& Vision FROM BUD BREAK TO BOTTLE

The grape journey

The journey of your favourite wine begins in winter, with a time of dormancy. From July to September in the Southern Hemisphere, the vineyards await bud break and then flowering and fruit set. Heavy rainfalls can disrupt these vulnerable stages, as well as pests that come out in wetter conditions. If the weather is not ideal during this period, yields may be smaller. However, nature shows its resilience as flowers bloom when the temperature warms up and the sun starts to peek out more often.

Flowering is an important stage in the vine veraison process. Pollen grains are released from the stamens and deposited on the moist stigma of each flower, with only 30% actually becoming grapes. Some grape varieties lack seeds due to a phenomenon called coulure and others produce bunches where not all grapes have seeds; a condition called millerandage.

But when is harvest supposed to start?

Veraison and berry ripening is the term used by French vineyard teams to describe when grapes start to change colour as they start to get ready for the next yield. Our winemaker and his vineyard team all need to be ever-vigilant during the summer, monitoring the ripeness of grapes as they grow. The sugar accumulation in particular should be monitored closely as it can change on a dime. Care must also be taken to ensure that grapes are harvested with just the right amount of malic acid intact which contributes largely to a wine's longevity and taste. Striking the perfect balance between sweetness, acidity and phenolic ripeness.

This is an important milestone in the ripening process, and signals that it's time to start preparing for harvest.

Berry fullness and harvest ready

Grapes are a dead giveaway when it comes to identifying them by colour. Red grapes should be a deep purple hue, and white grapes should be a light yellow. When one berry is pulled off the stem, the remaining brush should have turned brown instead of green. The seeds in the grape should also have browned in colour too.

Experienced wine makers recognise the greatest indicator of ripeness is taste. When tasting grapes, a winemaker will be able to detect unique flavours and aromas which differentiate each grape variety and ultimately determine the quality of the finished product. However, there are also more objective measurements of ripeness that can be used to help confirm when a grape is ready for harvesting. These include sugar levels and brix readings, acidity levels, and tannin levels. Gaining an understanding of how these measurements relate.

Sugar levels, acidity and pH level management

When deciding when to harvest grapes, one of the most important factors is the amount of sugar present in them. This is measured by a tool called a Balling Meter, and the longer the grapes hang on the vine, the more sugar there is in them. As a general rule, the amount of sugar that will be desired depends on the kind of wine we are trying to make – for example, our MCC Brut will be harvested at relatively low levels, whereas red and white wines will be harvested at quite high levels.

As harvest season approaches, our winemaker Johann Fourie and his team members take to our vineyards daily to inspect the progress of the grapes. Not only do they taste and evaluate the fruit, they also select individual clusters, vines, vine rows, and even entire blocks of grapes so that they have a good cross section. The chosen grapes are then crushed in the cellar laboratory by hand, and the juice is decanted to measure its Balling degrees.

Acid and pH levels are also measured in the juice from the grapes sampled. Keeping an eye on these measurements is crucial to the outcome of the wine.

The grape's journey from the vine to the bottle is completed in a state-of-the-art cellar, where modern and traditional winemaking techniques are used with minimal intervention, allowing for each grape cultivar to reach its full potential as wine.