We
spent a lovely day on Jordan farm tasting the new just picked juices of several
grapes, the newly fermenting wine and listening to the undisputable facts of
the effect on global warming, El Nino and drought on wine farming. It is not
all gloom and doom and Gary Jordan has plans in hand to stay in business
planting grapes that will adapt to the raise in temperature and the lack of
water. We followed this with a delicious lunch on the deck at The Bakery
Into Jordan’s Safari vehicle to drive to the top
of the hill, where we had a short walk to climb even further where we had the
most wonderful views of the estate and the surrounding country
As we look down the Stellenbosch Kloof, Stellenbosch
and Paarl winelands shimmering in a heat haze
Just a small climb. This is what keeps us fit
Looking through the pines down at the vineyards
and the dams
People working in the vineyards at harvest time
Onward! Hats and sunblock obligatory
Tables and umbrellas and water and wine had been
organised. This is soon to become a venue for wine tasting and events
Looking down at some of Jordan's water points and
storage. They have recently sunk several boreholes, most of which were found by
consulting Geologists after Gary Jordan originally trained as a geologist,
surveyed his own property. They have had to drill down below sea level. There
is one which was found by a water diviner. Water is a growing imperative for
sustainable wine farming with rises in temperature. They plan not to use
permanent cover crops anymore as they take up too much water
Jacques Steyn, Jordan's viticulturist, tells us
about the vineyards, the current plantings and the future plans. They have
recently bought some hilltop land from neighbour Beau Joubert (which far has now
been sold to Johan Reyneke) and this will be planted with Chardonnay and
possibly some hot climate grapes like Grenache, Mourvedre and Tempranillo on
the new 20 plus hectares. They are also looking at planting Assyrtiko, a grape grown in
Greece (a first for South Africa) on the eastern windy slopes
A view of the farm from a drone owned by John Meinking
showing the new ground awaiting new vines. We heard the worrying facts and
figures of how the predicted 2 degree rise in temperatures worldwide caused by
global warning will affect the grapes that can be grown and the different way
that wine farming will have to change and adapt
A graphic of the changes in temperature is at the end of this blog
Jacques also told us about irrigation the temperature
difference on Jordan from the centre of Stellenbosch, they are much cooler and
they do benefit from breezes and mists coming from Table Bay. If it is 42
degrees C in Merriman Street in central Stellenbosch, they have 36 degrees C.
They are not affected by the South Easter. The forest above us in the picture
will be kept as a nature reserve for the local buck and other animals
John Meinking launching his drone
More people coming up the hill to join us
The drone in flight
Some later comers!
brought by Gary Jordan
Judy Brower of wine.co.za with a glass of refreshing chilled Jordan Chameleon rosé
made from 50% Merlot and 50% Shiraz full of juicy strawberries and cranberries.
We also tasted the newly released Jordan Riesling The Real McCoy, the grapes
for this wine come from Elgin
Gary Jordan
The drone hovers close to us to take a group
picture
The Stellenbosch Kloof by John
Kathy Jordan
Gary telling us the facts about global warming
And shows us samples of the two different layers
of granite on the farm
Vineyards in the heat
We tasted some newly harvested merlot grapes
Thea offers some to WOSA's CEO Siobhan Thompson
Then time to taste some of the newly harvested
grape juice from several different grapes and also some of the fermenting juices.
The flavours are incredibly intense, the sugar is high but you can see the
character of the wine to be coming through. Lynne joked that they could go into
the juice business as these were so wonderful to drink! The new Sauvignon blanc, on the nose, was full of nettles and cucumber with ripe figs and pyroxene, as it
should be. On the palate layers of white peaches. The Chardonnay juice also was
full of ripe golden peaches, apricots, litchi and some herbs with warm winter
melon. The fermenting Chenin Blanc had cat's pee and candy apple peaches on the
nose and lots of rich white peaches on the palate.
This is the fermenting merlot which was yeasty
cherry juice. Can't wait to taste it when it has finished fermenting
Then a short walk back to the transport for some,
and a long walk back down to the restaurant for others
We had a lovely gemütliche media lunch at a long
table under the trees on the deck of The Bakery
Superb breads, pesto, tapenade and aioli for
dipping were served with the cold gazpacho soup. This is what you too can eat
if you go to the Bakery at Jordan
Put The Bakery menu here
Lynne chose the fish of the day, which was butter
fried yellowtail, in a rich spicy garlicky tomato and fennel velouté, with
pillows of very light potato gnocchi, topped with spinach and grated parmesan.
One to repeat another time
John chose the sliced Chalmar sirloin beef topped
with pesto, semi roasted tomatoes, caramelised onion, parmesan cheese and fresh
rocket. We drank Jordan Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. And we finished
with cheese boards and a selection of the Bakery's amazing pastries including
the salted caramel chocolate tart
©
John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
