Experience The Essence of Harvest 2024
A feature of harvest 2024 in the Cape Winelands was an early season, resulting in vibrant, eager vineyard growth during spring and some warm conditions in December and January. And while our harvest teams were already hand-picking grapes from our younger Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines on 7 February – some ten days earlier than usual – the more mature vineyards ripened as per our regular schedule. It has been a harvest of diverse conditions: warm at times, cool and crisp during others, and with a smattering of light drizzle thrown in to freshen things up.
While yields are slightly down, Andries Burger and his team see the prospect of superb quality in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the current vintage in the cellar. These are early days, yet as the wines ferment slowly – we use only spontaneous fermentation – in the various vessels of foudre, barrel and concrete eggs. But there is a discernible structure and definite refined nuances, laying the foundations for beautiful varietal expression, with crunchy cherry and violet character in the Pinot Noir and layers of citrus and white flower in the Chardonnay.
Harvest will continue into the week of 11 March, and then the process of laying down all the wines begins. This enables Paul Clüver to assess the state of Vintage 2024, which at this stage looks exceptional.