KWV's viticultural team in Paarl

Completing a study to find out its ‘carbon footprint’ in 2008, KWV then decided to explore several strategies to reduce this ‘footprint’.

In an effort to reduce future carbon emissions, our viticultural team, Unathi Mantshongo and Cobus van Graan, headed out to the Mbekweni township in Paarl to plant 500 trees.

As part of this initiative KWV aims to plant 2670 indigenous trees and fruit trees in four of Mbekweni’s low-cost housing wards. The aim is to off-set more than 5% of its carbon emissions over the next 15 years.

KWV decided to focus its efforts on the Paarl community as it provides most of our natural resources.

The tree planting project is spearheaded by KWV’s viticultural team in partnership with the award-winning NGO, Food & Trees for Africa.

The first 500 trees, comprising Karee Trees, White Stinkwood Trees, African Olive Trees, Water Berry Trees and the Cape Holly Trees were planted in July, with the rest to follow during the year.

KWV’s chief winemaker Richard Rowe expressed his gratitude to the community for their support and looks forward to seeing the trees and the community grow.

Interviewer: What is meant by the art of blending wines?

Johann: A blend is made by combining the qualities of different wines. It’s a complicated process as it requires a lot of skill, patience and creativity (as well as the knowledge of the qualities of different cultivars and how they mix). As a winemaker you go on a journey and you can push yourself to your sensory limit. Blending wines is also a lengthy procedure as you play around until you find the perfect balance.

You have to apply creativity, be open-minded and think outside the box. We explore and experiment with the different flavours of the wine, so we can be called liquid chefs!

Interviewer: What makes blended wines so special?

Johann: With blended wines there are no rules – anything goes. Blended wines are more interesting with added layers and dimensions as they are made up of different varietals. It is about finding the best characteristic of each component and combining it to create a masterpiece.

Interviewer: Are blended wines popular?

Johann: Yes, more consumers are starting to enjoy blended wines. These wines offer something new and exciting.

Interviewer: What are the main blended wine styles?

Johann: You have your Bordeaux blends, which are known worldwide. These wines are complex, high in tannin structure, age well and are perfect to enjoy with heavy food dishes such as meat (steaks) or lamb.

Rhone style blends are softer and spicier with juicy fruit flavours. These wines can be paired with lighter meals such as veal or chicken.

‘Truly South African’ is the Cape blends. These wines are very aromatic and fruit forward and partner perfectly with spicy foods such as curries and bobotie.

From July onwards, producers will plant new vineyards that will supply future resources. All new plantings are done in collaboration with KWV with a clear end-goal of the desired cultivar, quality and style.

Planning for the next vintage and evaluating the current wines are some of the wine team’s main responsibilities during the post-harvest period.

Through classification tasting sessions they evaluate all wines to establish whether specific vineyards produced the expected results. Through this they gain a better understanding of the potential of the various vineyards. This also serves to identify opportunities for improvement and helps producers achieve new goals.

In winter the vineyard teams start preparing for the upcoming season and do maintenance work, such as fixing trellis and irrigation systems as well as servicing spray pumps and vineyard equipment. This is all in preparation for the budding of the vineyards which will coincide with the arrival of spring.

During every autumn they sow cover crops (oats, rye, etc) in the vine rows. These cover crops improve the soil structure, increase the soil’s organic content, naturally suppress unwanted weeds and also serve as a water-saving mulch during the warmer summer months. Judging from the growth rate to date, 2010 seems to be a great season for cover crops.

The weather thus far has been close to ideal for the dormant vines. Ample cold weather has met the chill requirements of the vines. Abundant rain during May and June has saturated soils and filled dams and rivers, ensuring that soil temperatures stay low. This sets the scene for an ideal start to the season.

“During this time of the year, the main activities in the cellar include filtration of the wines and preparation for bottling,” tells Loubser. Filtration is the cleaning of the wines, a finishing process performed before bottling to remove solid impurities, such as dead yeast cells.

They also perform a lot of tastings at this stage to check the tannins and acid levels in the wine. As for red wines, they are currently busy with the malolactic fermentation of this year’s vintage (2010). This process refers to a natural, second fermentation, which softens the acidity in the wine.

These wines will then be tasted, divided into different batches and placed in barrels to start their maturation process or ‘winter sleep’.

The 2009 red wines are now coming out of the barrels and being prepared for bottling. The 2009 KWV Lifestyle wines such as Merlot, Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon are all being prepared for bottling in the next few weeks.

At this stage they also think about the components of the wines and what would be suitable for blending. They are also looking at the make-up of the current 2010 white wines.

“We have to evaluate the wines of the different vineyards now as we need to give the various growers feedback in terms of the performance of their vineyards,” said Fourie. This is important as pruning will start soon and growers need to know how they must manage their vineyards accordingly to achieve a specific wine style.

These awards are announced hot on the heels of recent achievements at the annual Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and the local Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. Our chief wine maker Richard Rowe said, “The team is delighted with these results, which strongly support the company’s transformation programme. Over the past 12 months we have been focusing our winemaking efforts on producing wine styles which are more international in style, with greater emphasis on elegance, freshness and finesse. We welcome this endorsement of our future direction. The best, however, is yet to come!”

Awards summary:

2010 International Wine Challenge

KWV The Mentors:

Sauvignon Blanc 2009 – Bronze
Semillon 2008 – Bronze
Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon 2009 – Bronze
Chenin Blanc 2008 – Commended
Petit Verdot 2008 – Silver
Orchestra 2008 – Commended
Canvas 2008 – Bronze
Shiraz 2007 – Commended
Shiraz 2007 – Silver

2010 Decanter International Wine Awards

KWV The Mentors

Sauvignon Blanc 2009 – Bronze
Semillon 2008 – Bronze
Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon 2009 – Bronze
Chenin Blanc 2008 – Commended
Pinotage 2007 – Silver
Petit Verdot 2008 – Silver
Orchestra 2008 – Bronze
Canvas 2008 – Bronze
Shiraz 2008 – Gold

Me: How do you become a viticulturist?

Unathi: You need to obtain a formal qualification in the field from a recognised University or College. It is important not to miss this step as this is the base upon which you will sometimes defend your recommendations.

The vineyard is a perennial plant and so training in the vineyard over a couple of years will help you to gain the experience that is needed.

Me: What does your average day at work?

Unathi: This depends entirely on the season:

Post-harvest (April – June) you’ll find us both in the office with administration work and consulting in the vineyards.

Pruning season (June – September) we make recommendations of when to start pruning the vines.

Pre-season (September – January) we evaluate which canopy manipulation methods are most suitable for the grapes. We base these decisions on weather predictions and the stage of the fruit and cultivar.

And lastly during harvest season (End January – Begin April) we take samples in the vineyard to determine when would be best to harvest the grapes.

Me: What’s the worst part of your job?

Unathi: Sampling a vineyard at 14h00 in the afternoon during a heat wave.

Me: What is the best part of your job?

Unathi: Every season offers a new experience and so viticulture is not a monotonous job. Bearing the elements in mind, I have to decide when to harvest to produce an award winning wine. Finally tasting an award winning wine and knowing that I played a critical role in its production is the ultimate reward!

Me: So why did you choose to become a Viticulturist?

Unathi: I have a passion for nature and all things green so choosing this as a career was a simple choice for me. I also love the outdoors and being apart of a process with such rewarding results.