With the last few tanks, slowly bubbling away some sugar it seems like a good time to look back on harvest 2011. Yes people already 2011! If I must use 2 words to sum up this harvest it would be – short and sweet. Short because it was our shortest harvest ever at Laibach and sweet, because we had lots of sun and lots of sugar. Growing conditions leading up to this vintage were interesting. We did not have a very cold winter and we also did not have our average rainfall for winter, about 100mm short of the long term average. We therefore expected that the vineyards might have less growth and show some stress in harvest. The vineyard team adopted well and decided not to remove too much side shoots like in previous years. Spring we had some rain, but budding was very even and fruit set was good. We did have lots of wind in this time which resulted in very loose bunches, which is good for healthy grapes. The wind also helped keeping all the diseases at bay and we had far less threat of mildew. Ground water however was a big concern because like you all know we do not use any irrigation at all on our vineyards. Our organic methods are going from strength to strength. From next year we will have the whole farm certified organic. The vineyards are looking healthy and it is great to see the soils coming alive again. We also now have a wormery which we use to produce our own organic compost. Liquid that the worms produce is also sprayed on the leaves to build up resistance against diseases. We averaged again about 35 -40 hl per hectare this year which we believe keep everything in balance. For South–Africa this is a very low crop with the average being around 200 hl per hectare. If you want to produce quality this however is the only way. Harvest started again in the first week of February, but was finished already on the 10th of March. We had extreme weather leading up to the harvest with lots of wind and very warm temperatures. Heat wave conditions were a reality and we touched a few times 40 degrees. We did not have a drop off rain this year up till now, but it is amazing how healthy the vineyards still look. The older vineyards especially, which have deep root systems, still look in great nick. Younger vineyards you can see are starting to suffer a bit, but therefore we decided to pick these grapes already very early. We have one tank of 13% alcohol of all the young vineyards that we picked already in middle February that is looking great. I think we can also now see that the organic practices are bringing down our alcohol levels. If we would have had these conditions say 10 years ago we would have seen very high alcohol wines and we would probably have to acidify everything. This year we hardly used acid at all. Pinotage was first. Very small crop only about 20 hl per hectare. Berries were very small this year and skins were thicker than usual. Tannin management was very important and for some varietals special techniques were used to get better colour and flavour extraction. The Pinotage Rosé (which we bottle on the 6th of April already) is looking lovely. Merlot and Cabs are the stand out varietals, but it is great to have Malbec, Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc also in such years. In general I think it is a blenders vintage with reds showing good analysis and soft tannins. Not everything ripened together, so fermentation space was no problem at all. In general a good to very good vintage, especially for reds. Maybe not for wines to keep ten years, but for good drinking wines. Very much a cross between vintages 2000 and 2005.
If we look back on the 2010 harvest you immediately are struck with one word - WIND. The winter leading up to harvest 2010 was relatively short with most rain falling in August. The vines struggled to get into their early "winter" sleep, which resulted in some budding issues with some of the later varietals. Long term average rainfall was not quite achieved, but the ground water levels where still good enough to support all our dryland vineyards. With our unique terroir and high clay levels in our soil we have cooler soils with excellent water retention capacity. Great for producing outstanding wines. We very much believe that great wines are only made in areas without any irrigation. Spring and flowering were tough. Using no pesticides, insecticides or fertilizers we had to use all our previous experience (10 years) of organic farming to limit any crop loses. This was done with the utmost care and we also used, for the first time, liquid from our wormery to spray on our leaves to make them stronger. We are trying some new things every year and striving to become successful with no spraying at all. Although it was humid and rainy in flowering we did not have any losses with diseases at all. Unfortunately Mother Nature decided that she will provide a new challenge for us. We had extreme winds towards the end of harvest. This black South - Easter, like it is known in Cape Town area, came at the wrong time. Winds up to 150 km/h made havoc in our high lying vineyards. Some vineyards losses where up to 70%, but you can do nothing about that. Harvest started like usual around first week in February. We had no rain to mention during the season, so no botrytis or any other threats. Very healthy grapes with good colour and great analysis. Berries where a little bit bigger than usual and this made for some less tannin in the wines. Merlot was again our stand out grape varietal and Cabernet Franc also showed some potential. We had lots of heat towards end of February resulting in a log jam of grape getting ripe at the same time. We picked Merlot, Malbec, Cab Franc, Cab and Petite Verdot in one week which was also a first for us. Harvest ended very quickly indeed. In general wines are showing great. Alcohol levels are lower which fits in nicely with our new philosophy and tannin levels are very much more in balance. The harvest was much smaller than expected and some grapes where extremely down like Pinotage. So keep that in mind next time you prepare to buy some of your favourite wines because they might not be around that long.
