If you don’t know by now, Beau Constantia is a stunning wine estate perched on the slopes of the Constantia Valley, less than 15 minutes away from the city bowl. The farm’s wine maker, Justin van Wyk has this report on the state of the vines ahead of the 2014 harvest. Make sure you read to the end – you could bag yourself some free wine.
As summer slowly draws to its end, we are getting the winery ready for the 2014 harvest. Initial sugar readings of the Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier grapes indicated that the 2014 harvest would start seven to 10 days later than last year. The cold weather we experienced in the Spring of 2013 delayed the growth of the vineyards somewhat and everything, including the ripening phase was delayed slightly. The late vintage certainly tests our patience, but bodes well for extended ripening of the grapes, which is very good for phenolic ripeness and flavour concentration.
We started the harvest at Beau Constantia on 11 March 2014 with the first ever Sauvignon Blanc being harvested from the farm. These are vineyards in their fourth leaf and planted at an altitude of 300m above sea level, where they take a hammering from the predominant south-easter, but give fantastic fruit concentration and freshness. The first batch of Viognier (destined for the Beau Constantia Cecily) was picked on 14 March 2014 and the second batch will be harvested this week whereafter we will start with the reds and all indications are that the Merlot will be the first culprit.
Stunning, thanks Justin. HEADS UP: The first person to visit the Beau Constantia and mention that they read Justin’s harvest report on 2oceansvibe will nab themselves two free bottles of wine!
Will it be you? Get going!
Visit Beau Constantia, here.
