DELHEIM

Reg Holder has been appointed as winemaker at Delheim wine farm. Well-travelled and driven by a passion for terroir, Reg hails most recently from a five-year winemaking tenure at Neil Ellis Wines.

Having extensive experience of the Stellenbosch terroir, Reg is greatly enthused by the Simonsberg ward in which the Delheim vineyards reside. This, he feels, is ideally suited to classic cultivars; among them Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and his personal favourite, Shiraz – largely for its natural fruit and performance with minimal oak.

“Respecting the terroir and planting it to the right cultivar is a top priority,” Reg says. “Clearly expressing the region should be the ultimate goal of all activities, from vineyard management practices to choice of wood regime.”

“It’s critical to recognise that wine is a living thing. It will evolve long after bottling, and it must remain true to terroir, and unique.”

Wines with identity, Reg believes, are “South Africa’s real opportunity”, rather than a specific style or chosen cultivar. “If we stay true to the region and site with which we are charged, planting it to the right variety and handling it carefully, we are sure to create wines that are different and unique. With our incredible choice of top terroir, generic wines should not be considered a possibility.”

Reg is keen to experiment with lesser-known cultivars – such as Delheim’s popular Gewürztraminer; and looks forward to working with dessert wines made in “traditional style”. Methods and styles are likewise up for trial, in their ability to contribute to ultimate wine quality. The single proviso, Reg says, is that “the region remains clearly evident to the person holding the glass”.

by Katrin Haller, German intern at Delheim

My two days spent harvesting in the Delheim vineyards.

It all started with a romantic picture in my head about working in the vineyards. Idyllic scenery, hard physical work outside while letting your thoughts go, and even being part of a great product in the end. When I met Nora Sperling-Thiel in Hamburg at a mutual friend’s house, I told her that I would like to work in the vineyards for at least two weeks.  She looked at me, laughed and said: “I do not understand why everybody romanticizes working in the vineyards. It´s hard work in a hot climate. After two days you will be tired of it.” “Ah, no problem, that´s what I want”, I thought.

For two days I helped and experienced the harvest in Delheim’s vineyards. I had been looking forward to this for weeks and that’s why I chose Tuesday, the hottest day thus far during my stay at 40°C, and Wednesday, which was a (relatively!) cool 27°C. On Tuesday morning my alarm went off at 5 o´clock. Still dark outside and even the dogs were still asleep. So I packed my cool bag with a 5 litre canister of water and food for the day. Put on long trousers, shirt, solid outdoor boots and a cap. Only my face was not covered, so I put sunscreen on it. From my experience now, I would advise that you take real sun block or use what the workers do: a product called “Gentle Magic”.

At 6am we all met in the yard. Sakkie and Andri briefed us on where and what grapes we were going to be harvesting that day – Merlot.  The group split itself into and onto the different transportation vehicles. The whole procession of tractors with trailers and bakkies went up the road to DelVera. I was driving one of the bakkies loaded with my new colleagues. It’s fun driving a roaring pickup, feeling a little bit like an “African cowboy”. DelVera is the Sperling family’s other farm, 6km north-east from Delheim on the R44, where it grows most of its red grapes.

The wonderful array of bags on the pole

At our destination, rows of Merlot stretched out waiting to be picked. Everyone got out of the car or off the trailer and hung their bags on a vineyard pole; a whole collection ranging from plastic bags, to cotton bags, to chic, shiny handbags!  The foreman welcomed us and gave instructions on which Merlot grapes we should be picking today, for example to leave the nearly raisiny ones.  Equipped with a pair of secateurs to cut the grapes and a crate I followed Herold. He showed me the trick of fast and quality grape picking and how I could avoid cutting myself. Ha ha.  At the end of the day I had at least four cuts, which certainly had nothing to do with his teaching. Oh well.

Our harvest team is a mixture out of women and men of different ages. I was wondering why some women wore a yellow cream mask; soon I assumed it to be a sunscreen. As I mentioned at the beginning, this was probably the hottest day, and after a while all my sunscreen had run down my face. I asked my colleague Cynthia what kind of cream they use, and she showed me the bottle of “Gentle Magic”.

Katrin and Cynthia: yellow-faced!

This yellow lotion is an extract from the yellow oak tree and protects your skin from burning.  “Just the right thing for me”, I thought, so Cynthia put it on my face. Everybody laughed. Sure, I would not win a beauty contest with it on, but this was not the purpose anyway.  Later on I could even help out with my own sunscreen, as you can see.

"Gentle Magic"

Back to the harvest. There is a team doing the picking, a team carrying the full crates to the trailer and a team on the tractor – a driver and the person who sorts the grapes and passes the tokens for every full crate. The pickers get paid by crate, which motivates them to do an “engaged” picking. How quick there are!!!  They fill between 60 to 70 crates a day. My contribution was that I helped, the women of course, to fill up their crates with the grapes I picked. I took turns, because as soon you help someone for too long, the first complains start arising. After a case is full they shout in different tunes and volumes that they need a new one:  “crate!” the men would shout, and some women would call:”caseeeeeee” or “casee, casee, casee”. In between people sing, some listen to the radio or music, and some crack jokes and motivate each other.

Yellow Me, White You

At 9h00 we had a breakfast break.  The women sat down in the shade of the vines and the men played cards. Then the same picking procedure went on until lunch. Everyone was happy to get into the shade at lunch and have a nap under a tree. With the heat on this day it was really important to drink a lot of water – I know that I at least finished my 5 litre container.  At three o´clock my body started really getting tired and I motivated myself by telling myself : “Katrin, you started with them and you will finish with them”.

