Tuesday 20th February 2007

After finishing the last of the 2007 Chenin Blanc grapes, Davey’s team moved to one of our E-facing Merlot vineyards just as the day started warming up.

I was down at Overgaauw chatting to Braam and David van Velden when the Eskom power suddenly went off. Lucinda answered my call on the farm radio – “The power went off for a second, but is back on again” she said. I was still in darkness though, so asked her if our generator was running. “I suppose it must be!” was the reply – “I can hear the diesel engine in the background.” Yet again I thanked my lucky stars that we had put in a generator a few years ago that could run the whole winery if there should ever be a power problem - it certainly paid for itself last year when we had so many power cuts!

Other than Jordan, Paul Cluver, Alex Dale and David Niewoud’s wines, Peter Clinton, our USA agent also represents Eben Sadie, so later that evening we solved the world’s problems over a bottle of Columella at Belthazar on the Cape Town Waterfront. After dinner we went to harass Bruce Robertson at The Showroom!

Monday 19th February 2007

Yet again everyone had a relaxed weekend, taking turns to come in to help with the Merlot pumpovers. Making red wine is all about extaction – extraction of both colour and flavour and one only has a three or four day ‘window of opportunity’ in which to do this. We draw the fermenting red wine out of the tank and pump it slowly and evenly over the skins three times a day. This is called ‘wetting the cap’ and this process ensures that the colour and flavour components situated in the skins are extracted early on during fermentation. This photo shows how intense the colour can be after only two days of pumpovers.

In the cool, early hours of the morning, the hand-harvesting team harvested one of our oldest and most intense Sauvignon Blanc vineyards before going on to harvest a Montpellier clone block of Chenin Blanc for our barrel fermented Chenin. By the end of the day we had picked 359 tonnes so far for the vintage, less than half way through our estimated total.

Thursday 15th February 2007

With 62 tonnes of merlot being harvested today, there was bound to be a mishap or two!
This is usually a time where one would expect to perhaps overfill a red wine tank, but Ludwich did a remarkable job in keeping track of which overhead tank was being filled! The merlot was being harvested so quickly that tractor driver Pieter Nero had to join the machine harvest team to transport the grapes to the cellar. Joel Booysen couldn’t keep up with only one trailer and we didn’t want any unnecessary oxidation taking place.

I heard the commotion even before I was called on the radio. Somehow one of the hinge pins had come loose at the back of the trailer, and as Pieter lifted it to tip the load into the hopper, the stainless steel bin slipped sideways and came to rest at an awkward angle against the wheel. We struggled for at least an hour, using the forklift and brute force to try and get the bin back into position on the trailer. Eventually we resorted to taking out both hinge pins and the hydraulic jack, and started the process of emptying the bin by hand as the photo of Leon and Tim alongside shows. Once empty we used the forklift to position it again on the base of the trailer, some quick welding on my part and we were back in business!

Earlier one of the interns managed to get the squeegee caught in the auger that transports the pressed grape skins to the compost trailer– luckily it wasn’t his leg!

None of the cellar staff had much time for lunch today. Graham, however, found the time to make this 'designer' sandwich!

Jordan Farm Map

At long last, our new farm map arrived, so now you will be able to see which vineyard blocks I am talking about! This has been a few months of surveying, where literally thousands of points were plotted, covering every part of the farm.

Wednesday 14th February 2007

Happy St Valentine’s Day!

The sky is crisp and bright, and long before the Stellenbosch Mountains are haloed in the first rays of light, I can tell that it will be a beautiful, clear, sun-filled day.

“In the heavens I see your eyes
In your eyes I see the heavens.
Why look for another Moon
Or another Sun?-
What I see will always be enough for me.” – Rumi

Red is regarded as being synonymous with Love – my ‘Lady in Red’ today is the first Merlot of 2007 being harvested for a serious barrel-aged red wine. The flavours are so intense, that the wine may end up being a component of the ‘Sophia’, a wine I specially make for the Cape Winemakers Guild Annual Auction.

