Hello,

Two weeks were running very fast, everything still feels so new and different from home.

Unfamiliar people greeting me on the street, the birds are way louder than ours, the foam on the cappuccinos in Stellenbosch is creamier then in Frankfurt and I still mix up doors when getting into a car.

But may I introduce myself quickly…I am Thomas from Geisenheim, Germany. I am studying International Wine business and came to Delheim for internship during my semester break.

I met Nora at the International Wine Fair “ProWein” in Düsseldorf. She offered me the traineeship on her wine farm and now here I am. I will be at Delheim for three months, learning the way of making and selling wine in South Africa, the country which is so diverse from Germany. The diversity was the main reason I chose South Africa for doing my internship. To go to Austria for example was no option for me, it is simply too equal.

Your wine farms are easily ten times bigger than ours. You grow grape varieties we just do not have because of the cooler climate. For instance, we will never be able to make Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon, the way you do, unless you can wait for another 200 years.

When I came to Delheim everybody was so nice and helpful. I got introduced to everybody and I was showed around very detailed. Okay I am still struggling with remembering all names but it is getting better every day. For the twenty dogs on the farm I found an easier solution. I call them all Jessie, the only name I remember, and it works very well this way.

On my first week Andri, the viticulturist who was trained at Elsenburg, the South African “Geisenheim”, took me around Delheim vineyards at Simonsberg and DelVera. He showed me how you train and handle the vines. He showed me how to prune and I even did it myself. It was a very decent experience.

At the moment I am working at the Downstairs Cellar together with August, Mike and Stian. They look after me very well. It is very pleasant and much fun working with them. We do the wine tastings and I already do the daily cellar tours at 10:30am and 2:30pm. So if you want to have a chat with me while tasting stunning wines, please come around. You really must try the 2010 Gewürztraminer with its full litchi and rose flavour or the 2006 Shiraz, my favourite red wine on the farm.

Maybe see you very soon

Thomas

Categories: DELHEIM

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 12th, 2010 at 11:51 am and is filed under DELHEIM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.