Cape Town - Wine harvest time in the Cape is an exciting time. A time when grapes are plucked from vines to be metamorphosed into bottles, bags and boxes and enjoyed locally and overseas.
It’s also an opportunity to get involved in the wine-making process either by joining a cellar tour, picking grapes, blending your own wine from barrels or just wine-tasting.
Recently a bunch of people from near and far had the sense to leave behind the chaos of the Cape Town Cycle Tour and head for the Breedekloof Valley.
Surrounded by mountains cloaked with snow during winter and fynbos blomme in summer it’s not as well-known as other wine producing areas. Most people travel through on the N1 between Cape Town and Worcester, a highway that divides the valley west to east and with the Breede River running through it from northwest to southwest.
At its heart is Rawsonville named for the Cape Colonial Secretary William Rawson and it was granted town management in 1883. The area produces mainly for the brandy industry and merchant trade, but also features quality focussed boutique wine farms and family estates with reputations for pinotage, chenin, chardonnay and semillon.
With about 22 cellars and wine estates, the majority are owned by direct descendants of the original Dutch and French pioneers who began to occupy and cultivate the valley from 1716.
One of these is Kirabo, where the Le Roux family opened up their farm last month to those wanting to experience the wine-making process. “I want 25 bins, or no pay,” laughed Karén le Roux as everyone walked to a nearby block which turned out to be Petit Verdot. Of course harvesting is normally done early morning before the sun kisses the grapes but this would hold no appeal for city folk.
Showing how it’s done, Pieter le Roux deftly plucked bunches of tiny grapes from verdant vines. “You could use clippers but it’s easier by hand,” he said. But it’s not as easy as Pieter made it look.
Off-loading plastic bins from a trailer everyone was off, excited chatter ceased as they scattered along vines. Heads down, concentrating they felt among leaves and along wire trellises to prize stems from tenacious grip. With one vine equal to 24 to 36 glasses of wine they were getting there and they managed to fill their bins in record time despite stopping now and then to stuff juicy grapes into their mouths. With 35 to 60 bunches on each vine and 1.5kg of grapes used to produce one bottle of wine, one ton of grapes equals 720 bottles. Kirabo contributes about 60 tons of grapes to the local wine industry.
Time to make for the cellar. The procession of pickers followed a tractor to where, as if by magic and a few strong men, bins of grapes were hefted into a destalking machine. It takes one barrel of wine to make 1 800 glasses of wine.
Meanwhile Pieter added a jug of this and a bit of that – oak wood powder, sulphur and ice. After the last bin was emptied everyone climbed onto a trailer for a ride to the boundary of the farm at the base of the Sidu Mountains. Half a dozen cows excitedly trotted towards the fence but it wasn’t the visitors they came to see.
Back at the cellar Jakobus Adonis, who has worked on the farm for many years, was pumping grapes from a vat into a vintage press. A dark mixture of grapes peeped between wooden slats as juice poured from a spout leaving behind pulp that is fed back into the vineyards. Dipping a finger into the juice, wince, there’s a long way to go. But picking, feeding and watching winemaking is hungry work. A picnic breakfast enjoyed on blankets beneath a mighty oak in the garden, with water falling into the swimming pool, went down well. Washed down with Karén’s punch of red wine and a touch of gin it was time to taste the real deal.
Tastings are held in a large barnlike tasting room adjoining the cellar. It’s warmly decorated with family heirlooms, memorabilia and plants from the extensive garden. The next hour was highly pleasurable as everyone tasted various red cultivars produced from vines grown in harmony with the community and nature. Pieter’s meticulous attention to winemaking and Karén’s carefully crafted experimenting, contribute to wines that beg to sipped and sipped some more.
Pieter says his recipe is the correct use of regionality, the extensive use of skin contact, slow fermentation, minimal interference and the right selection of oak.
As Karén popped open a merlot 2014 she said she prefers the sound that corks make. As for the name, Karén explained the origin of Kirabo. With six generations having lived on the farm it’s not old by European standards. The farm was originally called Watervalkloof but the Le Roux wanted something more in keeping with Africa and chose Kirabo, a word used throughout Africa and meaning a gift from God. Other wines include a shiraz 2015 with green pepper on the nose and spicy aftertaste, a petit verdot 2014 which would go well with steak of lamb shank, a ruby cabernet blend of vintages 2008 and 2014.
This is the second in a series of nine blends each having its own label with elephants denoting the order.
Number 2 has two elephants. Imagine the label in 20 years time. But it’s Cupcake that creates a stir. Paired with cupcakes made with juice from the grapes, Cupcake is a light, off-dry wine with a slightly fruity nose.
Karén explained that it was inspired by their children who at that time were drinking brandy and coke, shooters and beer. Not good for a wine family so Piet decided to make a wine for them and with the oldest child saying it smelt of cupcake, hence the name.
The irony is that two of their children, Andries and Ronald, are now brewing beer over weekends. After receiving a beer-making course one Christmas they went on to produce The Broers Brew range from small batch runs. They now make beer for friends and for tasting but once the old cow shed has been rezoned for a brewery they’ll go into business.
Feeling mellow from tasting some people stayed on to try their hand at blending wine from three varietals – merlot, shiraz and petit verdot. Using spoons, jugs and tot glasses they carefully measured and tasted while keeping a record of their measurements. There’s a lot of maths required to make a blend. The end result was to put a cork in it – not easy using an antique corking contraption. Thankfully nowadays it’s easier with mobile corking machines.
l Visit Kirabo from Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm; after hours, weekends, holidays and cupcake pairing by appointment: 023 349 6764, [email protected] Watkins is the author of Off the Beaten Track.
Karen Watkins, Cape Times