Grape

A silly question, travelling, Spartacus and the vine 7 June 2006

Martin Moore after the harvest

Silly question: So what do winemakers do after the harvest? Even today there are still people who think once we have cleaned the cellar we close the door and relax until the next vintage. The truth is that there is still a lot to do after the last grapes have been crushed. Quite soon we have to start cleaning the whites, blending them, stabilizing them and bottling them. The young reds we help through malolactic fermentation and then to get into the barrel. To do the latter we first have to take the reds of the previous vintage out of the barrels, blend them and ready them for the market. Planning and review sessions are held with our producers and before you know it we are already getting ready for the next harvest. And so the cycle continues.

It is also during this ‘quiet time’ that a winemaker has to get out of the cellar and in amongst the trade and the consumers to hear what they have to say about our wines, to hear where they think we do well and where we can do better. For in the end, we make wine for people to drink and not for entering competitions. It is pointless producing brilliant wines nobody wants to drink (I tasted a beautifully structured Italian wine the other night that tasted of burnt hair. I gave up after the first mouthful.)

These consumer preferences influence much more than what we do in the cellar. It also determines what we plant, how we prune, even what trellising we use and how we manipulate the leaf canopy over the grapes. Doing all this has only one purpose: to move closer and closer to producing that perfect wine that will blow your socks off, as the kids say.

New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Newport, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Nelspruit, Lydenburg….
I must admit that jumping out of the way of hooting taxi’s in New York, listening to the blues in Chicago, visiting Napa and Sonoma in California in between wine shows and trade visits in San Francisco, Newport and Los Angeles, before getting off a plane at midnight in lovely San Antonio with the mercury at 40ºC and then to be dodging wild animals on dirt roads in and around the Kruger National park can be quite disorientating. (Yes, I crammed all of that into one sentence on purpose.)

I was in the US talking to the trade and talking to consumers. Once again I was overwhelmed by the sheer size and complexity of this market, by the enormous interest in South African wines and the keenness of wine shops and restaurants to do business.

From the hurly-burly of the US I carried straight on to the noisy silence of the Lowveld. What a contrast sitting at night out on the stoep of a Bushveld lodge with only the frogs and the crickets to keep you company. And the mosquitoes, of course. (Somebody said the good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose, but that mosquitoes come close.) We must have some of the best lodges in the world, offering every possible convenience but without in any way compromising the unique attraction of the bush. I found these perfect places to enjoy good wine with good company, where everyone is relaxed and keen to savour the very best wines South Africa can offer (amongst them, I humbly report, also those of Durbanville Hills).

Spartacus and the vine
It’s that time of the year when we start pruning the vineyards just before the vines enter their winter hibernation. It was while this was on my mind that I came across the story of Spartacus. You know how it is – you page through a book, your eye falls on something that grabs you and off you go. I am too young to have seen the blockbuster movie of that name from the ‘sixties – yes, I know I don’t look it – but somehow the name stuck in my mind. Spartacus and his army of slaves terrorised the mighty Roman Empire in the first century BCE. He must have been quite a remarkable and a highly charismatic leader – within two years of his escaping with fewer than 80 fellow gladiators from a camp near Capua his army of slaves grew to almost 90 000 before the final battle.

In the two years prior to that, there were many skirmishes, minor battles and narrow escapes. Once a Roman army cornered him in a mountainous area to which they controlled the only entrance. Spartacus and his men were trapped on the mountain. On all side cliffs dropped perilously into the valley below. But growing on the mountain top were a great many vines. From the long, strong shoots the men plaited ropes and ladders and in the quiet hours of the night slid down to safety, made their way around the mountain and attacked the Romans from the rear, with disastrous results for the latter.

The moral of the story? There isn’t one really (he says lamely), except to say there’s obviously more than one way the vine can save your life!

• This contribution is extracted from the Durbanville Hills May newsletter. For the full newsletter, and previous ones, go to the Durbanville Hills website.