Post-harvest 2012 Vilafonte Wine Club newsletter

It has been a wonderful time in the Vilafonté winery and vineyards and we now enter into a post-harvest calm period. We are happy to report that the 2012 vintage has been perhaps the highlight of the past decade and we have achieved a continuation of our ever-improving quality. This is quite impressive after a string of four vintages since 2009 that have potential for greatness. We keep raising our own standards and the results are very satisfying. The 2012 harvest can be characterised by a couple of key quality indicators.

The first indicator, berry size, indicated that we had larger berries than our statistical average. This has resulted in lush, pretty wines that will have lower tannin levels than many of our previous vintages. The 2012 vintage is ‘showy’ and produced impressive wines that will please many critics, but will perhaps not have the longevity of the spectacular 2009 vintage. Many members have stocked up on the 2009 specifically because of its above average ageing potential. The larger berry size contributed to an increased yield of high quality juice, despite the fact that we barely produced 3 tons per hectare – an incredibly low yield by any industry standards.

A second characteristic of the 2012 harvest was a much later harvest date than usual. This is a consequence of unusually cool ripening conditions that allowed the vines to reach phenological ripeness at a slow measured pace. These ripening conditions were absolutely ideal, despite an unseasonal heat wave in early January, which caused many wineries such damage. We would be delighted if we could get these conditions every year. In 2012 we finally commenced harvest on Valentines Day February 14^th, well ahead of the rest of the industry, as is our norm, but unusually 2 weeks behind our average harvest commencement date.

In general, we can report that we have had excellent results and we feel that the vintage will produce some ‘show-stoppers’. The 2012 vintage will now remain in barrel for another 2 years allowing our wines to continue their development into the bottle and for release in about 2014.

our soil-type is called 'vilafontes'

Included in this newsletter is a photograph, which epitomises what Vilafonté is all about. This simple image, taken during harvest 2012, is an image of Vineyard Manager Edward Pietersen with a handful of our precious vilafontes soil – the very essence of what our wines are all about. The ‘heart’ connection with our Valentines Day harvest date is entirely coincidental.

Our wine club continues its measured growth and we have many new developments in the pipeline including newly upgraded wine packaging, a winter mixed case vertical offer and a brand new club website. We have planned a number of discrete member-only events across the country, which we will be communicating separately. Thank you to so many of you for having recommended friends and colleagues for membership. While we cannot accept all applications, we will always strive to accommodate referrals.

Vilafonté Wine Club Manager, Sophia Hawkins is committed to engaging with our members exclusively. Her details remain Sophia@vilafonte.com and her direct-dial phone is 021-8864083. Remember, no request is too much trouble.

While the Vilafonté winery is not open to the general public, I would like to personally ensure you that as a wine club member, we will always welcome you with open arms. Let us know when you are in Stellenbosch.

Thank you for your support and your engagement.

Mike Ratcliffe

Managing Partner 

new look Vilafonte advert going into Wine Style magazine this month

Debonair Vilafonte winemaker Martin Smith in a lighter moment

Series M 2009 at The One and Only, Cape Town

Series M 2009 at the Top 100 SA Wine, Consumer tasting, held at The One and Only, Cape Town

Harvest is wrapping up in South Africa

While winemakers inevitably have a multitude of different opinions on the outcome of a harvest, there are some threads that come through that when woven together correctly, can start creating a clear picture. The Vilafonte Vineyards winemaking team wrapped up harvest this week while the Warwick Wine Estate team have another couple of days to go. In general, harvest 2012 in South Africa can, in my opinion, be considered a huge success. But why? What are the defining characteristics?

The one overwhelming common theme is that an unseasonal heat-wave descended on the Winelands in early January - a critical period for phenological ripeness. With the benefit of advanced weather forecasting being relatively common these days, the heat wave was identified about a week in advance and any and all reasonable responses to the impending temperatures were taken by those that were paying attention. Unfortunately there are very few tools to deal with excessive heat and the most powerful tool is irrigation. For those that have either decided not to invest in irrigation or who have a philosophical preference to dry-grown viticulture - 2012 will probably at least get them thinking that the judicious application of supplemental irrigation is more of a necessity than a nice-to-have. Dry-grown vineyards in the Cape lost significant tonnage and the remaining grapes would have suffered from heat stress symptoms like high pH and dropping acidity. Berry shrivel would also be an unforeseen symptom that can lead to elevated alcohol. All of these outcomes are not good.