As our first winter rains finally start, it is a good time to look back on vintage 2009. We had a fantastic winter with above average rainfall, about 970 mm. This, together with lots of cold and miserable days is exactly what we do not need, but the vineyards love. The plants really went in an early and long rest with good reserves stored for spring. Budding was later and you could immediately see, especially with our Chardonnay, that the plants really enjoyed their winter rest. Probably the most even budding and development of all varietals we have seen in the last 10–15 years on the farm. We did not have any real pressure of diseases at all and the whole of spring we had good weather. When it did rain a few times in October it was accompanied with lots of wind and low temperatures. Like you know by now our philosophy is very much organic, with no pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers used. We had excellent growth and early indications were showing lots of grapes. We do not have any irrigation on the farm and rely on Mother Nature a lot. Therefore canopy management and crop control were more of a challenge than watching out for mildew. We had to remove lots of grapes especially in our Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc vineyards. This we need to get good ripeness of flavour at lower alcohol levels and to not let our dry land vineyards get to stressed out in extreme weather. Seeing 10 tons per hectare lying on the ground is not always what you want, but in 2009 it was very much our saving grace. The viticulture team like always did a fantastic job. Early indications were saying that harvest will be 2–3 weeks later than usual. Well everything went well with cool moderate temperatures for December and a good start for January. Then it hit: A heat wave from hell. Harvest moved earlier by the day and we very much started harvesting the same time than usual. We picked Pinotage again like usual early in February. Crops were low and berries very small and concentrated. Sauvignon were the first of the whites, followed by Chenin and then Chardonnay. Natural acids and flavour were not yet affected too much when we picked them. We did not add any acid this year to any of our whites. The cold winter and moderate temperatures in the development really showed and the quality in the whites is looking great. We picked most of our reds beginning of March and this was very much on track with our previous vintage. It was really hot, but like I said before our small crop helped because we managed to harvest earlier and therefore avoid the extreme heat that continued in March. Colour and fruit expressions were excellent and the standout grapes for me were Merlot, Pinotage and Cabernet Franc. We finished all the Laibach grapes around the 20th . It was the largest amount of grapes we ever did at Laibach, but I can tell you now it was the most consistent and some of the best quality I have seen. We are really aiming for lower alcohols and classic wines and this vintage gave us just that. At the moment all the Malolactics are starting to finish and we are filling some 2009 wines to barrel. It was a benchmark vintage for us and we can’t wait to start bottling and selling these wines, but we know quality can not be rushed. Enjoy the rest of your 2009 just like we enjoyed our fantastic vintage. Wine regards Francois van Zyl & Team Laibach
It is nearly end of winter, but finally I have time to write a harvest report for the vintage 2008. The vintage was helped along by a very good long and wet winter. Stellenbosch experienced the wettest winter in nearly 40 years with some places getting more than 1000mm of rain. Budding was 10 -14 days later than some of the previous years and we all expected a much later vintage. Winter kept going on and at some stage we really needed some exceptional skill and discipline to keep our vines (which is mostly farmed organically) healthy and disease free. This was done very successfully and we had no serious headache’s ahead. We were very excited with the moderate day temperatures leading up to 2008, but then Mother Nature had some other plans. We got hit by an excessive heat spell from beginning of January and then just to top everything we received around 40 mm of rain in the last week of January. Like you know Laibach is situated on very unique terroir and we do not use any irrigation at all. So a little bit of rain at this stage was quite good for the reds, but the whites where in a critical stage of development especially the Sauvignon Blanc. We had to jump and start picking, maybe 5 days earlier than expected, but the results were still satisfying. We then had a cap and then suddenly all the early varieties were ready at once. We picked Pinotage, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay in one week, very busy week indeed. This was only made possible by a new top of the range press we bought just before the harvest started. Chenin and Chardonnay looked very promising and I can confirm now that we are very happy with these wines that we already bottled. Remember, all our Chardonnay (which is organic) will end up in the White Ladybird. Pinotage is still early days, but I can confirm that the tannins, color and general