At 16h30 we started packing up and the convoy went home to Delheim. When I arrived back at the offices my colleagues welcomed me and started laughing, because I looked exhausted and dirty, but happy.  That evening I really enjoyed the after-work beer and stretching my sore body. I fell asleep by 9pm.

Playing cards

Even though I had quite a lot of sleep, I still felt tired the next morning – but I knew another eventful day was awaiting me. This time we harvested Chenin Blanc grapes at Delheim and then went on to DelVera to pick the Shiraz. The daily schedule was the same as the day before, except that this time I cut myself only once, I got to know more about my new colleagues and I became faster at picking. On the way home that evening, Sabina assured me that everybody feels sore and tired for the first days of harvest. Thank you, that made me feel better.

That evening I saw Nora again and she asked me if I still wanted to spend another 12 days in the vineyards. I looked at her and said: “OK, you were right. So far, at least with the heat, two days is enough.”  I truly respect the hard physical work the vineyard teams do. The romantic dissipates as you strive hard to get the grapes in quickly to preserve their quality and earn your living. It was a great intercultural and valuable experience, and I would do it again.

Following a disastrous 2010 season with hardly any grapes, 2011 is looking a great deal more promising.  Most varietals are bearing well, and, barring a hurricane or severe hail, we can expect an average to large crop.   The weather has been mostly cool, with good rains in early December.  The vines are looking very healthy and in balance with the crop they carry.

We are using new spray heads of our own design which cut chemical and water use by a third and the use of tractor diesel by half, while saving a good deal of time into the bargain.  This is of course hugely advantageous for the environment, as is the subsequent reduced carbon footprint.

Today is 24 December and it is raining again.  So far it looks like it’s going to be a later vintage with the cooler conditions.  This will only help the vines to ripen the heavy crop slowly and without stress.  The Sauvignons are bearing very well in comparison to last year, when we only harvested only about 300kg per hectare rather than the norm of 6 tons!

We have only just started to irrigate a little and this is mostly just to prevent any stress as the winter rains were not enough to replenish the soil with enough water.  The rain we are having now will also help to slow down the drying out of the soil.

The concern at the moment is that, if we get too much rain now with a lot of heat, the vines will grow vigorously in the canopy and neglect the grapes.

We can only hope that Mother Nature will be kind to us and that this vintage will continue to develop favourably.

Cheers! The 2010 Delheim Harvest Team

Delheim’s harvest is now almost over, with only the Rhine Riesling still on the vine, waiting for the necessary Botrytis to develop to make the Edelspatz Noble Late Harvest.

Initially, the ample winter cold and rain necessary for a great 2010 harvest augured well for Delheim.  Unfortunately, this optimism was not destined to last, as the long cold and wet spell then continued throughout the growing season in September and October, hampering the development of those varietals flowering at the time.  To make matters even worse, a few varietals already in full flower were threatened with downy mildew.

As if this were not enough, we then experienced uncharacteristically severe storm winds in November and December, resulting in extensive damage.  This wind was in fact so ruthless that shoots actually broke right off the cordon, resulting in an estimated loss of 50% to, in some varietals, 90% of our crop – especially devastating to us as we had initially thought that the harvest would be an exceptional one this year.  Director “Spatz” Sperling commented that this was the worst yield that he had experienced in more than 60 years of winemaking at Delheim, with an estimated 40% loss overall. Unfortunately, this shortfall in grapes is going to put severe pressure on the availability of some products. 

One consolation is that February this year was uncharacteristically moderate and cool, resulting in good quality grapes – so although small in volume, on the whole Delheim expects that the 2010 vintage is going to be a superior one.

THE DELHEIM TEAM

It has been a while since we went “back to the vine” and our little bunch of Riesling is doing well. The Botrytis fungus is doing its job diluting the grapes to get that sugar level to spike. To the naked eye it actually seems as if little raisins are forming, and technically they are, but who could have thought that such a wonderful product as the Edelspatz Noble Late Harvest could come from this!  A more technical report on the grapes will follow shortly.

As you can see, our little Riesling bunch has changed a lot over the last few weeks. Harvest season has already started, but the Riesling grapes will stay on the vines for another few weeks. We harvest the grapes at a very high sugar level and for this reason we leave them on the vines to reach optimal ripeness. To get the sugar level we need, Delheim relies on Botrytis cinerea (more on that in our next update).

Kind regards
The Delheim Team

2010 is here and what seemed like the future is suddenly the present. Looking at our little vine, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of tranquility. As you can see the fruit is slowly but surely growing and reaching veraison. Cell division takes place and suddenly, there the little bunch is hanging. After a few cold evenings things are looking to turn around with a little higher humidity during the day, so it gets very difficult to predict what is going to happen next.

All the best for 2010 from all of us at Delheim (and our little vine)

While many of us are taking a well-deserved break from the rat race today, our vines do not have that luxury. Strong winds again raced along the Simonsberg mountain. Luckily the grapes are settled and were not drastically affected by the Cape Doctor.

7 December and the Rhine Riesling grapes are growing strong and looking healthy. The crop seems similar in size for the making of Noble Late Harvest at a yield of 2.94 tonnes per hectare.

The past week has helped growth in the grapes with no further wind damage and relatively warm days. The nights are still cool and no rain is expected in the next couple of days. The vineyards are healthy and waiting for further summer pruning. Crop estimations will take place in the next week.