Its time to get suckered

Spring is truly a fantastic season! There is nothing quite like the incredible burst of psychedelic neon green to announce the rebirth of life. It was this very phenomena that the ancient Celts attributed to the power of the pagan deity 'The Green Man' or spirit of the forest.
For wine farmers spring is the starting point of the new vintage and with it comes all the usual vineyard practices. For the past two weeks we have been suckering the vines. It is an extremely calming and therapeutic task but vital for the efficient production of top notch fruit.

The objective is simple and can be illustrated by the before and after photographs of a Chardonnay vine on shale soils:

1) Clear the vine's stem of any shoots by breaking them off by hand.

2) Thin out the arms by removing any shoots without grapes or which are not positioned on the spurs.

3) The result is that growth energy is focused only where it is needed and it also thins the canopy which increases aeration and helps prevent fungal diseases.

The best part about suckering the vines is that it gives one the opportunity to observe nature up close. Budding, blossoms, bees and fruit... everywhere and a lot of it. It might be to early to call but I have a sneaky suspicion we are in for a bumper crop (touch wood - we still have to wait for fruit set)

I have never seen as many olive blossoms since we planted our trees 7 years ago. Last season we cured enough olives to feed a small Italian village for at least a year and I think this season is going to be a major challenge. No wonder the clone we planted is called 'mission' because when it comes to picking, curing and bottling 40 olive trees worth of fruit - IT'S A MISSION. We would love to sell or give away fresh olives with the upcoming harvest - please mail us if you would like any.

There is also a heavy fig and almond crop. We never bet the figs to actually ripen properly - perhaps we should preserve them when they are small, hard and green (difficult to find the time) I love almonds! Karen goes to extraordinary lenghts to make the most delicious marzipan. Its so good we have actually planted another 8 almond trees.

Citrus blossoms have the most intoxicating fragrance imaginable and is in my opinion responsible for making the best honey. We have a bee hive in the eave of our farm house and I have no doubt the success of the almond fruit set this year was largely thanks to them. They are however too close for comfort having stung most of the family members up to and including the dogs. I just cant bring myself to get rid of them - perhaps someone can advise on a natural way of driving them away.

Muselet of the Month (September 2010)

Krug

Owners: LVMH (Moet Hennessy Loius Vuitton)

Established: 1843

Located: Reims, Champagne

Sales: 500 000 bottles

Exports: 83%

Delux Cuvees:Grand Cuvee, Rose NV, Clos du Mesnil, Clos d Ambonnay

One of the famous Champagne houses that formed part of the membership of the Grande Marques. Founded by Johann-Joseph Krug a German immigrant from Mainz. Henri Krug along with Eric Lebel are currently responsible for the wine making decisions. The house is now part of the global luxury brand conglomerate LVMH of which they are considered the crown jewel. The house style is very distinctive and easily recognisable due to the 100% barrel fermentation policy and extended lees aging. Rich, full, creamy, nutty and a certain oakiness are all very obvious characters.

The Greatness of 'Brand' Champagne (and Cap Classique)

Why does Champagne have such an irresistible allure? Personally I need no further justification other than that Champagne is quite simply the ultimate flavour sensation - a magical burst of elegance, finesse and complexity all in perfect harmony. This would naturally be far too subjective an opinion so lets examine more tangible reasons:

Champagne is universally synonymous with celebration, luxury and opulence. Much of this, no doubt, is the result of the cleverest and most sustained advertising campaign in the history of wine, but some of it, at least, is to do with the nature of the wine itself. Does Cap Classique have similar credentials?


Champagne first gained international attention for its association with the historical anointment of French kings in Reims. In South Africa Graham Beck Brut was served at the 1994 inauguration of Nelson Mandela and went on to claim international fame by being part of Barack Obama's inauguration festivities in 2009.

There is no better way to celebrate a victory than by cracking open a bottle of Bubbly! Napoleon summed it up perfectly " Champagne! In victory one deserves it, in defeat ones needs it" From the winners podium of F1 racing to the winning of most major sporting events the celebratory burst of Champagne is ever present and always essential.

Traditionally Champagne is used to launch and name ships, not forgetting the Christening of a baby. Its difficult imagining a bottle of Bordeaux breaking on the bow of ocean liner as it launches off the slipway.

