A long last post for the week. It involves big concepts that are very important to Nikey, our wine maker and we wanted to involve you in the wine making process a little. We are going to talk fermentation and processes that make our wines so easy to drink. Have a read and hopefully this post will give you something to talk about at dinner soon.

Malolactic fermentation is commonly referred to as “MLF”, or (in winemaker’s speak as) “malo” (pronounced ma-low). MLF usually occurs shortly after the end of the primary fermentation (when the grape sugar is converted to alcohol by yeast). It is undertaken by the family of lactic acid bacteria (LAB); Oenococcus oeni, and various species of Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. The primary function of all these bacteria is to convert one of the two major grape acids found in wine called L- malic acid, to another type of acid, L+lactic acid. This conversion is accompanied by the production of carbon dioxide (so hence the term, fermentation).

Wines that typically undergo, and are improved by MLF, are the full-bodied dry whites and medium to full bodied dry reds. But it must be stressed that not all wines benefit from MLF. Malolactic fermentation tends to create a rounder, fuller mouthfeel. It has been said that malic acid tastes of green apples – indeed, malic comes from the Latin word for apple, mālum, and is present in apple juice – and this can be tasted in the wine. By contrast, lactic acid is richer, even unctuous, and more buttery tasting – corresponding to its presence in milk, as reflected in the word lactic being derived from the Latin word for milk, lac, and it is present in sour milk.

In addition lactic acid has a mouthfeel “softness” about it in comparison to the oft described “hard” and “metallic edged” malic acid. In short, MLF results in a natural de- acidification and softening of the wine’s palate. Grapes produced in cool regions tend to be high in acidity much of which comes from the contribution of malic acid. For wines produced from such grapes, de-acidification via MLF is particularly useful as it results in a more balanced and palatable wine.

There is also a major practical reason why MLF is encouraged during the making of many wines, and in particular reds wines that have previously undergone malo in tank or barrel are far less likely to go through malo when in bottle. The onset of MLF in the bottle is disastrous as the wine will appear to the consumer to still be fermenting (as a result of CO2 being produced). The wine may also lose its fruit integrity and take on the unpleasant lactic aroma of cured meats.

Malolactic conversion is accomplished by lactic acid bacteria (such as Oenococcus oeni), which consume malic acid to liberate energy. This can occur naturally. However, in commercial wine making, malolactic conversion typically is initiated by an inoculation of desirable bacteria.

So next time you have that amazing “mouthfeel” on our Chardonnay, malolactic fermentation is the reason behind it.

Next, onto Carbonic Maceration, which is something Nikey is quite passionate about.

Carbonic maceration is a winemaking technique, often associated with the French wine region of Beaujolais, in which whole grapes are fermented in a carbon dioxide rich environment prior to crushing. Conventional alcoholic fermentation involves crushing the grapes to free the juice and pulp from the skin with yeasts serving as a catalyst in converting sugar into ethanol. Carbonic maceration ferments most of the juice while it is still inside the grape, although grapes at the bottom of the vessel are crushed by gravity and undergo conventional fermentation. The resulting wine is fruity with very low tannins. It is ready to drink quickly but lacks the structure for long-term aging.

During carbonic maceration, an anaerobic environment is created by pumping carbon dioxide into a sealed container filled with whole grape clusters. The carbon dioxide gas permeates through the grape skins and begins to stimulate fermentation at an intracellular level. The entire process takes place inside each single, intact berry. Ethanol is produced as a by-product of this process but studies have shown that other unique chemical reactions take place that have a distinctive effect on the wine.

Flavor compounds derived from volatile phenols like benzaldehyde, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl vanillate, methyl vanillate and vinylbenzene emerge and are emphasized in the fruity flavors commonly associated with wines produced from carbonic maceration-like banana and kirsch notes. While the levels of harsh malic acid in the grape is decreased by 50%, the overall pH level increases by about 0.25 units. The glycerol levels are increased ten folds and the grapes juices gain about 2% in potential alcoholic strength. The resulting wine is generally fruitier, with brighter coloring and less tannins than conventionally produced wines.

Did you get all of that? I hope so, because Nikey will be asking questions when you come to visit us on the farm, but please, make an appointment as this time of the year is just crazy.

We haven’t managed to get to the barrels this week, but be sure to check in on Monday for that.

