Archive for the ‘The Winemaker’s comments!’ Category

Recently I was contacted in search of clarity on the subject of wine and music !

I think there is a very strong correlation between wine and music.   I have for ten years been promoting music concerts in the barrel cellar of our winery .  In fact tonight we will enjoy a twenty voice choir with the Cape Town Welsh Male voice choir singing in our cellar. The demand from the supporter audience is fantastic with all tickets being sold out !

Our cellar always has classical music playing in it.
Personally, as a winemaker, I enjoy singing and have at times resorted to singing purposefully during difficult emotional times. Wine making ability is totally entwined with ones emotions. A winemaker will not manage to be successful in the cellar if his personal happiness is not firmly in place.

It is this link with music which plays an empirical link between winemaking and music.  Does wine benefit from music directly?   This would always be subjective, but I have my doubts.    Reality points to the passionate winemaker using music as an aid or elixir in his drive to remain happy and focussed on the job at hand !

The personalities of winemakers, musicians and other creative perfectionists are closely linked and passion remains integral to their performance .

Music needs to be part of the completing the correct environment within the wine cellar !

Below some images of our most recent music evenings arranged by the Hermanus Music Society.

Standing tall, Peter Finlayson’s facial expression is that of a child in awe and wonder.  A rather incongruent image: a small pot plant in the large hand, as Peter trickles a few water droplets over the reddish soil every second day or so.

At first I wondered who had placed two sticks in a pot and expected them to grow, but when on numerous occasions Peter visited the small plant in our office, I realized that this was no ordinary plant.  The baby Baobab tree, also known as the ‘tree of life’, was left to awaken from dormancy and in late October the very first small green leaf became visible and then delicate attention was given to the plant.

A long leaf blade, expanding and finally reaching an astonishing dimension for the small stem and root space in the pot, was a gift from a friend of Peters.  It was to be a test whether Peter could prove that he truly has ‘green fingers’ and does not only see success when it comes to working with Vitis vinifera. Read the rest of this entry »

Join us for the first of the interactive tutored tastings for 2012 at Bouchard Finlayson!

The subject of the first tasting will be ‘older Chardonnays‘ – an opportunity not to be missed,  as knowledge is shared and this cultivar explored as it comes to its own with time in the bottle!  This first tasting will be offered by the winemaker himself, Peter Finlayson.

When: Saturday the 11th February at 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Where: In the barrel cellar at Bouchard Finlayson winery, Hemel-en-Aarde Rd/ R320, Hermanus

Wines: There will be a variety of about eight wines of which some will be Bouchard Finlayson as well as one or two international examples.

There is space for only 20 guests, thus please r.s.v.p. soonest in order to secure your seat in this interactive tasting, which will be free of charge.

Join us this year to taste your favourite cultivar – tastings will be conducted by either Peter Finlayson himself, by our Assistant Winemaker, Chris Albrecht, or by myself.

Few grape varieties evoke as much reaction as Pinot noir. It is claimed to be the most terroir driven cultivar of all. It has even been accused of having none of its own flavour characteristics—“Its flavours are all the result of where it is grown.”

Pinot noir and cool climate viticulture go hand in hand. Certain countries seem to be more favoured but as ever with Pinot local specifics rule, world famous wines remain scarce.  Some claim that Pinot needs to have its roots in limestone-this is the favourable terroir in Burgundy. Instinct tells me that it is the porosity of limestone, which favours rapid decline in soil moisture, which benefits Pinot in Burgundy. Success with Pinot in Walker Bay has been on clay rich Malmesbury Shale soils. These allowing for added acidity and fuller body in the wines. The clays are perhaps in their own right ameliorating through their complex soil chemistry and shallow soil profiles, which limit the root zone and thereby limit vigour.  Another great wonder of Pinot noir is the absence of consensus surrounding modus operandi amongst winemakers. With over seven hundred years of history there still remains disparity amongst Burgundian winemakers concerning preferred winemaking tactics. Experience has to be of enormous benefit here. Is Pinot noir not a white wine variety, which only makes reds under special conditions? Such growing conditions are seldom practiced in the new world point to the need for high-density plantings. A practice which allows for low cropping levels on individual wines, a valuable practice which always favours the quality potential in the vineyard. Perhaps the greatest contentment and excitement in winemaking is the down right honesty there-of.

Wines express what they are; they reflect all mans input, which is converted into emotion, sensuality and finally passion. There is no other grape, which provokes more passion.

