As February drew to a close, we noticeably experienced the days becoming shorter – harvesting at 6 o’clock and the sun is nowhere to be seen yet. With our Pinotage, Chenin Blanc and Shiraz safely in the cellar, we are still waiting on the Cabernet Sauvignon, his friend Cabernet Franc and the Malbec. 

Hopefully we will be spared from another heatwave this month, sparing the remaining grapes on the vines from being burnt. Overall, the yielded volumes are better than last year, and the quality of the fruit is good. 

The cellar is filled with the smell of fermenting Rosé and Chenin Blanc, aromas of pear, pineapple and red berries waft in the air as you walk past the tanks. In the barrel cellar, barrels are filled with 2025 Pinotage to makes space in our fermentation tanks for the next batch of newly pressed wines to settle. 

Our 2025 vintage of The Clockmaker, our Old Vine Chenin Blanc currently halfway through its fermentation, is still peacefully bubbling away in 400L French Oak barrels. It is the first sound you hear when you enter the cellar in the morning – the steady murmur of the carbon dioxide releasing through the airlock vents atop each of the barrels. 

The harvest season is slowly coming to an end here on the farm, which entails us shifting our focus to preparing some of our 2024 wines for bottling. After yielding their fruit, we are also working on giving back to the vineyards, getting plans in place for post-harvest irrigation and incorporating some fertilizer into the soil, before the vines shut down for their well-deserved winter rest.