The beauty of new springtime growth in the Cabernet vineyards

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

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Vilafonte Series M & C kick butt in Wine Spectator

On the release of our 2007 Vilafonte Series C, Phil Freese provides a detailed harvest report.

Due to our location of the Vilafonté vineyard in the Southern Hemisphere, our growing season begins in the calendar year ahead of our harvest date. For the 2007 vintage we are watching the winter temperatures of May through August 2006 for the ability to accumulate sufficient “chill units” which assures that the vines are fully into dormancy and the cold units provide the stimulus for good budding in the spring. The Cape is truly a ‘Mediterranean’ type of climate and the cold winter months of late 2006 gave us a good accumulation of cold units.

Both winter and spring rainfall amount was slightly above ‘normal.’ Perhaps more importantly, the timing of the rains was good with small amounts of rain in mid-September and early October before our flowering in late-October. While these rains can cause anxiety for the vineyard team since the rainfall and associated cool temperatures and long periods of high humidity provide ideal conditions for mildew - there were no problems since the spacing of the rains was nearly ideal.

Dr. Phil Freese, Zelma Long & Mike Ratcliffe

The Vilafonté vineyard is a low to moderate vegetative growth area so we did not have issues of overly dense canopies from the small amounts of rain. (In fact we do not even own or use a hedging machine.) Standard canopy management practice has us retain just one shoot per spur location on our uniquely designed cordon trained vines. Thus the canopy begins the season nicely spaced with good air and sunlight penetration and low disease pressure. These canopies are much like a cane-pruned vine but with the benefit of the extra stored carbohydrate supply of the cordon’s permanent wood structure. In cool springs we have good storage reserves for flowering and moderate vegetative growth with the uniformity of shoot growth afforded by cordon-trained vines.

These attributes were important in the flowering of October. Our Malbec and Merlot vines are always first to bloom and they were at 50% flowering in the mild temperatures of the 3rd week of October. There were then 3 days of windy and cool weather where much of the Cabernet was in flowering. Our experience is building to give us confidence in our site that Cabernet Sauvignon, being the hearty Bordeaux varietal, seems to be less sensitive to cool weather at flowering than some of the other red Bordeaux varieties.

Cabernet Franc in the cool weather of late October 2006 tended to give us more variability in flowering timing and thus led to more variability in veraison-time coloring of the fruit. Also the crop level was somewhat lower due to poor ‘set’ or fertilization of the flowers and their development into berries – again related to the cool temperatures and some overcast skies.

In January 2007 we introduced a practice that we thought was revolutionary - the full-scale practice of veraison thinning on a “per berry” basis. Instead of going through the vineyard and throwing off entire clusters that are late in coloring – we instead used our observations of the flowering variability in October and wanted to remove only the individual green berries.

Fortunately we had a small team of highly trained women who were accustomed to working in table grape vineyards. When we ask them to carefully hold and turn each cluster of fruit and remove only the green and pink berries within the clusters, they simply said ‘fine – we can do that.’ While we thought this would be a challenging concept and practice – they did it with ease as it is a common practice in some table grape varieties.

The growing season was moderate with its normal 3 to 5 days cycles of a build of daily high temperatures then a cooling of several days and then the gradual building again. The exception to the normal seasonal pattern came near the end of January with 5 days of high daily temperatures near 400 C and warm nights. Most of our varieties were finishing veraison stage and not affected by the burst of heat.

There is the theory that a burst of heat will accelerate the ripening process. Such heat events can in fact accelerate the apparent sugar concentration due to loss of water from the stressed vines but we do not look at this as true ripening. We applied some drip irrigation and waited patiently for our customarily early Merlot and Malbec to recover their flavor profiles and ‘composure’ after the heat.

Harvest began on the 31st of January with “Z” block Merlot – a “core” wine that can contribute strongly to both Series C and M wine blends. This was followed with the Malbec blocks of “V” and “W” on February 2nd.

The second week of February had a forecast of more rain and we brought in additional merlot just before 3 days of rain (20 mm).

Mid-February provided regular daily rhythm of warming and cooling cycles and an even ripening of the balance of the Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

March began with 3 days of rain and cool temperatures which gave us over 35 mm (more than 1.4 inches) of rain fall. We often call these late-season rains on Cabernet as ‘cleansing’ of the fruit referring to washing off any bit of dust. In fact the rains are valuable for the last bit of natural moisture needed for the final ripening but the cooler temperatures associated with a typical storm system also send key signals to the vines that it is getting on to what we call ‘game over’ stage for the growing season and the push to finish tannin ripening of seeds and skins and softening of the last bit of under-ripe characters.

