Avontuur Estate winemaker Jan van Rooyen sums up the harvest to date in one short sentence: normal and a bit peculiar!
“In general there are no complaints from our side about the state of the grapes. They are good quality without any pests or fungi and there were no specific upsets. But then you suddenly have a substantially lower yield on the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir ripened before any of the whites whilst producing a higher yield than last year, which was a little different from past vintages.”
With the completion of the white grape harvest on 21 February, which is quite a bit earlier than last year’s 2nd of March end date, there are a few weird and wonderful tweaks to this year’s harvest, but nothing which particularly worries van Rooyen.
“I am excited about the harvest to date and some of the grapes like the single vineyard Pinotage block just keeps on improving every year, which really makes my job easier when it comes to cellar practices. The Sauvignon Blanc came in perfectly and on time, the Viognier will be used for improving some of the other wines and to add complexity where needed, and overall I look forward to the next few weeks,” he commented.
In the meantime the harvest and cellar teams are 100% committed to producing the best wines for the 2019 vintage and we look forward to the first releases in late April if all goes well.
