1 February 2005

Harvest has now been underway for two weeks, during which time we’ve brought in all our Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay, and most of our Pinotage. This leaves us with a little breather until Monday, when we’ll pick the last of the Pinotage (primarily Block 16, which usually provides the fruit for the Cloof Pinotage).

The link with Burghers Post (see the Cloof Life section of our website for further details of this) has been beneficial because we’ve had additional pickers at crunch times. Consequently there isn’t much variation between the first batches and the last ones, which can happen if temperatures are running into the high 30s (that’s Celsius!) and a block takes a week to be harvested.

As a result of newly-installed technology we now have computerised control over fermentation temperatures in individual tanks, which will also have a significant impact on quality.

Next week we’ll start with Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon will close off the harvest at some point in the next three weeks.