The most exciting time in the Cape Winelands has arrived with the 2025 harvest kicking off across the various growing areas. It is such a time of energy and enthusiasm and while the vineyard and winemaking teams are used to early mornings and long days, it seems even those on the experience and hospitality side of our wine farms are gearing up for tourism-related harvest activities.
Remember those days when grape stomping competitions were a regular activity during harvest time?
The South African wine tourism offering has come a long way since then and even though you might still manage to get your feet dirty here and there, wineries have developed an interesting offering of experiences focused on all that makes this season so special. A variety of harvest experiences, events and festivals invite tourists to learn more about winemaking, to taste anything from the ripe grapes to the fermenting juice (must) and the popular seasonal mosbolletjie bake, of course. Inviting visitors into the vineyards and cellars, harvest experiences give wine tourism a unique opportunity to tick the authenticity tourism trend.
According to a recent article in Meininger's, SA wine tourism is doing an exceptional job at keeping it real and inclusive, while making an important contribution to the GDP as well as job creation.
At La Motte in the Franschhoek Valley, a Harvest Experience invites guests to be part of the special harvest-time joys, sharing in the blessing of having a harvest, the summer beauty of the Franschhoek Valley and the passions of the La Motte family.
The recently opened L'Ami Family Brasserie has a harvest-inspired selection of small plates that form part of the Harvest Experience and guests can choose between Winelands favourites and summer tastes such as a Farm sausage with homemade grape blatjang and mustard, Cape Malay Hake Samoosas with a grape salsa or Almond Gazpacho with grapes and herbs.
The La Motte Bakery is also renowned for the most marvellous mosbolletjies! This seasonal brioche-type bread baked with a sweet sourdough culture, using fermenting grape juice (must/mos) as a rising agent, is one of the highlights of a visit to the estate’s bakery during February and March, but don’t miss out on a grape ciabatta, focaccia or even a delightful pizza-style brioche filled with cream cheese and grapes!
Other than content visitors, what else can we expect from the 2025 wine grape harvest?
La Motte cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche says: "The vineyards love a cold and wet winter and that's what they got. Then we had a relatively cool and dry start to summer, so the grapes are healthy and with a slightly lighter load expected, we anticipate exceptional quality."
The post-harvest conditions in 2024 were quite favourable with warm conditions keeping plants active a little longer, a cold winter for proper dormancy and plenty of rain to replenish ground water and reservoir levels. Spring was cool with late flowering, except for exceptional heat just before Christmas and then again late January. Early summer was quite cool and dry, resulting in slightly delayed véraison, but healthy grapes. While predicted to be smaller than the average SA harvest, the 2025 crop is expected to be bigger than in 2024 and similar to 2023. With ageing vineyards and less areas under vine, the smaller harvest volumes are to be expected, but it can be positive for quality.
Next-door neighbour, Leopard's Leap, has a varied portfolio of wines that are exported all over the world and have the difficult task of embracing the uniqueness of the season while staying true to the style expectations of consumers.
Winemaker Renier van Deventer says: "With our grapes coming from various growing areas, we are about 10 days later than last year. It was worth the wait though, as the quality is very promising with beautiful flavours in the vineyards – especially for Sauvignon Blanc. Yield seems lower again, especially on Chenin Blanc. It is still a little early to say too much about the red varieties, although I am expecting great things! The Pinot Noir we have harvested already also has me excited.”
Regardless of whether you are interested in the effect of the vintage conditions on the 2025 wine grape harvest or just enjoy the energy of this special time in the Boland, make sure to plan a visit before the end of March when most harvest activities are starting to wind down.
