De Grendel shares their Pinot Gris 2012, award winner at Pinot Gris De Monde 2013. De Grendel is the only wine producer from the Southern Hemisphere to win this coveted international award, which forms part of Les Grands Concours du mond.

Enjoy the Pinot Noir 2010 which was only one of six to achieve the award for Top 100 SA Wines this winter, with venison, slow-cooked lamb and braised beef.

Pinot Gris 2012

2012 Vintage
This year will be remembered for the extreme dry weather conditions. The average temperature was generally slightly higher, peaking with a heat wave between véraison (the onset of ripening) and picking in January. February, normally the scorcher, brought very mild, moderate conditions, reminiscent of a more European climate. We came prepared for the dry conditions though, relying on the supplementary irrigation on our farm and being very grateful for our close proximity to the ocean that protected our vines. This resulted in wines with intense fruit flavours. We introduced new technology in the vineyard to pinpoint water need per vine per block. Not only has our water use dropped by nearly 50% in the ripening season, optimum irrigation also resulted in a bigger crop of high quality.

Pinot Noir 2010

2010 Vintage
The 2010 vintage will be remembered for the fact that the crop in general in the South African Wine Industry was substantially smaller compared to the five previous vintages. Some areas experienced a drop in yield of as much as 30%. One of the main reasons is the gale force winds experienced in October during the flowering season. Having said all of this, at De Grendel, we experienced a yield of 30% bigger and the only logic behind that, is that we missed the worst of that wind during the flowering time.