We finished the vintage with the balance of our Cabernet Sauvignon blocks at the end of the first week of March.

ZELMA LONG, VILAFONTÉ WINEMAKING PARTNER NOMINATED FOR WINEMAKER OF THE YEAR AWARD

The Vilafonté winemaking team is proud to announce that co-founder and winemaking partner Zelma Long has been nominated by Wine Enthusiast magazine for their prestigious WINE STAR ‘Winemaker of the Year’ award.

Zelma Long is a renowned Californian winemaker and one of the most awarded female winemakers of all time. Zelma Long and her husband winegrower Dr. Phil Freese are the Californian joint venture partners in Vilafonté www.vilafonte.com together with well known South African winery owner Mike Ratcliffe. Vilafonté is the first and only South African and American winemaking joint venture and is the only South African winery to have been twice nominated for ‘Winery of the Year’ in the same awards. This accolade continues to spotlight the Vilafonté achievements in positioning South African wines at the top end of the quality spectrum.

Zelma is a former winner of the James Beard Wine & Spirits Professional of the Year and has been inducted into the James Beard Hall of Fame. Some additional recent accolades in 2009/10 include:

 Selected by the University of California, Davis, Alumni Association for an Outstanding Achievement award - one of only 6 awarded in 2009.

 American Society of Enology & Viticulture Annual Merit Award – the only award in 2009.

 California State Fair Vintner Life Time Achievement Award for 2009

 American Wine Society 2009 Annual Merit Award Winner

 Induction into the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) Vintner Hall of Fame - March 2010

 The John Platter wine guide five star award

Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s 11th annual Wine Star Awards recognize excellence on all levels of the industry. Profiles of Zelma Long and nominees from other categories will appear in the November issue of the magazine while the winners of each category will be announced and presented in-depth in the December 15 issue. All award recipients will be honored at the annual Wine Star Awards gala dinner on Monday, January 24, 2011 at the New York Public Library in New York City. Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s Wine Star Awards Dinner began honoring achievements for the year 2000.

http://www.winemag.com/Wine-Enthusiast-Magazine/Web-2010/Wine-Star-Awards-NOW-2010/

Vilafonte & Warwick go on a National roadshow!

Fantastic news - we are going on tour! Together with Cathryn Henderson, Editor of Wine Magazine, I will be hosting three incredible Warwick and Vilafonte food and wine dinners across the country over the next 2 months. Enjoy an all-star line-up of our much loved wines paired with a five-course tasting menu, prepared by top chefs at 3 of the hottest and trendiest new venues. Why not put together a table with your mates?

Tickets cost R450 per person and include wine and gratuity. Book now by calling 0860 100 205 email subs@ramsaymedia.co.za For more information, please contact Jane Eedes on 021 530 3308 janee@ramsaymedia.co.za

Join us for some great wine, awesome food and lots of fun.

Mike Ratcliffe

Have a look at the beautiful new Christmas packaging for Vilafonte

Zelma Long of Vilafonte & Michel Rolland presenting at the Bordeaux Masters of Wine Conference

Zelma Long & Anya Gallaccio present 'Motherlode' wine project in Healdsburg, California

Wines of the Motherlode project

SlaughterhouseSpace is proud to present Motherlode, an extraordinary living art event drawn directly from Mother Earth by world renowned artist Anya Gallaccio.
Well known for her sculptural investigations of nature, Anya Gallaccio has exhibited extensively including the Turner Prize Exhibition, Tate Modern, the Sculpture Center in New York, and Camden Arts Center, London. Questioning how to create artwork in response to landscape, Gallaccio's project is a unique attempt to produce a picture of Sonoma County using only material of its land: the soil and fruit. In collaboration with Zelma Long, one of the first women winemakers in California, the two produced this series to distill the essence of Sonoma County. Through five Zinfandels, they chartered the terroir of five different appellations stretching the breadth of the county. A sixth blends the regions into a portrait of Sonoma.

Our presentation of this project will feature flights of their handiwork paired with locally produced cuisine by Sonoma county's own Tara Wachtel. Tara has worked for over a decade directly with wine producers to construct perfectly balanced pairings and is currently sous-chef at Zazu Restaurant, a hub of local sustainable cuisine. The wine pairings have been crafted to realize a representation of this place: the colors, textures, and feelings expressed through this experiential artwork.

