Two years ago, when we were developing our new ranges of labels, Dusty Road seemed an ideal brand name for our drink-now range. The uniqueness of the wines from Cloof lies partially in the extreme concentration of the reds; the product of bush vines producing, on average, a mere 4.5 tons per hectare. The conditions during summer are hot and dry, and there is no irrigation to boost the size of the crop (or to dilute the flavours of the wine). Gravel roads inevitably become dusty, and anyone who has visited Cloof can testify to the sometimes bumpy, but very definitely dusty 5km road by which one approaches the estate.

There are only four wineries in Darling – Cloof, Groote Post, Darling Cellars and Ormonde Vineyards. Following the declaration of Darling as a wine region in 2003 we formed ourselves into a loose marketing association that we call The Darling Wine Experience.

Joining the Cloof cellar team this year as winemaker’s assistant is Goliat Booysen, who goes by the nickname Gollie (the “g” is pronounced like the “j” in Rioja). Occupying the senior assistant’s role is Frederick Kalumpie, who is better known at Cloof as Bolle (as in the George Gregan-lookalike Springbok scrumhalf).

Chilling red wine is essential in summer – especially in South Africa! The ideal temperature for drinking red wines varies between 15 and 18 ºC, with mature reds at the upper end of this scale, and younger, fruitier wines (like Dusty Road) at the lower end.

Slower ripening last week (as a result of a couple of days of rain) allowed our cellar to just about recover from the first 190 tons of Pinotage that came into the cellar in the first 10 days of harvest. But after a very hot weekend we were faced with several blocks that were ready to be picked. We kicked off the week by bringing in the six tons of Shiraz for Crucible, and then immediately got stuck into the first lot of Cabernet. Merlot is being delivered from a neighbouring farm, and then we’ll start on our main Pinotage. We’re hoping that Shiraz doesn’t deluge us next week