2 Feb 1659 Jan van Riebeek harvest the first grapes in South Africa, paving the way for me to be part of this industry 363 years later. Wow an industry that is still driven by the passion of people and this wonderful end product we call wine.

The few words I can think off, is privilege and honored, to be part of the South African Wines Industry. Stand out for me is the people involve, older generation passing information down to the younger generation. It has never felt like a competition for me. All genuinely wants the South African Wines to succeed.

Harvest has started in the Western Cape and we have received Chardonnay. Since my last post about my predictions about harvest has changed a bit. Struck with massive heat waves in the Western Cape the last two weeks and had to adapt some of our plans.

Here on Croydon Vineyards, where we also make our Bizoe Wines we have already harvested all the Pinotage grapes on Croydon. The condition of the grapes looked awesome especially after the extremely high temperature we had the last few days. The Pinotage grapes will be used for the Croydon Title Deed Rose and Croydon Covenant Pinotage.

Our next grapes to arrive at the cellar will be Sauvignon blanc and Chenin blanc from Stellenbosch, and Semillon from Darling for the Bizoe Morningstar Semillon. Enough about harvest for now let’s toast this amazing industry.