Posts Tagged ‘Sauvignon blanc’

Harvest Interns from the Overberg at Bouchard Finlayson's "boerewors braai"

A pre-harvest gathering was held for interns from neighbouring wine farms and other farms in the Walker Bay wine district.

Young, inspired winemakers from all over the world came together over a glass of Blanc de Mer 2011 and a “boerewors braai” (sausage barbecue) at Bouchard Finlayson on Monday, the 6th February, to celebrate their paths and experiences in the wine industry and to share their experiences with one another.

As stories of faraway home towns such as France, Argentina, Germany, Chile and US were shared over a glass of Sauvignon blanc on the lawn beneath the cellar, the thunder could be heard in the distance and finally, as the last guests were about to leave,  there was a show of lightening bolts all around the cellar. A magical evening where thoughts about terroir, viticulture and oenology were exchanged and the interns once more inspired for the hard work which lies ahead in the next month or so!

Winemakers and Assitant winemakers, who attended the barbecue at BF

Last week started with Sauvignon blanc – as the harvest team cut fast through our block 12 (11000 vines), we busied ourselves with the Sauvignon, which came in on Saturday last week (19.02.2011). It was left to cold macerate – meaning it had skin contact time for about 24 hours – in order to increase the natural grape aroma and first thing the next morning it was taken out of the tank and pumped into the press:

Whilst waiting for the juice to drain from the horizontal tank, the aroma of granny smith apples, green beans and green fig permeated the air around the tank and made the job of the person shoveling the grape skins into the bin (which pumps the must into the press from the inside of the tank) a most pleasant task.

The bin which stands outside the tank, is connected to the press with a thick pipe, which makes for a humorous spectacle when we need to connect this pipe to the press – enough to make us all break out into a bursts of giggles each time we try to maneuver this pipe to fit it tightly onto the press intake.

One could perhaps imagine it best when thinking back to the movie “Anaconda” – battling with this heavy grey species of snake, where every step feels like a thousand and during the battle one must try to avoid the tail end from squashing one against the cellar walls.

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