Leading Stellenbosch cellar Kleine Zalze Wines saw harvest 2024 commence two weeks earlier than per usual, despite last year’s unusually wet and cold Cape winter that had many thinking the slumbering dormant vines would be slow to waken and get their shoots, leaves, and berries on the grow.
But by the middle of January the bins were already off-loading Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for Kleine Zalze’s award-winning range of Cap Classique wines, with ripe Chenin Blanc and still-wine Chardonnay following a week later, and Sauvignon Blanc just starting to arrive at the crush-pad.
“The whole seasonal vine-cycle, in fact, was early,” says Kleine Zalze winemaker RJ Botha. “Bud-break commenced early August and the vines shot out of the blocks, slightly stalling in the last week of September’s abnormal rains. Spring was mild with keen vineyard growth, dense canopies development and veraison occurring apace.”
And then the dry, windy hot conditions came in December without any respite yet. “No rain to speak of since December. Add soaring temperatures continuously rising above 30°C and a relentless soil-drying south-easter, and it was a no-brainer that this would be an early harvest,” says Botha.
The wind and steep temperatures continue to dry-out the vineyard soils as harvesting of Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc continues, with one major literal green-shoot being the density of the vineyard canopies.
“Canopies are lush and verdant, and their vigour contributes to healthy ripe grapes as the canopies ensure energetic photosynthesis required to get the grapes into the cellar at the levels of quality expressing varietal character and the origin of their terroir. We are very pleased with the sugar to acid ratio, and pH levels are spot on in both our Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay grapes. The wines currently fermenting are showing vibrance, even in their early stages, and this is leading to great optimism for the rest of the harvest.”
Being later to ripen, Kleine Zalze’s red varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Grenache are still out on the vine, but pre-harvest samples are showing juiciness and purity of fruit.
A major feature of this year’s harvest, and one the entire Cape is experiencing, is a substantial drop in yields. “Plenty of bunches on the vines, but they appear to have been on some sort of weight-loss regime as they are light in mass,” says Botha. “Berries are small, bunches are compact, but what we lose in substance and volume we are gaining in concentrated flavour,” he says. “Like most vintages, there is always a yin to the yang. But the wine industry is totally dependent on the vagaries of nature which makes things unexpected, challenging, and exciting. That is wine and that is what we love about it.”