Once a year the whole industry heads down the N1 towards Graaff-Reinet for the yearly Stoeptasting. Off we set to join the fun in the Karoo.

Graaff-Reinet has a special place in my heart. My wife, Estalét’s family is farming 50 km outside of Graaff-Reinet in district of Nieu-Bethesda on the farm Damesfontein. We were extremely excited when the organisers of the event extended the “stoeptasting” to Nieu-Bethesda.

 Nieu-Bethesda hosted 20 wine estate during the Stoeptasting in 2021. This made us jump to the opportunity to host a Bizoe Wine Dinner at the sports club in town. Bethesda as known to the locals is where I and Estalét got married in 2007. Remember the day as a bitterly cold day, but a joyful occasion filled the air.

 The tennis club is a venue where all the locals’ farmers and Bethesda residents meet up on a Saturday afternoon. To host a wine event at the tennis club had just so much more of meaning for me. The same venue where I have made new friends through Estalét more than 20 years ago. What a privilege to pour my wines to the community of Nieu-Bethesda. 

Stoeptasting is a bucket list event for a wine lover. Guest houses is booked out well in advance. Ex Graaff-Reinet residents return to walk the streets and taste some wines. Reunion of friends, the making of new friend is all happening during the weekend. The town is a buzz. Make sure to make your booking for 2022, promise Bizoe Wines will be there again.

Adventure down the Garden Route!

Following up from my last post about my time in Gauteng, next stop Garden Route with Jo and Nick Lowe from The Grape Hustle in Plettenberg Bay.

Early morning departure from Somerset West to meet up with Jo at The Garden Route Game Lodge.  Beautiful view over the valley with the game roaming in front of you out of the restaurant.

Our first tasting in Plettenberg Bay was at boutique Tten Bazaar, yes interesting store and a fun environment to do tastings. On the evening we paired different types of Olives with the wine. First time I was involved in such a pairing and made for interesting taste. Will I engage in such tasting again? Definitely I will do.

 Our next event we did a Semillon masterclass followed by dinner at Barringtons. Barringtons is for the must stop places in Plettenberg Bay. Great food, great services and most of all great people. If wine isn’t your thing, I am sure you will find the right beer at Barringtons to drink.

Nina’s Cafe in George owned by my friend Wernhard van der Watt (Wern) and his wife Natasha. Wern and my paths crossed the first time in 2009. One promise I made myself is never to drive through George again and not having a meal at Nina’s Cafe. Tasting we did on the evening was astonishing and one of the best pairing with Bizoe Wines I had in a very long time. Wern evening treated us late night with “The Wern Show” in the kitchen showing us how to “sous vide” a steak.

 One final event in Knysna held at Kanonkop Guest House with Mark & Adele Conyers. If Mark is involved in an event you know it’s going to be fun. Entertainment & Food organised by Mark and Adele and we supplied wines for the evening. Definitely we ended our trip in the Garden Route on high note! Thanks Mark and Adele for opening Kanonkop House for us that we can share our wines with the people of Knysna.

Handcrafted Wines

 What does the term handcrafted wine mean for a winemaker? Surely each berry wasn’t de-stemmend and crushed by hand?

In my view, it means that you were involved in the whole process and even got your hands dirty in the process. We are coming to the end of harvest and my kids are laughing about my purple hands every time I get back from the cellar. You need to look at a winemakers hands during the harvest to know he is a winemaker.

 Term handcrafted shows me the winemaker was involved in farming/growing of the vineyards. Hands-on during the picking of the grapes, involved in the fermentation process involving punch down and pump overs, getting the skins into the press and barrelled. It’s being involved in the whole process.

 Harvest is coming to an end and all the red grapes are in the cellar for 2021. Waiting for the last few tanks to finish their fermentation process and helping the wines complete malolactic fermentation. Interestingly malolactic fermentation wines get barrelled and stored separate from the barrel cellar. Barrel cellar will be too cold for the malolactic fermentation to happen, thus we barrel the wines in a warmer room to create the best environment for the malolactic bacteria to complete the process to convert malolactic acid to lactic acid. The process helps to soften the wine and give it more body and structure in the wine.

From here on its feels like our bodies also convert from winemakers to sales and marketing bodies for the rest of the year.

Hitting the Red Zone!

As they say, into the final stretch we go. Most of the white grapes are in the cellar, just waiting for Chardonnay from Elgin Valley for Bizoe Idioglossia Chardonnay. It is one of those years with the perfect growing season and balanced wines to be made.

 Hitting the final stretch, we are getting all kinds of red cultivars coming into the cellar. Expect to be harvesting Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon during the week at Croydon Vineyards.

The grapes at this stage have beautiful concentration. 2021 will be a vintages you can pack away for a few years, low pH and balanced natural acidity in the grapes.

Until this week there hasn’t been extreme heat waves around. The perfect day temperature and cool nights for the grapes to ripen in.

Red grapes increase your time in the cellar, attending more pump overs and punch downs. Pump overs/punch downs is the process we use in the cellar to circulate the juice over the skin of the grapes. This process helps to extract colour and flavours out of the skin of the grape. In simple terms the skin of the grapes are the tea bag of the wine. Our job as the winemaker is to manage the process and make sure to create the perfect extraction for generations to enjoy your master piece.

I am sure 2021 great wines will make you forget all the strange and difficult times we lived in when we are starting to drink these wines in 2023.

Bizoe Wine were invited by Martin and Theresa Hansson from Head over Hill Luxury Guest House to attend their annual wine show case they present in Knysna. Heading down the N2 early Friday morning to be in time for day one of the show. Plenty of time to think about 2020 and luckily my neighbour opted in to drive with me to meet up with his brother in Wilderness.

Arriving in Knysna it’s time to switch on Google Maps to find Head over Hills Luxury Guest House. Up and down hills until I reach the final climb thinking to myself if there is another drop its into the ocean. Walking into the guest house you would need to pinch yourself to thinks this were you are spending your weekend.

Joined by Le Lude, Kaapzight, Hartenberg, Boschkloof, Simonsig, Remhoogte, Groote Post, Jouney’s End, Quoin Rock and Luddite Wines. We were treated the moment we arrived. In between we had guest arriving for wine tasting, tasting other producers wines is always a treat as we don’t always have time in our days to meet up and talk about wine.

Highlight of the weekend when Martin took us into his private cellar under the guest house and treated us with some of most sorted wines in South Africa. Each had an opportunity to pick a bottle and present to the rest to discuss between one another the wine and come to a conclusion on the cultivar, country and vintage of the wines. Stand out wine for me and most the group was the Le Rich Cabernet Sauvignon 2008. Thanks Martin, Theresa and Sulanie for a great weekend!