Danie’s Review

Earliest start to a harvest in my 16 years on Kaapzicht… also the earliest finish and first time our cellar team got to spend Easter at home and not doing pump-overs!

We are 5% down from last year and by the feeling of things around us (that seems better than the average) with most of our friends and neighbours reporting higher numbers up to 30% down…

We rate the quality better than average, but not as good as 2017 or 2015, but much better than 2023.

Phenolic ripeness was a worry with the early cultivars which loaded sugar very quickly, but seemed to catch up as the season got longer.

The harvest pace seemed more relaxed, and we didn’t have the same bottle necks which sometimes happen. I think the fewer tons through the cellar also being a big reason for this. There weren’t many days where both presses were being loaded 3 times each, which causes long hours. I think only 4 x 04h00 shift starts, which was also much less than in the past and not many past 20h00 in the evening. So the cellar just seems to be running better (not sure if it’s the winemakers or just less fruit😉)

A great new addition of 2 conveyers to help with more whole bunch was implemented this year. We’ll see how these wines turn out, but we are happy with how the new offloading system works.

We had 2 excellent students from the University of Stellenbosch, and our team gelled very well. I am very excited to see how our Danie Snr Cab turns out…

Overall I am very happy and rate the harvest 85%

 

Cellar Statistics:

First day of harvest

18 January

Last day of harvest

21 March

 

1449.835 Tons processed

 

601 Tons from Kaapzicht Wine Estate

403 Tons Red Grapes

198 Tons White Grapes

 

993 596 liters produced

 

10 permanent cellar staff

4 harvest interns

 

Earliest shift start

04h00

Latest shift end

21h30

 

Most Tons processed in a day

7 March – 87.461T

 

Most notable “beer fine” of the harvest:

 

A faulty valve on the mash-cooler caused 5 Tons of Chenin blanc grapes to be accidentally dumped in the drain.

 

Most exciting new development in the cellar:

 

New equipment and a brand new offloading system has increased the whole-bunch capacity with 40 tons in the cellar

 

Most memorable event:

 

In honour of Danie Snr and the 40+ years of his winemaking mastery, we produced a very special small-batch Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

Our People

Danie Steytler (Winemaker and Director)

Kayleigh Hattingh (Winemaker)

Cobus Sampson

Alfred Cimela

Ryan Janse

Wanda Seguqa

Thembisile Cimela

Xola Diko

Klaas Niewoudt

Goodman Dongo

 

Our cellar interns:

Jonelle Oberholzer (South Africa)

Tara Kruger (South Africa)

Harald Eller (Germany)

Robert Weil (Germany)

 

Callie’s Review

The harvest started early with Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc and Chenin blanc which jumped out of the blocks very early. We noticed that it was a much smaller crop across the board on the white grapes. Pinotage was on their heels and it was also a good harvest overall (through all the spectrums of styles we harvested). Then a little rain came and it put the breaks on the rest of the harvest which was a good thing, because sugars started to run away from us. The rain helped a lot to give time for the later red varieties to reach phenolic ripeness. These later red cultivars, like Cabernet Sauvignon, showed great quality. We finished the harvest in record time – just in time for Easter weekend.

 

Vineyard Statistics

Stellenbosch Annual Rainfall 2023/2024

954.7 mm

 

Kaapzicht Annual Rainfall 2023/2024

864.2 mm

 

White grapes average Ton/ha

5.20

 

Red grapes average Ton/ha

5.88

 

Farm average Ton/ha

5.64

 

Highest yielding vineyard

P4 Pinotage 19.8T/ha

 

Lowest yielding vineyard

ST25 Chenin blanc 1.68T/ha

 

Warmest Day

28 February 40°C

 

Most notable “beer fine” of the harvest:

 

A harvest without a single beer fine in the vineyard. In Callie’s own words, “I can barely believe it too!”

 

Most exciting new development in the vineyard:

 

We’ve planted 1.8ha of “treinspoor” Chenin blanc. The first time since 1985!

 

Most memorable event:

 

Two new blocks produced their first harvest this year (Boorgat Pinotage and Boorgat Cabernet Sauvignon).

 

Our People

Callie Hefer (Viticulturist)

Gert Petro

Titus James

Werner Arnoulds

Katriena Frederiks

Christina de Jongh

Sylvia Titus

Andries Jantjies

Adam Blaauw

Marcellino Swarts

 

Pieter Davids