Wine-ing Down to the End of the Year
Can’t believe we are already in November and harvest is just 3 months away. It’s quite a while since I have written a blog. So many things happened in between my last blog and now, the only consistent is that we are the Rugby World Cup Champions!
Talking about Rugby World Cup, I have just returned from Tokyo, Japan. We attended an event from Wines of South Africa in Tokyo. What was interesting to me was the knowledge the Japanese have about South Africa and specially our beloved Springboks. As many of our boys plays in the local Japanese league. South African Wines can thank the Springboks for help putting our wines on the tables in Japan.
The vineyards are busy flowering and fruit is setting. Got to say at this stage its looking promising and we are looking forward to the 2024 harvest that is around the corner. For now, until harvest season it’s all about managing the canopy as we call it. Canopy in vineyard terms is basically the shoots and leaves. We need enough leaves to help to ripen the grapes, but we also need to remove some of the leaves to make sure there is enough airflow and sunlight entering the canopy. As we had a very wet season the soils are still moist and help with growth of the vineyard.
In the cellar we had a quiet time the last few weeks, and for me been on the road also during this time. From now to the end of the year we will bottle some of our new vintage wines. Some maintenance will also be done on some of the equipment to ensure that we are ready when harvest is starting.
We have two more wine events planned for the year. I will be showing our Bizoe and Rikus Neethling Wines at Boonstoppel Wijnen in Dordrecht on 17th of November. Our last event for the year will be at Barringtons in Plettenberg Bay in December. Lets all get behind the Proteas and raise a Bizoe glass to all our sportsmen and woman that makes us such a proud nation.
