our area. Some of the members of the SA Port Producers association.
See you at the station
This afternoon I attended the lunch which was part of the ABSA sponsorship for this festival. It really was an eye opener with lots of info. The short and sweet of the story is: Invest in Agriculture - it is the golden era for agriculture world wide. Aparently our net income is 41bn rand the last year. A big amount. I haven't pocket in but think the wheel must turn. The sad news is that the rand will get stronger and it will end at about R6,30 at the end of the year. It will aparently never go over R7,00 again. VIVA MALEMA. I must try and help it if I can.
Withoek spend some time on the cosmetics this winter. We painted the old 'waenhuis', tasting room. You must come and have a look. The interior also got a bit of a lift. Our new port: The Geyser Vintage 2010 will soon be on the market. It will be sold in the smaller version 375ml bottle and is a great gift. It will be sold for R40 a bottle.
Well Chrissie will be enjoying the Cheese, Chocolate and Bollywood shows tomorrow. I will be presenting the Mystery of Port also tomorrow. On the three days we will run a blindtasting competition which will be free and you can win an Calitzdorp port and wine hamper. So do come and try and be a expert. Also will be on show some of the great Port from outside our area. Some of the members of the SA Port Producers association.
See you at the station
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Winter arrives!!
The colder weather really hit us this week with temperatures dropping. This is excellent for the trees and vineyards. The buds need enough cold units to go through their rest period and be ready to bud for the next season. To work it out the rule of thumb is usually the average of the days temperature (Min add Max divide by two) to be under 9 degrees Celsius. This must continue for 5 or more consecutive days. If it does not happen we will see uneven budding in Spring and this leads usually to uneven ripening of the fruit and thus lesser quality and difficult season.
The other excellent thing about the cold and more precise the frost. It helps to keep down the insect numbers. Some of the insects die and or the eggs not being protected does not hatch. Leading to a lesser concentration of insects.
I also want to encourage neighbours to any farmer with a few nice fruit trees in their town garden to try and spray for fruit flies this winter. The population of fruit flies in the Calitzdorp region was exceptionally high. The flies usually goes to hide in trees with leaves and other hide outs in the winter because of the lack of protection in the cultivated orchards. Their is a lot of different products that can be used and the best is to get the advice of the nearest Landmark.
Well at Withoek we are not going to have an auction. We are just cleaning up our act a bit. Oom Apie is buys repairing the tractors one by one and it seem to go well. In the process we also spray them so that they also feels a bit better.
The tasting room also got a new coat of paint to be ready for the Port festival and we are looking ahead to another successful one. Thanks to Nita and Tony in particular for their hard work and dedication to this local festival. We are hoping that the success of this one might lead to it being held annually again. I thing the direction of lifestyle with a lot of emphasis on food type of entertainment.
The other excellent thing about the cold and more precise the frost. It helps to keep down the insect numbers. Some of the insects die and or the eggs not being protected does not hatch. Leading to a lesser concentration of insects.
I also want to encourage neighbours to any farmer with a few nice fruit trees in their town garden to try and spray for fruit flies this winter. The population of fruit flies in the Calitzdorp region was exceptionally high. The flies usually goes to hide in trees with leaves and other hide outs in the winter because of the lack of protection in the cultivated orchards. Their is a lot of different products that can be used and the best is to get the advice of the nearest Landmark.
Well at Withoek we are not going to have an auction. We are just cleaning up our act a bit. Oom Apie is buys repairing the tractors one by one and it seem to go well. In the process we also spray them so that they also feels a bit better.
The tasting room also got a new coat of paint to be ready for the Port festival and we are looking ahead to another successful one. Thanks to Nita and Tony in particular for their hard work and dedication to this local festival. We are hoping that the success of this one might lead to it being held annually again. I thing the direction of lifestyle with a lot of emphasis on food type of entertainment.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
WINTER ARRIVES!
This year sort of was a very good example of when our summer changes into autumn and then winter. It seems to me the weather changed around the beginning of April with temperatures dropping to high twenties and lows into the high to mid tens. With May arriving the temperatures sort of - with the help of wetter weather dropped into the low to mid twenties and the minimum temperatures low teens.
