So last week the 2015 harvest ended with the last Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2015 harvest was the earliest I’ve ever started harvesting – 13 January. The crop was slightly lighter in weight than 2014, and almost the same as 2013. Having such a dry summer, we had very healthy grapes, small berries gave good intensity and cool nights gave excellent colour.
The Sauvignon blanc wines shows very good, intense tropical flavours, with some tanks from Philadelphia showing good grassy notes. The Chenin blancs have good structure, with beautiful guava notes and some wines showing Litchi (Lychee) flavours.
The red grapes show very intense, dark fruit and beautiful, ripe tannins. The challenge of the 2015 season was to pick the red grapes at optimal ripeness. Due to the dry and warm summer, the sugar levels was high, but the grapes weren’t necessarily ripe. This was achieved by tasting the grapes everyday by myself and our Cellar Master.
So now the wines are in the cellar, some are already done fermenting, some just started, some is midway. Now it is time for the winemakers to work their magic.