No social celebration or party would be as much fun without Champagne - how many millions of New Years party count downs through the eons have culminated with the joyful burst of Champagne.

Champagne is one of the most powerful symbols of France's status as a producer of quality products. Champagne is without doubt a brand in itself. Winston Churchill recognised this so clearly when he said "Remember gentlemen, it is not just France we are fighting for, its Champagne!"

Millers (beer) use the catch phrase 'The Champagne of beers' which is similar to Appletizer's old slogan ' The Champagne of apple juice' The mere association with Champagne conjures up the unmistakable benchmark of quality.

One of the most long lasting associations between popular culture and Champagne belongs to James Bond. In a count of 22 films 34 references are made to the suave 007 agent drinking prestige cuvees 17 of which were Bollinger and 7 Dom Perignon.

When it comes to food there can be no more an opulent match than the finest Beluga caviar and Champagne both quintessential flavours fit for a king.

In essence Champagne is more than just a wonderful sparkling wine, it is a brand in itself and if you don't have Champagne then Cava, Sekt, Spumante and here in good old South Africa, Cap Classique are all worthy substitutes.

Understanding secondary fermentation

This week was extremely exciting (and very nerve racking) - we bottled 13000 bottles of Silverthorn Cap Classique under crown cap for secondary fermentation. What is secondary fermentation? Simply stated this is what sets Champagne style wines apart from all other wine types - it is the method by which the magical bubble is imparted into a still wine. Without getting too technical I will attempt, in point form and with visual support, to reveal some of the 'secrets' of secondary fermentation.


1) After harvesting, whole bunch pressing, primary fermentation, blending, stabilising and filtering the resulting product is referred to as a base wine. It has a very low alcohol content (10.5%) and very low sulphur (10mg/l FSO2) in order to ensure that the yeast can easily complete secondary fermentation in the bottle. The only form of preservative is the base wines naturally high acid and very low pH.

2) We then sugar up the base wine by adding 24g of sugar per liter. This formula is simple - 4g of sugar gives you 1 bar of pressure - we ideally want 6 bars of pressure.

3) We then make up a batch of strongly fermenting yeast over an extended period of 3 days (see image of bubbling yeast) The reason we take so long is to acclimatise the yeast to the alcohol content of 10.5% and to build up a massive population of active microscopic yeast cells.

4) On the day of bottling we thoroughly mix the brew of yeast into the sugared up base wine (see image of cloudy wine) and add yeast nutrition and a riddling agent (bentonite clay which helps settle the lees during the riddling process pre-degorging)

5) The bottling line needs to be specially prepared for the critical action of crown cap application. Due to the fact that we cant filter the base wine (it would remove the yeast) we have to sterilise and sanitise the machinery by steaming it for one hour (see image of steaming bottling jaws) The crown cap applicator needs to be accurately installed and set up.

6) A sparkling wine bottle has two important design features: firstly it has a very deep punt and thick walls to withstand the build up of 6 bars of pressure and secondly the lip design incorporates a rounded ridge which facilitates the application of a crown cap (see image of the gold crown cap securely crimped into place)

7) Once the wines have been bottled and sealed the next important step to consider is storage. The bottles need to be packed into bins lying horizontally (see image of wooden bins in a cool storage room)The bins need to be stored in a constantly cool (14 degrees Celsius) cellar. This is essential in order to ensure slow controlled secondary fermentation resulting in a fine bubble.

8) The minimum time Cap Classique has to legally spend on the lees is 9 months. This process of lees contact is the secret to developing complex rich biscuity flavours from the autolysis of yeast cells (they break up releasing flavour components like amino acids) The other positive benefit of time on the lees is to get gentle fine bubbles. Silverthorn The Green Man and Genie both spend an average of 28 months on the lees.

So quite simply secondary fermentation is the process by which yeast convert sugar into two products - alcohol (from 10.5% to 11.5%) and carbon dioxide (the bubble) Due to the crimped on crown cap the carbon dioxide cant escape and is naturally captured inside the bottle. It is through this incredible process that you as the consumer can enjoy the thrill of Bubbly.