Out of the farmers perspective it means that the soil temperatures also drop accordingly and the plants will go into rest. The roots stop its growth burst which usually happens in early autumn but with our sometimes high temperatures in autumn and early winter this growth phase can go on very much longer. You sometimes see especially peach and apricot trees having a big new growth spur which is an indication of this happening.
I happen also to notice some of the younger peach trees having some blossoms. Totally the wrong time and usaully an indication of the weather patterns. I find that the young peach trees are not always sure when to bloom and not. The older the get the fall into pattern and go into rest and come out of it at the right time. Something like children.
As most of you see we are busy taking out apricot and vineyards. We are now busy putting in the first of the irrigation extensions. We are busy repacing the flood irrigation system at Herminashof with a micro irrigation. Also making ready to plant some apricots in the Muscadel and Sultana's place.
Withoek will also be bottling their 2010 Withoek Vintage and 2010 Ficks Ruby Port - sorry EU Cape - next week and if we rush it it might be ready for the upcoming Port Festival. The system of getting a wine approved is actually a long process and a lot depends on the Department of Agriculture for chemical analysis where they determine your alcohol levels which you may put on the label. Further it has to go through a tasting panel deciding if the product is what you say it is. In this case a Vintage and Ruby Port.
To finish it off you can only print the labels when you know the precise alcohol levels. So hold your thumbs for the 16th of June for tasting the new Vintage and Ruby ports.
Out of the farmers perspective it means that the soil temperatures also drop accordingly and the plants will go into rest. The roots stop its growth burst which usually happens in early autumn but with our sometimes high temperatures in autumn and early winter this growth phase can go on very much longer. You sometimes see especially peach and apricot trees having a big new growth spur which is an indication of this happening.
I happen also to notice some of the younger peach trees having some blossoms. Totally the wrong time and usaully an indication of the weather patterns. I find that the young peach trees are not always sure when to bloom and not. The older the get the fall into pattern and go into rest and come out of it at the right time. Something like children.
As most of you see we are busy taking out apricot and vineyards. We are now busy putting in the first of the irrigation extensions. We are busy repacing the flood irrigation system at Herminashof with a micro irrigation. Also making ready to plant some apricots in the Muscadel and Sultana's place.
Withoek will also be bottling their 2010 Withoek Vintage and 2010 Ficks Ruby Port - sorry EU Cape - next week and if we rush it it might be ready for the upcoming Port Festival. The system of getting a wine approved is actually a long process and a lot depends on the Department of Agriculture for chemical analysis where they determine your alcohol levels which you may put on the label. Further it has to go through a tasting panel deciding if the product is what you say it is. In this case a Vintage and Ruby Port.
To finish it off you can only print the labels when you know the precise alcohol levels. So hold your thumbs for the 16th of June for tasting the new Vintage and Ruby ports.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Warm, Cooler, Port
The temperatures are slowly falling and you want to have something to warm you up in the cold evenings. Have a port. And while you at it support the local guys. Withoek released this week its' 2009 Cape Ruby. Yes we may not use that 'P' word anymore. It is and will stay in the future just a plain old Cape. Withoek uses the vintage indication for the Port even though you are not suppose to use it. For us it is an indication of a certain batch of this style of Cape.
We are selling it in a 375ml package under the Geyser label and a 750ml under the Withoek one. It is a more traditional style of Port with typical spices with a good balance between the sugar and alcohol. A real must for this colder weather.
In the next three weeks we also going to bottle the Fick's Ruby and a vintage port from the Kairos range. Both promise to warm the heart and body in this suppose to be colder winter.
With taking out of orchards and vineyards it is going well. We still have about three ha to take out and then the finally preparations will start.
Withoek is also selling the wood from the vineyards so do contact if you are interested in a nice braai with vines.
We are selling it in a 375ml package under the Geyser label and a 750ml under the Withoek one. It is a more traditional style of Port with typical spices with a good balance between the sugar and alcohol. A real must for this colder weather.
In the next three weeks we also going to bottle the Fick's Ruby and a vintage port from the Kairos range. Both promise to warm the heart and body in this suppose to be colder winter.
With taking out of orchards and vineyards it is going well. We still have about three ha to take out and then the finally preparations will start.
Withoek is also selling the wood from the vineyards so do contact if you are interested in a nice braai with vines.
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