A perennial herb growing up to 40 cm high with a corm and a branched stem. The single leaf is keeled, trailing and much longer than the stem. The flowers are white, blue or yellow, strongly scented, about 4 cm in diameter and borne in a compact branched flower-head. Usually only one flower is open at a time.

Commonly known as the Soetuintjie (Small Sweet Onion) and comes in the amazing color seen here as well as a yellow and is a species which is featured quite prominently in Khoisan traditions along with the Wild Fig as “food-on-the-go” as it has fantastic nutritional value for the hunter/gatherer crowd. The corms are the part of the plant which the Khoisan were after. The San and Khoe ate many plants that store food underground in roots, bulbs, corms or rhizomes . These plants are called “uintjies”, which means “small onions” in Dutch .

In herbal medicine circles the flowers have also been added to remedies to help calm down patients during therapy where emotional stress plays a major factor in their recovery.

Overall today, another very useful plant to the people who know about it, but I have to put a warning not to go eat every Moraea plant you come across. Most are poisonous, so its wise to take someone or a guide along when you are planning to be out in nature, unassisted, where you may have to forage off the land.

So with that, we conclude this weeks Fynbos Friday post, a beautiful flower with practical application. Bliss. Have a great weekend.

bordeauxroom (This is how the French say it. Just add “room” at the end) took the Stormers team on a little wine blending expedition out into Franschhoek last week.  I tell you some interesting blends came out of that…  In fact, most of the boys were pretty impressive with their concoctions but there were definitely a couple of, “this tastes so ‘k*k’ my face is starting to pull in funny directions” blends.

Either way it was a fantastic experience and I can recommend it to anyone keen to get out and do something a little different!  ”Get involved!”

A few words from the proprietor himself, David Wibberley:

With the Stormers not being able to put down the tackle bags and have much time for social activities during their preparation, Bordeauxroom in collaboration with Haut Espoir Wine Estate gave the Super 14 contenders an opportunity to bond as a unit with a Red Wine Blending Competition.

We were super impressed with the organization of Bordeauxroom and were excited at the prospect of having the boys in the cellar doing their thing, and a unique challengte was set to them.

Teamed up in several teams ranging from the “Gentle Giants” to the “High Hopes” , the day was a great success in all with all members of the Estate getting involved, with Winemaker Nikey van Zyl not giving away too many tips to the ever pressing Front Rowers.

There were some contended developments as each player participating in contributing to their teams blend consisting of all 5 Bordeaux varietals. With percentages measured out as accurately as possible, the hour time limit was used right until the last second to ensure that their team blend would stand up to the tasting panels critical assessment.

With a very discerning Judges Panel at hand the task ahead was certainly not for the faint hearted, kind of like the feeling of taking on the Crusaders Front Row. All teams certainly made the effort and there were some Wines that were even considered for a Haut Espoir Estate Blend. In the end the top 3 had to be blind tasted with all 3 pleasantly inseparable. The Winning Team ‘ Petit V ‘ which became the ‘ Petit III ‘ consisted of Willem de Waal, Dylan des Fountain and Dewaldt Elstadt. Although there were some cries of ‘Cheat-ah’s from the unplaced teams, with a certain flyhalf having a degree in Viticulture.

Special mention must go to Colcacchio’s Franschhoek and Jack Black Beer to providing some gap fillers for the Team and a refreshing palate cleanser for Boys in Blue.

A fantastic day had by all in the end, and we hope to see some of the better blends at dinner parties in the near future.

Borde{aux}room from Francois Louw on Vimeo.

credit to Francois Louw for much of the article, the pictures and the video. Francois has a close association with Bordeauxroom. Have a look at his site.

This is one extremely powerful antifungal plant. When we started putting this post together this morning, we found the following:

Results: The plant extract killed 99.5% of all the test isolates in less than 30 seconds while chlorhexidine gluconate killed 40% and 20% and triclosan 55% and 35% of C. albicans strains isolated from HIV positive and HIV negative patients respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the results of the two study groups and between chlorhexidine gluconate and triclosan.

Conclusion: The plant Dodonea angustifolia killed all the strains of C. albicans isolated from HIV positive and HIV negative patients in a shorter time than chlorhexidine gluconate and triclosan.