What made the day more challenging is the fact that we are harvesting the last of the Chenin Blanc at the same time! The Chenin is an old south-facing vineyard that has to be hand-harvested, and the trailer loads come in a lot slower than the Merlot. After every four loads of Merlot, the whole system has to be cleaned before the next Chenin can be crushed!

Valentine’s Day also saw the first of our Jordan Harvest lunches, where once a week on a Wednesday, we invite our Trade customers to the farm to see the cellar in action.
It was great to catch up with the likes of Ian Rubin, Hein and Yvonne from Kagga Kamma as well as managers from Wakame, The Nose Wine Bar and many others. Claire Bertin (sommelier at Browns Restaurant in JHB) and Graham Fisher from Stanlake Park in the UK also joined in before they went back to work in the cellar.

Richard Chamberlain put out a fantastic harvest spread of coriander-crusted seared tuna (great with the Nine Yards Chardonnay) and rosemary marinated leg of lamb (delicious with either the Merlot or Cobblers Hill) accompanied by platters of green salads, asparagus, roasted peppers and courgettes – I could go on ….!

St Valentine’s evening saw roses and wine galore as couples descended on Jordan to picnic on the lawns in front of the winery, all organized by Tasting Room manager, Luzanne Hansen.

Tuesday 13th February 2007

There is a time in every vineyard’s life when it is time to say goodbye!

"You say yes, I say no

You say stop and I say go, go, go Oh, no

You say goodbye and I say hello Hello, hello

I don't know why you say goodbye

I say hello Hello, hello

I don't know why you say goodbye

I say hello"

These lyrics written by Paul McCartney sum up our very emotional decision to take out the sauvignon blanc vines on this 25 year old E-facing vineyard. Economically we should have taken this decision 5 years ago! We have learnt how to coax reasonable flavours from these vines, but at less than 5 tonnes/ha, and with the gravelly soil better suited to Cabernet Sauvignon, it was time for the vineyard to bow out gracefully.

As we still weren’t harvesting after the weekend rain, I took my last own ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ of block 6 ( on the slope above the cellar) before the harvest team cut off all the shoots in preparation to remove the vines, roots and all. Joel then took the mulcher along the rows, which cut the foliage into a fine mulch. The photographs show how well this works when the shoots are still green. Had I waited another few weeks it would have mulched the canes with difficulty.

One of the most important points to remember with leaf-roll virus control is to remove all the roots and leave the ground fallow for a few years. Failing to do this could result in the re-infestation of leaf-roll in the new young vineyard due to terrestrial species of vine louse (mealy-bug) that over-winter on the remaining roots.

Monday 12th February 2007

Lucinda, our Namibian harvest intern and I spent a few hours taking samples in the vineyards from early in the morning. Back at the winery lab, we could analyse and taste the effects of the 36 mm of rainfall. Predictably, the sugar levels had dropped up to 1 degree brix in some cases, the acid levels had dropped and the pH had increased. The juices also tasted slightly flat and lacked a concentration of flavour. Experience has taught me that with balanced vines not suffering any stress, this is only temporary. It is still a nerve-racking time though and we make the decision to take more samples tomorrow. To date we have harvested 230 tonnes and are only a quarter of the way through the harvest.

Just before lunch, Peter Clinton, President of Vinnovative Imports, (Jordan Winery’s USA importer) arrives with Mick Swain, our Chicago distributor, for a tasting and tour of the Jordan cellar and vineyards. The difference in temperature from vineyard to vineyard is quite remarkable– there is easily a 5˚ C difference from one side of the property to the other, with the South-facing side being the coolest. The picture alongside shows Mick (on the left) standing with Peter looking across at one of our terraced south-facing chardonnay vineyards, the view that inspired the sketch on our label. “Being a geologist in my previous life has enabled me to plan the whole property according to soil type and slope” I explain to Mick. This is why we are able to specialize with certain varieties on particular soils and slopes, and with Jordan being one of the few properties around with N-, S-, E- and W-facing slopes, we have been lucky enough to win international awards for both red and white wines.