Snooth Talk: South African Wines:

Wine Talk

: South African Wines:; Posted by Tariro, Mar 27.; The future of wine lies in sharing information amongst winos around the world. I am not a good writer by a mile but I want to give you some insight into the South African wine industry.

Firstly this year, 2009, we'll be celebrating 350 years of making wine in this country - so much for "New world wines" as we're well known.

I am winemaker at Nederburg Winery (since 2005) in Paarl, near Cape Town. Our cellar crushes 21 000 tonnes of grapes every vintage and I am responsible for making white and rose wine, about 8 000 tonnes.

I am from Zimbabwe originally and I came to South Africa in 1999 to study winemakig and 10 years later I can truly say I have my dream job - enough said!

2517 1746: Reply by Gregory Dal Piaz, Mar 27.; Welcome to Snooth Tariro!

I am a big fan of South African wines and am thrilled to have you here joining us.

Can I ask you how the vintage is going this year?

There will be lots of questions, I am sure.

I still have bottle of the 1978 Cabernet kicking around somewhere. Predating you by a bit. Have you had the chance to try it?

1 30: Reply by Tariro, Mar 27.; Harvest day 43. It has been a very long harvest this year but there's a lot to celebrate about. maybe a little too early to say but am willing to put my head on the bloc and say 2009 has been one of the best vintages we've had in the Cape for a long time.

Some experts are already comparing the vintage to 1998.

Early season was characterised by good acids, low pH and lower sugars with good ripeness. The indication early on was for greater things to come.

We continued to have relatively cooler days with cooler nights - ideal for optimum ripeness. The red grapes were coming into the cellar with excellent colour and good fruit. The white grapes, especially Sauvignon blanc had beautiful aromas.

1 30: Reply by Tariro, Mar 27.; Hi Greg

"78 is a Gem, made by Gunter Brozel! Good luck when you decide to open it some day.

The vintage has been very good. I am finished with most grapes and started with the Noble late harvest yesterday. Lots of botrytis I must say.

2517 1746: Reply by Gregory Dal Piaz, Mar 27.; Tariro, have you been keeping a harvest journal? That first post looks a lot like a journal entry. If you do have such a thing I would love to read it and it would make a great blog post which I would be happy to post here on Snooth's blog.

Just an idea!

1 30: Reply by Tariro, Mar 27.; An amateur one yes - it's one thing that kept me sane besides tasting the ferments.

Until now I have been writing the journal for my friends but am happy to share it.

I must say I am enjoying my time on Snooth - very informative and open.

2517 1746: Reply by Gregory Dal Piaz, Mar 27.; I am very glad to hear that! We are trying to build some place where everyone can come, learn, and share their love for wine.

If you wouldn't mind you can email me the journal at Gregory@snooth.com and I would be happy to format it for our blog. I am working with a few producers here and in Italy hoping to have their vintage updates and harvest journals added to the Snooth blog as their seasons get going in earnest. Yours would be our inaugural edition!

1 30: Reply by Tariro, Mar 27.; Started to rain in Paarl and surrounding winelands - first autumn rain bringing much relief.

As for the grapes this is good news for botrytis. I have always wondered how many people drink sweet desert wine with their cheese cakes, pudding etc.

1 30: Reply by Tariro, Mar 27.; Started to rain in Paarl and surrounding winelands - first autumn rain bringing much relief.

As for the grapes it's good news for botrytis.

I have always wonderedhow many people would drink sweet desert wine with their cheese cake, chocolate, pudding etc?

543 1246: Reply by mark, Mar 27.; The more wines I taste from Paarl the more I am impressed. I really enjoy the character. That reminds me, I should go follow the Paarl group...

http://www.snooth.com/region/south-africa/paarl/