Size matters harvest related
Topic that has been spoken a lot the last few days between winemakers is the size of 2023 harvest. Rumors are doing the round that it is going to be the smallest harvest since 2006. Yes, it will take a knock on quantity, but will it take a knock on quality?
As I am writing this post, I am waiting for the arrival of our Grenache grapes from Wolseley to make our 2nd Rikus Neethling Grenache Rose. We follow a relatively easy process in making the rose. Grapes arrive at the cellar, crushed direct into our pneumatic press. Separate the juice immediately from the skins before the pressing start. Once the juice is in our stainless steel tank give it 2 days to settle before racking the juice to the fermentation tank. Once fermentation start we monitor the fermentation tempo. That’s the process we use to make our rose.
We are planning to bring our Semillon grapes from Franschhoek later in the week. We are running into a heat wave the next few days, which would obviously increase the ripening of the grapes in the vineyards. You can expect that the next few days in the cellar will be very busy. The Semillon from Franschhoek will undergo a fair amount of time on the skins before the separation and pressing of the juice. The juice will ferment in an amphora, barrels and flex tanks to create the Semillon component of our Bizoe Henrietta 2023.
Enough about wine making, let us talk about food. Last week I hosted a Rikus Neethling Wine Dinner at the Peninsula Hotel in Cape Town. As always the food was spectacular. Our main course for the evening was a “Chargrilled Smoked Marlin with Nori butter prawns and Mediterranean Orzo noodle salad”. This paired so wonderful with the Rikus Neethling Grenache Rose 2022. Excited to share our competition with you guys. I have received my Bizoe Veldskoen about 6 months ago. Feels like walking on clouds, order your Bizoe Wines online and get an automatic entry in, to wine a pair of Bizoe Veldskoen for a couple
