Harvest has been
in full swing at Stonewall since the 17th January, and like
everywhere else this year it is early. At the end of February there is just the
Cabernet Franc, Shiraz, an unusually late Merlot and then the Cabernet
Sauvignon to go, maybe another fortnight. Most of owner and winemaker De Waal
Koch’s crop has gone to Distell, as it has for some decades, but De Waal has
his own label for the remaining 10per cent. Stonewall is not small at some 70
hectares, but makes only around 3-4,000 cases a year, in the original 1828
built cellar and the original open cement fermenters.
This year, the
dry heat has meant that what was already a low yield will be a jaw-dropping 3
tons per hectare. That means he will produce around 900 cases. In total.
The vines looked
desperate to be rid of even this paltry amount. The leaves were exhausted,
shrivelled and yellowing. What you might see at the end of Autumn, not the
evening of harvest. The sandy soil looks like it hasn’t rained since Noah. The
berries though, looked splendid. Very small, the Cabernet Franc was the size of
garden peas and De Waal says the Cabernet Sauvignon looks, “very good, tannins
will be exceptional”.
De Waal, as you
would expect in a family winery, keeps things simple. Sorting is largely done
in the vineyard. Leon, Nicklaas and Francois were like machines among the
vines, knowing instantly what to select and what to reject. “Any disease this
year?” I asked Leon, he shook his head, not distracted for a second. I pointed to some bush vines with some age to
them, Leon frowned, obviously with memories of the difficulty of harvesting them.
I renewed my admiration for the pickers, more than 20 have been starting at 6
am on pick days and in sticky, scratchy and flesh-nipping heat I knew I would
be useless at it; I wouldn’t be able to move anyway, not with mattresses around
my legs for the Geelslang.
Berries for reds
are de-stemmed and pressed and piped into open vats then left to macerate for
10 days or so. Manual punch downs occur three times a day, ferment is between
25 and 30°C and then to French oak – 40% new – for 18 months. One racking, filtering
but no fining and then to the mobile bottling plant. Chardonnay goes into steel
then oak, but “I don’t allow Malolactic for my Chardonnay, it doesn’t need it”.
There is no Chenin, “why not?” I asked
Paulette, De Waal’s wife, “De Waal doesn’t want to, nor Pinotage, and our
Shiraz goes to Distell and I like Shiraz”. This year De Waal is not making Chardonnay either. His Belgium, German and Dutch importers vary
in their demand, this year especially so, and as a small producer, De Waal has
to think of the bottom line. “We’ve got good stocks in the barn anyway”, says
De Waal.
As Francois
directed the pulp into the receiving vat, a fat frog slowly hopped past, within
a metre of us. “He’s always here, we put him out yesterday and he came straight
back in, he likes the cool and the insects”, said De Waal. He was so close and
unbothered by us I wondered if it was the company he liked. He sat quite
happily on a pipe as winemaking continued around him.
Stonewall and
its beautiful Cape Dutch buildings has been this family’s farm since 1873 and
family is much in evidence. Their son, also De Waal, farms in the Free State
and arranged his holiday so that his visit would coincide with harvest and
their married daughters keep a close association with the farm they love and
its wine; one attempting a maiden vintage Chardonnay MCC and the other making a
barrel of Cabernet of their own. Everything other than winemaking seems to be
wonderfully casual. “I really must do some marketing of our wines”, says
Paulette. Usually exports take nearly all, but this is not reliable. De Waal
says the same, “we should do more to sell our wines”. No cellar door, very few
outlets and no web-site, ‘Ah, one is coming”, she says. De Waal and Paulette make wines their terroir
gives them and that they like, when they like, hardly a universal marketing
proposition.
The wines
themselves are unfussy and there are only five wines in the range (four if you
discount the scrumptious fortified Merlot ). The
Chardonnay is the biggest nod to the New World, being rich, full and oaky but
it is more cool stone fruit than tropical. It is a sumptuous and satisfying
wine and one whose price left me agog at their sales strategy. R40. With 40%
new French oak, 6 ton per hectare yield and more than a year in barrel!
The Ruber a
blend of Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon with Merlot is the easiest to enjoy. The
2010 is softer and silkier (Merlot led this time) than the 2012 and offers
mulberry spice with dry hedgerow fruit edge. It is European in style, with backbone
and length rather than explosion.
Surely the
Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon, being seriously refined and structured, with
similar treatments and yield and providing sappy, vibrant savoury plum notes
fit to improve over the next ten years would be more expensive. De Waal looks
embarrassed. “Well, we haven’t increased their price…..since 1997”. Last evening the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon went
very nicely with beef sausages, and I realised the sausages cost almost the
same as the wine.