Anya Gallaccio has achieved a complex and vibrant work of art that truly needs to be experienced with all the senses. The artist and winemaker will be in attendance and curator Lee Plested will present a talk about the historical context, development, and realization of this conceptual project.

Space is very limited so reserve early to assure your participation in this unique Sonoma County event. Tickets are $75 per person and include flights of the 6 wines paired with 6 delectable courses for a full art / dining experience. August 25th, 6 TO 9 PM

For more information about this once in a lifetime event,please call Lee Plested at 415.336.2827 or email pat@slaughterhousespace.com  

We are deeply honored to host this project and wish to thank Anya Gallaccio for her generous participation.

SLAUGHTERHOUSESPACE
280 CHIQUITA RD
HEALDSBURG, CA 95448
707.431.1514
http://www.slaughterhousespace.com/

Vilafonte 'Series C' 2003 is starting to get some rave reviews ahead of the Nederburg Auction

Hints of spring at the Nederburg pre-Auction tasting

By: Jeanri-Tine van Zyl, Published: 13 Jul 10

Yesterday I attended a boxing class when, in the middle of the routine, the gym instructor blared to the group of sweating bodies "you are halfway through winter it is time to start working on those summer bodies!" With the wine calendar heating up the signs of a hinting spring aren't just found in Virgin Actives.

That same afternoon I was at Nederburg for a preview of a selection of the wines that will come under the hammer at the annual auction in September. With public pre-Auction tastings taking place this week (view details here), the advent of the Nederburg Auction is an indication that winter is slowly drawing to a close.

Seasonal appeal aside, this premium event is a highlight on the wine calendar. On 3 and 4 September prestige, passion and pedigree descend on the Paarl winery's grounds, and the wine industry comes to a halt. Stringently selected, the wines on offer at the auction range from the quirky to the absolutely amazing with rare vintages being particularly fascinating.

Dave Hughes presented some of these older vintages to members of the media on Monday. An honour that was coupled with the necessary etiquette: "if a wine is older than you, you demonstrate your respect for the wine by standing up when tasting it".

There were ample "respected vintages" at the tasting which commenced with a flight which included a JC le Roux Pinor Noir MCC 1989.

Others included:

Nederburg Eminence 1988

Nederburg Edelkeur 1977

Zonnebloem Shiraz 1974

Chateau Libertas 1967

Monis Collection Marsala 1983

KWV Port Limited Release 1961

Monis Collectors Port 1948

Of these I preferred the Nederburg Eminence 1988 which with its layered nose of tangerine, peaches and flowers reminded me of summer. The Zonnebloem Shiraz 1974 showed a wine that is aging gracefully with the Chateau Libertas 1967 its cheeky friend. I simply wrote "wow" next to the Monis Collectors Port 1948.

                                                  

Some of the wines I urge you to try at the Nederburg Auction tastings this week are (*please read disclaimer below):

Vrede en Lust Sauvignon Blanc Limited Edition 2007 - Summer fruit with a creamy finish.

Nederburg Private Bin D215 Sauvignon Blanc 2007 - An absolute explosion of passion fruit.                                         

Mountain Oaks Chenin Blanc Reserve 2005 - Some fellow tasters struggled to understand why this wine was included in the auction line-up. I liked it for its generous perfumed nose with its layers and layers of melon and honey.

De Wetshof Unfiltered Chardonnay 2006 - Tinned peaches and nuts with a voluptuous palate.

Rijk's Private Cellar Semillon 2001 - Another wine that was either loved or hated. There is no more single bottling of this varietal on the farm, which adds to the appeal. And I love the opulence of this wine.

Of the reds:

Diemersfontein Carpe Diem Pinotage 2001 - Think Lindt white chocolate and juicy finish. I really, really liked this.

Remhoogte Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 - A fairly light-bodied wine with a layered nose that will keep you intrigued.

Vilafonté Series C 2003 - Cherries, sweet tannins and a velvet finish make this a noteworthy wine.

Nederburg Private Bin R109 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot 2000 - Rich, floral notes interlaced with spice.

Of course the Nederburg desert wines are pure seduction in a bottle.

*Disclaimer: Due to the competitive nature of bidding I do not disclose my favourite wine of the tasting in this entry.

Receiving the enormous British Airways cheque as part of winning the small business development grant