fruit components are looking excellent. Also we experienced a general drop in alcohol content, which is very good news. With all the reds we are averaging around 0.5 – 0.7 lower than previous years. So we had 5–7 really tough days, but then 3 weeks of nearly no grapes at all. Time to fix all the first round hiccups and to prepare for the next 200 tons of reds lying ahead. Finally in March we started and like the case in some previous years very much everything ripens at once. We had Cab Franc, Merlot, Malbec and even Cab coming in on one day and we really needed to organize everything quite well. Remember we do make use of a sorting table and a very strict shorting regime so we can only do around 20 tons per day. Just remember you can not tell nature to stop the African sun from shining and we needed some really tough long hours to manage. Harvest lasted till first week in April, and we all needed a well deserved brake. In general we are very excited about Chenin, Chardonnay and some Merlot blocks. The organic vineyards were also extremely good. We were a little bit disappointed in general with the Cabernet Sauvignon, but after the extremely good 2007 vintage it will always be a tough act to follow. The first wine we bottled was again 2008 Pinotage Rosé which was done first week of April already. Looking back now I am quite satisfied with the results. All the reds are safely lying in some good oak barrels and enjoying a nice cold and wet winter 2008. In 1-2 weeks they will start open up like spring and then we will be able to really get up close and personal with vintage 2008. Till next year!
You know that you have reached the end of another harvest when you filled up the last press and when you are ready to bottle the first 2007 Pinotage Rosé. Now is a good time to look back on what Mother Nature gave us the last growing season. We had perfect growing conditions leading up to the vintage. We had a good, cold, wet winter to prepare the plants, giving them sufficient rest and making them strong for the next season. Good healthy growing conditions with not too many difficult times for the viticulturist. We did not experience any loss leading up to the vintage and especially our organic vineyards were in immaculate conditions. We had moderate temperatures for December and beginning of January and far less wind (black south–easter) than the previous year. We had sufficient water, stored in our unique deep clay soils just in case the plants might feel like a drink or two. Remember we at Laibach still believe in no irrigation what so ever. We strongly believe that you do more damages trying to drown plants in water than letting them just go out and do their own thing. All the winemakers were expecting a very good vintage, but then things turned a little bit. Towards the end of January we had a mayor heat wave, lasting about 10 days and reaching 3 days above 40 degrees. Readers, we are talking about serious heat. This resulted in the earliest harvest in 40 years in the Stellenbosch area and we already started with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinotage on the 24th of January. We all know that especially Sauvignon does not like the heat, but I was amazed with the good flavour and natural acid in the juice. Sitting here now I am very excited about our 3 tanks we have in the cellar. Each block was picked at a different fruit spectrum and it is still early days, but I think this will be up there with some of the finest example of this variety around. Chenin is also looking good showing some pineapple and tropical flavours. We increased our production on our Ladybird white which is a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Chenin Blanc. Some parts were fermenting in barrel and looking good. Pinotage Rose we make especially for the export market although we have a good local support for this wine already. Lovely light almost watermelon colour with good fruit expression and a beautiful balanced mouth feel. This will really go off on a warm summer day. On the red wine side things are looking as good as they can get. To start off I must say that the team and I are tired. We had a two month period of getting in grapes, but it usually feels like six months. The stars of the season seem to be Pinotage and the organic red that will end up in our very popular organic wine called “The Ladybird”. Especially the Cabernet Franc is just amazing and quite an experience just sniffing it every now and then. Like you all know by now we are recognized to be one of the Merlot specialist producers and I think 2007 will again live up to be really good. I was a little bit worried at some stage about the quality, but we do have a few tricks up our sleeves that helped us. Cabernet was like always excellent. Just again an indication that we are truly situated in some of the world’s best “King Cab” country. All the reds have great colour with intense fruit and wonderful ripe tannins. I think it will be wines with great ageing potential, something very similar to maybe 2005 or maybe even the 2001 vintage. I am really looking forward putting all these wines in barrels and see what will happen, but before then I am really looking forward to a good long holiday. Wine regards. Team Laibach