Making rosé is a little like getting dressed in the dark. Until the wine is fined, filtered and ready for bottling, one is never entirely certain of the degree of pink that has been achieved. There is even a story told of a winemaker who famously discovered a white wine in his tanks after the final filtration of wine that had been visibly pink until that point!

We’re delighted to announce the launch of Cloof Bush Vines CPS 2004 – the Cloof blend. Whereas the entry level Dusty Road, and our reserve Cloof, ranges comprise several (varietal) wines, the Bush Vines range will in future only consist of this one, blended wine. Apart from the fact that blending has the potential to create more interesting and better balanced wines, this is a wine that brings together the pillars upon which Cloof is built:

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).