Ok, that is just amazing. A plant, that is twice as effective in helping HIV patients than new age muti. We like it. Let’s take two steps back and learn a little more about this wonderful species.

Common names

(Afrikaans) : bosysterhout, gansiebos, sandolien, sandolyf, ysterhoutbos
(English) : giant bush hop, sand olive
(Swahili) : mkaa-pwani

Botanic description

Dodonaea angustifolia is a variable shrub or tree, usually 2-8 m tall; branchlets rusty red and resinous; bark dark grey, fissured and peeling. Leaves simple lanceolate, pale green, margins untoothed; leaf tip round or pointed; 5-10 cm long, 5-8 mm wide; leaves secrete gummy exudate – thus appearing shiny always. Flowers inconspicuous, pale green; sepals greenish-yellow, petals absent; stamens brown. Fruits pale green, sometimes inflated; 3-winged, wings pale brown or coral pink. Seed black, smooth.

Its also hugely effective in erosion control: Sand olive roots are soil binding and effective in soil conservation. Shade or shelter: The plant is a shade provider. Reclamation: Widely used in arid areas to bind sand or reclaim marshes, an excellent choice for sand dune fixation and erosion control.

All around, just an amazing species. That has perked our day right up. Hope yours has been off to just as good a start. Have a fantastic weekend. The wonderful Cape is going to do its best to fry us out, but that’s why we have Semillon and Shiraz Rose…

At times, in the middle of a storm, there is a moment where everything will make sense in this crazy world. Little rewards for the hard work we put in on a daily basis. Last night our web guy was alerted to the image attached on this post, which simply put, has us as the number 1 farm on the website of those amazing people, Spit or Swallow.

The site is user generated and we have to admit we had no idea that we were even approaching this. We enjoy the way Anel and her team approach the wine industry and their enthusiasm, but we are not the kind of people who check the site all the time. Unfortunately time does just not allow this at the moment what with harvest and babies and all the wonderful things that crazy season brings.

A big thank you to everyone who were wine flies at the farm, who submitted a review of the farm, but most of all, who found the farm great. We are humbled by this little bonus in our week, but its all thanks to you amazing people who love the farm, almost as much as we do.

Thank you.

For others who want to rate the farm, please click the link here!

This week we are full steam ahead at the farm after the fires of just 10 days ago. The team are harvesting Semillion and Viognier, the first from a contract block and the initial look, especially on the Viognier, is amazing. Even growth throughout the 2010 season had led to a truly special block and it seems we are going to have a delicate, soft extraction which will in turn, with a careful hand and some of the unique ways we go about maturation, produce more of the wines we are known for.

A particularly stressful time of the year for everyone in the wine industry, as sleep is put on hold and the wine makers are known to throw the odd temper tantrum. We take special care to remain as calm as possible and deal with the variables in the smartest way possible. Being a family business we all hop in and help out wherever possible, this year being no different.

Harvest conditions were excellent with cool weather. We always try pick at coolest temperature as it preserves the fruit before it goes into the cellar where it’s again cooled down, where we have been known at times to whip out the dry ice which helps with the oxidation of the fruit.

Enjoy the pictures and next week we`ll chat about why we use certain barrels, we`ll talk about carbonic maceration as well as the full malolactic process.

Leucospermum Reflexum is her real botanical name, but the rocket pincushion is apt enough. What a little beauty. Each flower is tube-like and made up of velvety floral parts called the perianth segments on which the anthers are placed. These surround the long style which escapes from the tube to form the ‘pin’ and the perianths then curl away from it. Young flowers are curved to start with, and then bend back toward the stem as they mature. The common name of rocket pincushion is very apt because these downward bent styles look like the fiery tail of a rocket trailing behind it. For the same reason, the Afrikaans name perdekop is a good one as the mature flower head looks like a horse’s head with its mane blowing back in the wind.

The name is derived from the Greek words leukos, white; and sperma, seed. The species names are derived from the Latin words reflexus, bent downwards/bent back on themselves, and luteus, yellow.

A German plant collector, Carl Friedrich Drège, first collected the common orange to crimson colour form of the species in 1830. It has since become a very popular garden and cut-flower plant.