On the other hand, this heat-wave was the only speed-bump in 2012 and for those that were able  to manage it - there was no measurable negative outcome. Since mid January, the Cape has been characterized by refreshing lower than average temperatures which have provided what could best be described as an idyllic environment for the steady accumulation of sugar and the pursuit of phenological ripeness. Interestingly, in many of our vineyards we observed advanced ripeness at lower sugars which again provides an indication that 2012 could be considered a benchmark year. On observation of the grapes at harvest, we noticed a slightly larger berry size, but excellent levels of all the goodies that lead to colour extraction, flavor compounds as well as nicely ripened tannins which create mouth-feel and texture in the wines. Without trying to 'talk it up' too much, possibly the biggest indicator of quality comes from the significantly reduced rate of berry variability which leads to concentration in the wines and is one of our most important indicators of quality - this is not a subjective measure and at the risk of being technical, we had the lowest berry variability measurement of standard deviation in my career. This basically means that at harvest, a huge proportion of berries were perfectly ripe - simultaneously.

Despite the above, I remain a cynic and I like to see out beautiful wine through fermentation before a truly great vintage can be pronounced but the signs are there at Warwick and at Vilafonte.

Stay tuned.

Mike Ratcliffe

beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon coming into the Vilafonte winery today...

Harvest 2012 starts in South Africa

Harvest action in the Vilafonte vineyard

January in South Africa is a strange time in the wine industry. It is a cross roads between the relaxed business of Christmas holidays and the serious business of verasion and harvest preparation. Winemakers and viticulturists shake the cobwebs out of their ears and get busy understanding what it is that nature is going to be presenting them for harvest. (Of course the more serious Viticulture practitioners would have ignored Christmas and worked throughout the season.) It is often with trepidation that eyes are cast towards the weather report to make sure that the hint of a serious thunderstorm or a late season heatwave which may or may not upend the best prepared plans. Inevitably the best grapes come from the best vineyards and always, the best vineyards are managed by the most precise and most fastidious viticulturists. Only the best can truly make any difference when faced with the onslaught of mother nature.

Tomorrow (February 13th) will be the first day of harvest in the luxurious Vilafonte vineyards www.vilafonte.com and it is actually about 2 weeks later than usual – a frustrating delay for a wine growing team obsessed with detail. The harvest is looking excellent with a greater number of berries in our test panels indicating an average to small berry size, but a potentially larger harvest of high-quality grapes. It will be a 4am start tomorrow morning and I, along with my entire team, are excited and nervous at the same time.

The harvest started at Warwick Wine Estate last Wednesday with the early harvest of some beautiful Sauvignon Blanc that will eventually become the Warwick 'Professor Black''`sauvignon Blanc – our well known standard bearer that is occupying a lot of our attention at the moment. Early indications are good and I was able to taste the first rich, sweet, ripe juice straight from the jaws of our brand new 'uber-fancy' grape press imported just-in-time from France. Delicious. There is so much more to come in the annual dramatic episode that we call harvest – stay tuned. I will do my best to find some time to keep you posted.

Cheers.

Hooray! We are in the Top 100 wines in the world - again.

Vilafonte rainbow in Signature restaurant JHB

Mini tornado blows through Vilafonte vineyards

Dear team

We have experience the same thing very similar of which happen in the East Rand (SA) on Sunday evening.

Yesterday afternoon at about 3pm. While working with the tractor busy mulching in block A, while working in the direction of the store. Strong winds stand up behind the tractor and move side-ways past the tractor.

I kept an eye on it as it getting stronger and higher as it moves in the direction of the upper store (where we store the chemicals).

I suddenly realize but this wind looks different than some winds that I have ever seen. I also realize that Piet and Gerhardus are busy inside the bottom store busy cleaning the fingers of the water filters. It strike my mind that I should scream to tell them to get out of the store as danger is coming. This all happen so fast that by the time that I want to do what I decided to do to alert them, it was all over. This all happens in 4 seconds.

My assumption is that it seems that; it looks like the wind starts at the vineyards just at the trees of the fence between us and Rainbow chickens. It seems like it was busy building momentum and picking up speed.

The bottom store was too big and hollow and therefore it split the head from the tale and it did not continue to grow further after the store.

Piet and Gerhardus were fine as it could not do any harm to the bottom store. Piet and Gerhardus could not hear the sound which came from the fall of the top store hall as they have experience a different sound as the wind hit the bottom store.

It was scary

I alert the authorities via rescue services of what we have experience.

I hope you believe me

Edward