The opportunity to join a Wines of South Africa tutored visit to the Far East in June was grasped with enthusiasm!

This trip took the form of three wine seminars; these were presented in, Seoul, Hong Kong and in Guangzhou in the Chinese province of Guangdong.  The theme of my presentation surrounded Chardonnay in South Africa!  All three seminars enjoyed strong support and were well attended. Perhaps a particular feature at the first seminar in Seoul was the extraordinary skill of the interpreter who managed to juggle long sentences in English and convert them without missing a beat.   Our time in South Korea was short but I came away with a refreshing respect for this remarkable country. It is an interesting place, extremely neat and tidy, high quality of living and potentially an excellent market. South Korea also enjoys the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in Asia.  They have a brand of local alcoholic beverage where nine million bottles are consumed every day!
The market is very French wine orientated and as with Asia generally, red wines eclipse white wine by a factor of four!

Hong Kong is a magic place; it is an architectural Disneyland with an awesome bold mosaic of building skyline, enough too boggle the mind in its splendor!
This is the gateway to Chinese money; it is where the flash and wealthy spend on collector’s names in the wine world!   All the major wine auction houses from Sotheby’s to Zach’s hold weekly auctions of icon French wine labels.  The recent removal of all taxation of wine into Hong Kong has also brought a migration of marketers to this city. Our BF label should hopefully be available in the HK market before the end of the year. As soon as we ship our first wines to Hong Kong we will provide contact details to supporters as to how to find our wines in this market!

I spent more than half my travelling time in the province of Guangdong in southern China.    Comment received everywhere in China is that there is currently a cultural swing towards natural wine with a departure from traditional Cognac and rice wine.  There are 160 million people in Guangdong province with 17 million people in the city of Guangzhou. Guangzhou enjoys a skyline similar to NY but this city is only 30 years old.  The Chinese market centers around gifts and celebration, such as weddings and Chinese New Year. Weddings are never short of 1000 people and face is important. Even the poor folk need to splash out on occasion which means there is a very wide field of sales opportunity. Currently the market is besieged by cheap red wine converted into high price by importers.   Tax on wine is 48%, which makes top wines expensive!    Fifty percent of all wine sold in China is sold in Guangdong province which makes it logical to focus primarily on this industrial hub close to HK.
The approach to celebrating with alcohol in China takes some understanding; it is different to western culture.  There is no shame in getting “smashed” and drunken people are not considered responsible for the actions, convenient, and sympathetically excused.  Toasting is a hazardous event where the action of “Gumby” requires the glass to be emptied in one swallow, failing to do so is considered an affront to your host.
There is a hunger for wine knowledge and growth in wine education is to become a vital part of market development in the East. At this point the consumers are being fleeced with inferior wines masquerading as honourable efforts.  Wine “taste” training and improvement of quality profiling is considered to be the awaiting evolution in wine appreciation.
I was treated royally by Ocean Bridge wine importers and after the three day wine exhibition in Guangzhou they produced two food pairing tasting events, one at the Ramada Hotel and the second at the Sheraton in Shunde. These were lavish displays of up market support for our label.   The Sheraton event took place shortly before my departure on Thursday evening and key members of staff attended it from the hotel, including the general manager.  On departure I was honoured with an invitation to be a guest at the hotel when I returned to the area.
Essentially the Chinese people are very friendly, charming and eager to please. The hotels are impressive, wonderfully lavish and inexpensive. The food was first class and I never experienced any health problems. There was a high level of efficiency in all spheres of life.
On the down side the lack of animal life really struck me, particularly our avian friends?   Then the driving was almost amusing by its contrast. Perhaps as a result of a high proportion of first generation drivers!

The bottom line is that the Far East does have money and the people are aspiring to western lifestyle and culture. Wine is part of this but the rest of the worlds wine producers are savvy to this situation so it is going to require continued effort and support for these markets to make them succeed!

Vintage 2011 has commenced ( 7th Feb 2011)

Timing has been of the essence and this year with Pinot noir being the first grapes to the cellar!  My analogy for 2011 is that of sailing a racing yacht in ever changing strong winds and turbulent seas. All manner of tricky weather and opportunistic bugs have been waiting in the wings to upstage this event. Hopefully the weather will now give us a break and offer the chance to cut clean and fast through the next three weeks. At this point we are enjoying excellent prospects and now running with our spinnaker at full sail. Lets hope it stays that way!