Each year from January to March, the Bosman team comes alive with the excitement and rush of harvest.
Tending to the grapevines is a year-round process, but this is the time when the vineyards and winery at Bosman Family Vineyards bustle with workers racing to pick grapes at their peak ripeness. The entire Bovlei is filled with the wonderful smells of harvest.
The impact of loadshedding on harvest 2023
Normally winemakers have to be agile to manage unpredictable weather patterns and routine maintenance issues, but this harvest saw our winemakers literally doing flick flacks to cope with the added stress of loadshedding.
Although the cellars did have generators, the tricky transition between Eskom power going off and the generator kicking in mid-press or mid-pump over meant that the normal, natural processes in the cellar had to be micromanaged and fitted in between bouts of loadshedding to ensure the integrity of each process.
So, while winemakers know that long hours during harvest are part of the job, these issues meant even longer hours. "For the first time ever, we introduced a full-time night shift just to keep everything on track," explains chief winemaker Corlea Fourie. “It even trickled down to the vineyards where harvest teams had to wait for the power to come back on so that the presses could move the grapes through their paces before the next load arrived.”
And speaking of vineyards, while the vines are not irrigated as a rule, loadshedding did affect the supplementary irrigation that takes place when weather conditions are particularly harsh.
But this year, vineyards had to be irrigated in short, sharp cycles so much less water was applied. "Fortunately, we had a mild vintage with not much extreme heat," says Corlea, "and we received healthy berries with concentrated flavours. This says a lot about our vineyard management during the rest of the year, as the vines were obviously able to work harder and produce even better."
New things in the cellar
Drying Nero grapes
Consumers might already be familiar with the fact that we dry 2% of our Chenin grapes on racks originally used for drying apricots. (Remember, Wellington is the dried fruit capital of the South Africa!) This adds the tell-tale flavour and complexity to the Generation 8 Chenin Blanc.
"As Nero is our 'own grape' originally from Sicily and our answer to climate change, we are constantly looking for different ways to vinify the grapes to create a signature Nero wine for South Africa," says Corlea. "So, this vintage we decided to desiccate some Nero on racks as well, and experiment with adding it back into the wine to see how it impacts the end result. We’ll have to wait and see," she smiles.
Vermentino, a newcomer in the cellar
New in the tank is Vermentino, harvested for the first time this vintage from a young vineyard planted in the Bovlei.
This grape originates from Sardinia in Italy, so also a possible climate game-changer too. "We vinified a little bit of Vermentino last year and were bowled over by the delicious fruit flavours of this grape, so we are looking forward to tasting the outcome this year," says Corlea.
Bosman winemakers Corlea Fourie and Natasha Williams in the cellar.
Meet our harvest intern Katharina Staab
Every year we host a young person from Europe for a 'stage' in the cellar over the harvest. We love to get their input and we enjoy the interaction with someone who is as passionate about wine as we are, but whose wine experience is markedly different.
This year we welcomed Katharina Staab. While her job in Germany is in wine marketing, Katharina grew up on her family-owned wine farm where her father and brother continue the family tradition.
"I’ve never worked so hard in my life!" she gasps, "but I have loved the experience and getting to know the people and the culture."