2014 Harvest starts at Rietvallei

After months of careful preparation of the vineyards, the 2014 harvest started with great expectations on the Rietvallei wine estate in the Robertson wine valley on Tuesday 28 January 2014. Rietvallei CEO and winemaker Kobus Burger is excited about the prospects of this year’s harvest.

“We are fortunate that our vineyards are well prepared for the season. The grape bunches are well formed and the vineyards overall healthy.

“We started with our Sauvignon Blanc grapes and the prospects are for a quality and healthy harvest. The yield is still a bit of an unknown factor but it also looks promising. At this early stage there is still a fair amount of acidity present but this is manageable and the upside of course is very low and healthy pH’s which bodes well for a good sauvignon  blanc year.

“On Rietvallei we had a great winter and resting period. There was ample rainfall and cold spells to give the vineyards the necessary rest and follow-up rains in November was welcome. The average rainfall for our area was almost 30% higher than long term average.

“We also had a cool spring and early summer giving the vineyards a slow start to the season but growth in the vineyards was good. Late rains in late December and January, we recorded almost 130 mm over a three day period, put additional pressure on our vineyard management because of threats of green botrytis and downey mildew. Fortunately we were able to prevent any major outbreak through our ongoing dusting and other management programmes.

“Although summer started a bit late, we experienced no damaging windy conditions which resulted in vigorous growth of the vines. The flower season did not experience unexpected heat waves or extremely windy conditions which could have harmed the setting of the bunches and berries. Rain in the pollination period did not affect us too badly and the crops look good.

“The determining climatic factors for a successful harvest season are no excessive heat or heavy rainfall during the ripening and harvest period. But we work with Mother Nature and have learned to deal with whatever she throws at us. When she plays along it just makes it a little easier to produce those exceptional wines we all strive for and I hope 2014 is one of them,” Kobus said.

“And now is the time of little sleep, early mornings and late nights in the vineyards and cellar and making the right decision on the exact time to harvest the different varietals and processing the grapes according to our usual methods to ensure another successful Rietvallei harvest.

Rietvallei wine state celebrates its 150 anniversary this year.