Hout Bay Vineyards Winter Newsletter 2021
A bit late and a bit wet!
After what has been a very deurmekaar year personified by a late start and very slow ripening of grapes, we blink our eyes and find that we are well into May and have wrapped up the harvest of 2021. Since our first vintage in 2004, this is only the second year (the other being 2018) that we harvested the grapes for our bubbly as late as February with our Sauvignon Blanc, which is normally picked at the beginning to middle of February, only ready in March.
Most winemakers and viticulturists had been thrown a curveball with a not-so-hot average summer and rain over the last few weeks of the ripening period. The last of the white grapes just managed to achieve the desired sugar levels. Our Sauvignon Blanc is proving to be the best yet and we are exceptionally happy with this year’s result.
Various varieties of red grapes were still hanging way past what has been the norm for harvesting. An already frustrating year became a bit more challenging! As cooler and wetter weather loomed, we, not ones to shy away from a challenge, took the bull by the horns and ploughed forward. We decided to harvest our Shiraz and Merlot slightly earlier, even though sugars were not quite there yet but the grapes thankfully had reached phenolic ripeness. Ultimately, we are surprised by the quality of the grapes and are happy with the results. We believe our 2021 wines will be complex and fruity with a slightly lower level of alcohol.
All the reds have now gone into their barrels for maturation over the next twenty-plus months. Roll on 2023, and beyond, when we will get to taste these wines!!!
In the meantime, we are getting ready to bottle the Sauvignon Blanc and Blush in the next week or so. Our 3000 litres of MCC base wine - consisting of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier - will be resting in the tank for another month or two before it too will be prepared for the bottle fermentation process.
Alternative to the 2021 Winter Open Weekend
With winter well on its way, coupled with the ongoing struggle against COVID, and the potential of a third wave, we have decided to make a few changes to our public opening as opposed to postponing or cancelling the weekend altogether. The good news is that Hout Bay Vineyards will be open for wine sales every Saturday afternoon for the month of June 2021.
Unfortunately, no wine will be sold for onsite quaffing and we will not be offering our usual afternoons of drinking wine, snacking on delicious food and socialising with friends. To compensate our many loyal fans and visitors that look forward to being here, we will offer you a short wine tasting down at the duck pond, (familiar to many of you 😊) and give you the opportunity to purchase our wines and stock up to get you through the cold winter months.
But don’t fear … as soon as life returns to normal, we too will return to our normal-style open weekends and we will be back to having as much fun as in the past …… if not more!
When you visit you will also have the opportunity to see our new passion project.
The Restoration of Brat of Dunkirk …
Built in 1913 by Camper & Nicholsons at their Gosport shipyard in the United Kingdom, Brat of Dunkirk is a 38-foot gaff-rigged yawl - which is a two-masted boat with its sails configured in a certain way. Brat, as she was originally known, spent her younger life in the North Sea and in British waters. After the historic evacuation of Allied troops stranded on the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk in France during World War 2, she was aptly renamed Brat of Dunkirk by her new military owners.
The boat was sailed to South Africa in 1968 and over the years belonged to several people. In 2019 she was found in a derelict state in Port Elizabeth and was brought to Hout Bay where she will be restored to her former glory as originally envisaged by designer Charles Nicholson 108 years ago.
She is the oldest boat in South Africa and her restoration will mark a significant moment in the rich maritime history of our country.
It may not seem like it when you first lay eyes on her, but since we took over as her keepers in April last year, an enormous amount of work has been done. We had to remove some vines and level up and compact the ground to create a space for the boat. The boat trailer had to be completely converted for the new weight that had to be dragged up the steep hills before she was at Hout Bay Vineyards, which will be her new home for the next few years.
Since then, we have also started creating space for a container – we are still hunting for an affordable option here – and prepared the concrete bases for the posts and will soon start erecting a shed around the boat.
In keeping with old relics, by chance, we also acquired a bandsaw that dates back to pre-1933 which will be used for cutting the wood for Brat’s restoration.
Back to the Wine
We will be open every Saturday afternoon during June from 12h00 to 17h00 and will have the following available for tasting and then of course for sale per case:
The open afternoons will be weather permitting. When you see our old Landy at the entrance to Hughenden it means we are in business. See you soon!
Accepted methods of payment are cash, credit card and SnapScan.