IT’S REALLY ALL ABOUT THE VINEYARDS

We are now on 16 years of working towards chemical free soils. The soil is looser, full of life and smells like seriously good dirt.

We use regenerative methods based on Old World, sustainable practices in our vineyards to ensure that the vines are nourished and in balance. We search for natural alternatives to fight everyday problems in the vineyard and we keep them healthy by using plant extracts, fungi and bacteria from our own, natural compost.

These traditional methods, combined with a southwest-facing, windy vineyard site ensure a balanced vine with a naturally low production and intense flavours. The vineyards are approximately four kilometers from the sea and are planted at a height of 270 to 300 meters above sea level. The soils are of sandstone origin with medium-sized stones, helping with drainage and moisture retention. The vineyards are 18 years old. Production was approximately 2t/ha.

A GENTLE HAND

The winemaking philosophy is the same for all of Waterkloof’s premium white wines. We follow a traditional, minimalistic approach, which means that we interfere as little as possible with the winemaking process. This allows the flavours prevalent in that specific vineyard to be expressed in the bottle. To achieve this, all grapes are carefully hand-picked and then brought into the cellar by our horses. They are then sorted and whole- bunch pressed in our small basket press so that we extract the juice in the gentlest way possible. The juice is then settled for 24 hours without the use of enzymes.

Only naturally present wild yeast on the grapes is used to ferment the juice. This leads to a longer fermentation process with a slow release of aromas and a more structured palate. The wine was fermented in a 600L barrel and left on the gross lees for 10 months prior to bottling. We do not add acid or enzymes during the winemaking process, with only a light filtration and a small addition of sulphur as a preservative prior to bottling. The wine was lightly filtered and bottled by hand and only two barrels was produced.

AND A FEW PRAYERS TO MOTHER NATURE: THE 2022/2023 GROWING SEASON

The 2022 Winter was slightly warmer than the previous years and we also saw less rainfall. Keeping all of this in mind our farm manager (Christiaan Loots) started to implement minimum tilling in the vineyard, packing more mulch in between the vines, adding biochar and experimenting with interesting cover crops.

All with the aim of improving the soil health by promoting more beneficial microbial growing conditions, retaining moisture, keeping the soil cooler and adding natural forms of nitrogen. In the last 3 years he has taken the percentage of carbon matter from 1% in some block to 4%.

With the slightly warmer Winter conditions we were surprised by an earlier budburst as well as flowering. We were lucky to not experience strong winds during the growing period which helped to have an even fruit set.

The growing season took an interesting turn during the second week of December with heavy rainfall. The team had to be on a close watch of the vineyard to make sure that we avoid any mildew.

Veraison was a week or so earlier and even due to the additional rainfall. We assumed that the harvest would then also start earlier but with the rest of the growing season being moderate to cool we only really got into the full swing of harvest form the second week of February.

The harvest was complicated a bit more with heavy rain falling toward the end of February. Luckily by this time we had already harvested all our white varieties and only had a few blocks of red left. We waited a week for the vineyard to utilize the excess water but it did help us to achieve good phenolic ripeness on the later red varieties. In the end a blessing from Mother nature!

Interesting enough we saw more bunches this year but smaller berries. The whites were up a little bit in yield and the reds were similar to 2022. The quality looks great with a lot of concentration and optimal acid levels.

TASTING NOTES FROM THE GLASS OF NADIA LANGENEGGER

This wine shows nuances of stone fruit, lovely floral notes, fennel, hints of lime, honey and a distinct note of minerality and soft oak notes. A rich wine with many layers and a long lingering finish. It is the perfect match for a few dishes – I recommend decanting our Viognier and pairing with a dish like pork or veal cooked in a light creamy sauce.

THE NUMBERS

Alc: 13 %
RS: 4 g/L
TA: 5.2 g/L
pH: 3.48
VA: 0.7