Having bottled this year's vintage on Thursday this
week, we headed back to the Vineyard Hotel on Saturday to help prune the vines.
This annual event means that the old wood which bore the fruit this year has to
be taken off the vine and pruned back to just two new buds at its base. It is
an expert job, so the winemakers and viticulturist involved were there to
assist. We had been taught previously how to do this and were allowed to
properly prune the vines but, this year, it was decided that the custodians
would prune the vines to the top of the second wire and the experts would take
over from there. We were a bit disappointed, but there have been some bad
mistakes made in the past which may have limited production, so we accept it
may have been necessary
We arrived, as instructed, at
the Vineyard Hotel at 10h30. It was another wet morning, but it did promise
good weather later
Spring must be in the air; one
of the Vineyard Hotel's giant tortoises was waking up. This one is about the
size of a large dog
A very welcome glass of Kaapse Vonkel
from Simonsig was waiting for us to enjoy
The Vineyard's consultant viticulturist,
Kevin Arnold from Waterford, nursing a dog bite (No, not a tortoise bite – he separated
two fighting dogs and paid a price) on his hand and Vineyard GM Roy Davies
discuss this year's harvest while sheltering from the welcome rain
Some good canapés to strengthen
our labours, which included cream cheese wrapped in Parma ham, tiny eggs
Benedict - (how clever to use omelette on these tiny toasts) and warm porridge
with some, OK, not enough, whisky, topped with blueberries and granola
There were four padloper tortoises sheltering in the vineyard
Roy Davies tell us about the
pruning requirements
So nice to see three
generations of the Ratcliffe family. Sadly we don't see Jenny very much. We all
studied for and earned the Cape Wine Academy Diploma many years ago and she now
lives in Johannesburg. She was there with her mother Norma , her children and
two of Mike Ratcliffe's children
Mike Bampfield Duggan of Wine
Concepts pruning in the rain, and on his Birthday too
Greg Landman of Country Life
with his vine ...
and busy pruning was Ginette de Fleuriot of Vinimark
That's how you do it! Kevin Arnold supervises Angela Lloyd
Lynne and Roy inspecting a vine
Claudia and Klaus Schilling
pruning their vine
Norma and her man
The Ratcliffe children
He looks a little more awake as
the sun comes out and we head for lunch. Was he the model for Spielberg's ET?
Some of the Wine Partners’
white wine contributions to be enjoyed with lunch. There were also some Antipodean
Sauvignons, Chardonnays, Rieslings and other wines from a previous tasting; we
didn't get to sample them all
The line up of reds was
impressive
Lunch was served family style. This
was a Caesar salad
Sliced steak topped with
mushrooms and rich sauce
Green beans, broad beans and
asparagus
Yellow and orange pepper with
butternut and red onions, very colourful
Salmon with a Hollandaise sauce
Gnocchi in a light tomato sauce
with thinly sliced grilled aubergine and topped with cheese
The entire Pruning team for
2017
Klaus Schilling presents Roy
Davis with another of his paintings, this time a warthog
A selection of cheeses
Olives and two relishes
Tiny blueberry tarts
and a special Birthday serenade
for Mike Bampfield Duggan with a specially made chocolate dessert
Yum
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
