.: Bottling the Vineyard Hotel vineyard's 2016 white wine at Waterford

Monday, August 22, 2016

Bottling the Vineyard Hotel vineyard's 2016 white wine at Waterford

Once a year, we are invited by The Vineyard Hotel management to join them and prune the vines in the small vineyard on the side of the Liesbeek river in the gardens of the hotel. They have kindly made us custodians of one vine

This year, we were also invited to Waterford wine estate for a tasting of the last four years of the wines that have been made. Waterford, who are one of the four wine farms which sponsor a row of vines, vinified the 2015 vintage. We were to taste the wines and have lunch together

Warmly dressed on a chilly late winter day, we received a warm welcome from Kerry Sutherland and a glass of Waterford's Brut MCC

The beautiful entrance arch. The building is clad entirely from local stone found on the farm; they wanted it to blend into the landscape effortlessly and it does

Waterford Winemaker Mark le Roux

Invited guests and Waterford staff

Roy Davies, General Manager of The Vineyard Hotel tells us the history of vines at The Vineyard. Vines were first planted on the hotel grounds when the original property was owned by Lady Anne Barnard. In 2008 winemaker Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick Estate suggested replanting a vineyard. Warwick, Klein Constantia, Meerlust, Waterford and Simonsig came on board and the vineyard of Semillon and Sauvignon was planted. The first vintage was vinified in 2013

There were about 120 bottles this year and we all had a hand in filling one or two bottles

David Wibberley does the first bottle

Another vintage is in bottle

And the bottles get loaded onto the corking machine

Everyone waiting their turn

Kevin Arnold chatting to Lex Petousis

Winemaker Mark le Roux and Kerry Sutherland packing the wine crate

Laying down the bottles for storage

The table laid out for lunch in the beautiful courtyard

Naeema, one of the experienced staff from The Vineyard, uncorking the four vintages of The Vineyard wine

The day was cloudy but not cold. It is a beautiful venue

Mark le Roux bottling a special Waterford Chardonnay fermented in an egg. Everyone attending got a bottle. We labelled our own bottles with a gold Koki pen. There were some artistic attempts

Filling from the egg is rather complicated, you don't want to spill wine

Lynne and journalist Neil Pendock take their places for the tasting

Klein Constantia winemaker Matthew Day with the long line of tasting glasses

GM of The Vineyard Hotel, Roy gives us some background to where wine was originally grown in the Cape near the Vineyard Hotel. It was planted on the banks of the Liesbeek river as early as 1658 or 9. Jan van Riebeeck recorded in his journal, “The Commander consequently intends to plant a large part of the Bosheuvel with young vine shoots during the waning moon which is the correct time.” Bosheuvel was bordered by the banks of the Liesbeek

Enjoying the history lesson are Mark le Roux and Joachim Sa of Amorim Cork

Small portions to taste as the wine is in very short supply. L to R 2013 Blue & Black and 2014 the first grapes were picked on the 12th February 2013. Matthew Day of Klein Constantia made this wine. There were two pressings as the grapes did not fill the press. Blue has some good acidity on the palate, some elegance but is a little one note. Black was the rest of the grapes, too little for the press, so foot stomped and known informally as the toe jam wine. It is perfumed and grapey!

Winemaker Chris Williams of Meerlust tasting the wine

Roy then took us through the 2014 which was the biggest harvest yet, 240 kg which was vinified on Marklew. It's still a little miffy on the nose, but has consistent acidity, grapey with bruised apple. A wine still waiting to come true. The 2015 was made by Chris Williams on Meerlust and was judged by the guests to be the best yet. Perfumed on the nose with crisp acidity and good elegance, it's the good white blend that Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc make. We did taste the 2016 wine we had bottled that day, but it is too young and needs to develop a character in the bottle

Lunch is served ...

... and we began with a lovely platter to share of charcuterie, smoked salmon, cheese, fruit, chutneys, tapenade and good bread

Chefs in the kitchen preparing the main course. This was the quinoa tabbouleh

Chef with the braaied steaks

The beetroot

The mixed vegetables

Lots of positive discussion about the wines

Main course of fire seared fillet steak with quinoa tabbouleh, spring vegetables and glazed beetroot with a red wine jus. We enjoyed some wines from the farms involved with lunch. We particularly liked the Waterford Chardonnay.