It was only on the fourth attempt, in 1973, to find the yellow-flowered form after first hearing about it in 1970, that a tiny colony of Leucospermum reflexum var. luteum was discovered by John Winter, Curator of Kirstenbosch, together with other Kirstenbosch horticulturists and Dr John Rourke of the Compton Herbarium. They harvested some of the seed from these plants and got 13 seedlings to grow. From these they selected the best coloured plants for mother stock and the cuttings have produced the plants in cultivation today.

Proteas never cease to amaze me with their natural beauty and it’s clear to see why we at Haut Espoir are fanatical about them.

Have a great weekend out there, from the Team here, we wish you only the best.

You will all know by now, that we have had a bit of a rough start to the week. Understatement of the year. I wanted to show you how quickly things can change here on the farm. With a series of clicks you are able to track how things moved.

We start off here, where Rob posted the high winds on the mountains on Sunday afternoon.

24 Hours later, here is the next image, which is a sad one, as you can see the fire damage. What you can see is part of 5000 hectares of land from Jonkershoek to the Haut Espoir farm and beyond that has burnt, destroying landscapes, hectares of Fynbos and so much vineyard that it’ll never be recovered. This is 2 years in a row now that the big fires have raged.

It was a real nerve wrecking time on the farm, and the following sites have great overviews of what happened:

Spit or Swallow had a great article on their Wine Times site here.

News 24 has another here and the Cape Argus has their cover here.

All in all, a sad start to the week. Here is to hoping things can only improve and that negligence does not cost so many people so much in the future.

Haut Espoir would like to thank everyone who sent us wishes of safety in this period. It’s very much appreciated.

Back for another week, and today we are going to be talking nitrogen, soil erosion, etc etc.

But firstly, did everyone go out and get an Erica Versicolor this week?

The Otholobium family are shrubs and herbaceous perennials. Belonging to the Sweet Pea family, we at Haut Espoir are fond of the Otholobium for 2 major reasons:

1. Through their nitrogen fixing capabilities, Fabacea species (Otholobium are part of the Fabacea species) are essential for fynbos growing on nitrogen poor soils. Bacteria in the roots of the plants take nitrogen out of the air and turn it into a nitrate supply for the host plant. This in turn means that all the fynbos in the area bloom and that makes us very happy indeed.

2. Soil Erosion is a major problem where we are. Our farm is situated on an extremely steep slope, where the wind likes to blow the roof off the buildings, and where we are in possibly the wettest corner of South Africa. We want to leave this farm in far better condition than what it came to us, so soil erosion is right up there on our list of critical things. Otholobium happens to be an amazing plant when it comes to preventing soil erosion and does the job better than almost any other.

The combination of these two factors means you will find quite a bit of this amazing plant on Haut Espoir.

To boost its appeal, its also such a beauty…

So first off, its not really a restaurant. But consider how much we all love this place, we are including it here.

The space underneath the church on Bree St, just before Heritage Square (travelling away from the mountain), has been converted into several units and the one at the end is & Union. Brought to you buy the guys who originally bought you Vida e Caffe, & Union is not your typical restaurant, but nor is it your typical bar or pub (which is probably why they call themselves a beer salon / charcuterie) and depending on your mood and your needs, it can be any of them and more.

So we know they do amazing beer. Really amazing beer. Their food (prego’s, artisan sausages, etc) are amazing too. They do live music, for free, on some evenings, which shows their commitment to growing a community for themselves.

But they also do a mighty fine cabinet of wine. One of the biggest misses at &Union in general, is that they serve really amazing wines by the glass and bottle, as well as offering off consumption pricing on all these wines. Being open till 11pm, that late night craving for a magnum of Gentle Giant can now be satisfied in one easy trip.

&Union took their time and sourced only the finest, rarest wines under the watchful eye of Rui, Brad & Simon, who make up the management at &Union. Not only were we honored to be on the list, but we had the guys out for a tasting at the farm a while back as well. You can find that post here.

The commitment to the perfect experience is a synergy we share with &Union, something we are both striving for with each item prepared, each barrel selected, each session explaining the concept of the store to new clients & each session of meticulously going through each vine in our vineyards, inspecting it for any flaws.

We salute, with a Wiess in one hand and a glass of Gentle Giant in the other hand, to the passion and drive we experience from the guys at &Union. Its an absolute pleasure to be working with you.