In the vineyard
Overall, we are very happy with the outcome of harvest. We saw better quality on the red grapes due to some late rain in the season. We are excited to report healthy vineyards that reached optimum ripeness, with good, even bud-break, veraison and very little crop drop.
This year’s harvest team:
Callie Hefer, Anro Botha, Gert Petro, Titus James, Graham Daniels, Katriena Frederiks, Christina de Jongh, Sylvia Titus, Andries Jantjies, Janet Swarts, Jocobus Dedericks, Martin Olivier, Jeff Frederiks, Adam Blaauw, Marcellino Swarts
Vineyard statistics:
Bottelary Annual Rainfall 2021/2022: 679.2 mm
Kaapzicht Annual Rainfall 2021/2022: 581.7 mm
White grapes average Ton/ha: 7.12
Red grapes average Ton/ha: 7.05
Farm average Ton/ha: 7.08
Highest yielding vineyard: P4 Pinotage
Lowest yielding vineyard: SH3 Shiraz
Warmest Day: 28 February 37 °C
Memorable moments:
Most notable “beer fine” of the harvest: Graham overloading his trailer and almost losing his load of grapes.
Most exciting new development in the vineyard: Eight hectares of new plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Chenin blanc.
Most memorable event: The first crop was picked from a new Chenin blanc vineyard called Groenkloof
In the cellar
The harvest started slowly but surely on 3 February 2022, 363 years (and one day) after the first grapes were harvested in the Cape of Good Hope in 1659. Almost as if this was a sign for abundance and prosperity, the harvest boasted the biggest tonnages to ever pass through the Kaapzicht cellar. The cellar was bursting at the seams with 2372 tons processed, of which 720 was from Kaapzicht’s own farm for their Estate Wines. A solid team of 11 cellar, and 15 vineyard staff made sure to guide this year’s crop into one of the most exciting vintages to date. The quality of wine produced this vintage has been exceptional, so much so that we anticipate a new vintage of Steytler Wines on the horizon.
In Cellarmaster, Danie Steytler Jr’s own words: “2022 was a thinking harvest… you couldn’t follow the past traditions of picking Chardonnay first, then Sauvignon, then Chenin with a little Pinotage in between. Strange weather patterns, late rains led to abnormal ripening, and in some cases picking Shiraz before Sauvignon. The early cultivars were as always great: Chenin and Pinotage – super intense and lovely weight. The later ripening reds had longer time and were dark and concentrated – perfect building blocks for our Steytler Wines.”
This year’s cellar team:
Danie Steytler, Kayleigh Hattingh, Cobus Sampson, Alfred Cimela, Ryan Janse, Wanda Seguqa, Thembisile Cimela, Chadwin Botha, Xola Diko
Our cellar interns:
Jessica Visser (South Africa) and Samuel Kirr (Germany)
Cellar statistics:
First day of harvest: 3 February
Last day of harvest: 12 April
2372 tonnes processed
720 tonnes from Kaapzicht Wine Estate
1414 tonnes red grapes
949 tones white grapes
1.67 million litres produced
9 permanent cellar staff
2 harvest interns
Earliest shift start: 01h00
Latest shift end: 22h30
Most tonnes processed in a day: 98.32T
Memorable moments:
Most notable “beer fine” of the harvest: Alfred caused the lees tank to explode and paint the whole ceiling in the cellar
Most exciting new development in the cellar: Hiring a state of the art de-stemmer to help make the 2022 Steytler Wines. We also purchased new equipment for the 2023 harvest.
Most memorable event: Hosting the first inaugural “Bottelary Oes-af” party on 8 April 2022
