Garage Winemaking in South Africa Less is More - Cape Wine ...

for him for one year until he could retire and tie everything up at home. That was
fifteen years ago!
The first few years I was here we continued delivering the Chenin Blanc to
Windmeul, but the years of neglect made it unviable. In 1997, with expert advice
from a viticulturist, we planted our own vineyard. We dug profile holes all over the
farm and got the soil analyzed. In the report we saw that the farm was predominantly
Oakleaf soil. This soil has a high degree of porosity and crumbles nicely with deep
ploughing. It does not re compact quickly and effective depth is easily achieved.
Drainage and water holding capacity is also favourable making the soil suitable for
the planting of late ripening red grape varietals. In 1997 I planted 10,000 Shiraz
vines and in 1998 I planted 6000 Cabernet Sauvignon vines. Red varietal vines were
difficult to obtain in those years because everyone was ripping up their Chenin Blanc
to plant red. Today there are many more choices of clones and various rootstocks to
match, as well as a better chance of getting virus free planting material. 7
In 2001 I had my first harvest of Shiraz after spending the previous year training
the vines onto a trellising system. Initially I had asked Cathy Marshall who was at
Ridgeback down the road to make my first vintage, but a week before harvest
thought why not try myself. I had finished all my Cape Wine Academy courses
through Diploma and had winemaking friends, so why not? Maybe I should have
used Cathy since her Ridgeback Shiraz from that year got five stars in John Platter,
but instead I made eight barrels of wine in a cool room on the farm myself.
Today I am the chief winemaker, viticulturist, tractor driver, marketer, and general
"Jill of all trades" at Black Pearl Vineyards and I make fifty five barrels of wine with
the exact same equipment and in the same hands on manner as I did that first year. I
have just moved from a cool room to a converted pig shed. I have now added a
Cabernet Sauvignon and a Shiraz/Cabernet blend to our line up giving us a mere
2000 cases of wine per vintage. Black Pearl Vineyards is unirrigated and the high
trellising system, severe pruning and canopy management are all managed to
ensure low-yielding, stress free, ripe fruit. On the adjoining land, a nature
conservation area has been set up to preserve the last 4% of remaining renosterveld
in the world. Being environmentally friendly is of utmost importance for us. Pest
control is monitored rather than spraying chemicals, and our spray program for
mildews uses chemicals with the least negative impact on the earth. I tend to the
vineyard year round and make sure only premium, healthy, phenolically ripe grapes
are delivered to the cellar door in March. The grapes are cooled before a gentle
crushing, open fermented in half ton lots, basket pressed, and put straight into barrel
where the wine matures for a year. The wine is further bottle matured for at least a
year before release. I feel we have a unique site and the goal is to bottle what comes
from the vineyard. Black Pearl Vineyard's aim is a limited edition, terroir driven wine
that is drinkable now as well as able to mature further in the bottle.
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