28 October 2005
In yesterday’s Business Day, Michael Fridjhon made use of his weekly column to report on the use of commercial yeasts. He correctly makes the point that all commercial yeasts are naturally occurring; it’s just that these are isolated and then commercialised. The benefit is that they remove the risk of bacterial spoilage while the winemaker is waiting for the wild yeasts to start working.

The vineyards are generally looking healthy. New growth in some vineyards is vigorous, with others lagging a little behind. There are two important jobs being done in the vineyards at the moment.

23 August 2005
Good rains have fallen at Cloof at regular intervals since April, which is a big relief after two dry winters. Our vineyards are not irrigated, which means that the vines rely on moisture retained in the soil to see them through the summer. As a result of drought these reserves were at critical levels towards the end of summer (several of our bore holes actually dried up).

Almost exactly two years ago we released the first Cloof Cellar Blend – an outrageously concentrated wine made up of the bits and pieces of press wine randomly collected by our cellar hands. Following the success of this wine, especially in Germany, we produced a successor in 2004. It has now spent the requisite 12 months in French Oak (at least 25% new), was bottled last week, and will be available for sale from 16 June.

Wine people like to associate an estate with a flagship – usually its most esteemed or awarded wine. In the case of Cloof, this was traditionally our Pinotage, on the basis of being crowned South Africa's Champion Pinotage in 2001. We do agree that Block 16 (planted in 1976) from which we make the Cloof Pinotage does give a wonderfully concentrated, and yet elegant wine.