So it’s been ages since I posted. A lot of things happened since the last grapes dropped into the tanks.
The harvest was big – 24 087 tonnes in total. It was also the longest harvest we have experienced. This meant that the red grapes could ripen slow and evenly. Good colour seems to be the norm this year. The Chenin blancs are a bit more fat and full compared to last years harvest. Despite the massive Sauvignon blanc harvest the wines seems to develop great tropical notes and good mouth feel. Pinotage seems to be very good this year.
So after the “quiet” time after harvest (yeah right), it is time to plan the pruning season for the different farms and different target markets. We are also starting a very exciting project. We will be mapping the soils of 2 200 ha of wine grapes, probably one of the biggest projects in South Africa. Last year we did a full GIS mapping of all the farms, including Solar Radiation, Aspect and Gradient maps. So logically soil mapping would be next. Yesterday when I saw the first grid it hit me just how big this project is going to be, and the amount of work that is going to go into this.
I will work closely with soil scientist Braham Oberholzer and soil scientist/GIS specialist Heinrich Schloms from Vinpro.
I will try to keep Visualviticulture up to date once we start the soil mapping which is bound to be very interesting.
So most farmers are almost finished with laying out the new blocks and are almost done with planting the poles. Next would be planting the vines, which happens in winter while the vines are dormant.
Hopefully the next post would be on Monday – when the first day of mapping is done.
Till then…
