Wine facts

ROBERTSON WINE VALLEY STATISTICS

Number of vines: 47.5 million
Area under vines: 13 603 ha
% Of total ha vines planted in SA: 15.4% (SAWIS Nr 32 - 2008)
Signature whites: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Methode Cap Classique
Signature reds: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon

Fun Facts

One hectare of land is home to between 3 000 and 6 000 vines and sometimes even up to 10 000?
There are between 35 and 60 clusters of grapes per vine?
Each bottle of wine contains about 1,5 kg of grapes.
One vine produces between 24 and 36 glasses of wine?
A ton of grapes makes about 720 bottles of wine?
One barrel of wine equals 1 800 glasses of wine?
One hectare of land is home to between 3 000 and 6 000 vines and sometimes even up to 10 000

Weather

Average annual rainfall low: 150 mm
Average annual rainfall high: 321 mm
Average day temp summer: 28.6 d C
Average night temp summer: 14.1 d C
Average day temp winter: 21.1 d C
Average night temp winter: 7.4 d C (Infruitec Nietvoorbij)

LOCATION AND DISTRICTS

The Robertson Wine Valley is situated about 175km from Cape Town and is located in the demarcated Wine of Origin "district" Robertson. According to this legislation we have 9 "wards": Agterkliphoogte, Bonnievale, Boesmansrivier, Eilandia, Hoopsrivier, Klaasvoogds, Le Chasseur, McGregor and Vinkrivier. While wineries located in these wards can certify their wine as "wine of origin (eg) Agterkliphoogte", it is more common for them to use the "wine of origin Robertson" certification as this currently enjoy best recognition. Altitude approx. 181m

TERROIR : In the central part of the valley, alongside the Breede River the landscape is reasonably “flat” and terroir is mainly determined by difference in soil type, as the meso-climate and aspect in this part of the valley are very similar. Towards the foothills of the Langeberg and Sonderend mountain ranges, the landscape changes to that of rolling hills. In these areas a vast number of different terroirs can be found, which are influenced by differences in soil type, aspect and therefore also difference in meso-climate.

SOILS: The soils of the Robertson Wine Valley are quite variable, but can be grouped into two main categories:

• Soil derived from transported material which includes the sandy and loamy alluvial soil, as well as the red clay loam and clay “Karoo” soils.

• Residual soils which include the shale soils of the Malmesbury and Bokkeveld soil families. The red clay loam and clay Karoo soils are the most dominant soil types in the wine valley and are often very calcareous. The water holding capacity of these soils is very good and the potential of growing quality wine on these soils are very high. The water holding capacity of the shale soils depend on the state of weathering. On the highly weathered sites the water holding capacity is excellent. On sites where weathering has not been that advanced, the water holding capacity varies from moderate to low.

CLIMATE: The annual rainfall in the Robertson Wine Valley is approximately 260 mm per annum of which ± 70 % falls during winter. This rain is not enough and therefore additional irrigation is necessary for growing wine grapes. The Robertson Wine Valley growers can be divided into two main groups of water users:
• Growers depending on the Breede River and Brandvlei Dam as their main source of irrigation water. By far the highest percentage of growers will fall into this group. Winter water from the rivers from the adjacent Du Toitskloof mountain range is stored in the Brandvlei Dam near Worcester. Some water from the Breede River is also pumped into the Brandvlei Dam. During the beginning of the irrigation season (September to beginning of November) the Breede River normally has sufficient water to supply the network of irrigation canals supplying water to growers. From November the irrigation demand gets to high and additional water from the Brandvlei Dam is released into the Breede River system to sufficiently supply the irrigation canals. The growers have a water allocation from the canals which they then store in dams from which they then irrigate their vineyards and orchards.

• Growers depending on stored winter water and boreholes Towards the mountains and further away from the Breede River growers do not have the luxury of irrigation canals from the Breede River and therefore these growers need to store winter run-off water from the mountain in storage dams on their properties. Quite a number of these growers are also dependent on additional groundwater extracted from boreholes.

IN THE VINEYARDS

SPRING : The beginning of spring is the beginning of a new growing season in the vineyards. New shoots start emerging from the dormant buds and active growth commences. Spring is a very active time in the vineyards and activities such as fertilizing, shoot thinning and preventative sprays against fungal diseases takes place during this time. Shoot thinning is an activity where unnecessary and unwanted shoots are removed by hand in order to create a canopy microclimate which will be beneficial for wine quality. In areas where vine growing without supplementary irrigation is not possible, growers will also start irrigating during the spring period.
Towards the end of October and beginning of November the vines flower and after berry set the new bunches will start to develop. Other canopy management activities towards the end of spring include shoot positioning and tipping the growing tip of shoots in order to control growing vigor.

SUMMER : During summer time the irrigation demand reaches its peak and more frequent irrigation is necessary. Growers continue with there preventative sprays against fungal diseases, normally until the beginning of January – depending on the weather conditions of that season. Berry development takes place during summer and at the end of December and beginning of January veraison occurs. Veraison is that stage in berry development where berries start to soften and the berries of red wine varieties start to colour red.
Summer time is also harvest time and picking of grapes will commence from the end of January. Different grape varieties will ripen at different stages during the summer. Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc are examples of early ripening varieties, while Cabernet Sauvignon is a late ripening variety.

AUTUMN: Autumn sees the end of harvest, with the later ripening varieties which will be harvested during March and the beginning of April. Some of the post harvest activities that take place in our vineyards during autumn are the following: Post harvest fertilizing, post harvest disease control in high disease pressure situations and post harvest irrigation. The irrigation demand has dropped off considerably and less irrigation is necessary during this time.

WINTER: The main activity on a wine farm during winter is pruning. Pruning will commence during June and can continue up to the end of August. During pruning the vine is cut back severely and 8 to 10 two bud spurs are all from the current season’s growth which will be left on the cordon of a vine.
Planting of new vineyards will also take place at the end of winter while winter is also the time for repairs to irrigation systems, trellis systems and time for holiday.

Briaan Stipp, Viticulturist
VINPRO

IN THE CELLAR: You’ve probably heard this a thousand times, but wine IS made in the vineyards. It’s a simple fact: you can make bad wine from good grapes, but you can’t make good wine from bad grapes!

WHITE WINE

Take healthy, freshly picked grapes
De-stalk and crush, add SO ² (to prevent oxidation)
Seperate Juice from skins and stalks
Pump Juice to settling tanks +- 24 hrs, temperature controlled @ 14 - 16 degrees C
Then you should have clear grape juice
Add pure yeast culture
Fermentation 10 - 14 days
Control the Temperature at 12 - 14 degrees C
You have dry white wine, add SO ²
Rack 2 or 3 times
Blend if so desired
Fining of the wine - removal of proteins
Stabilise, removal of tartrates
Chilled to -3 degrees C for +- 8 days
Filtration
Bottling - cold-sterile bottling or pasteurisation

RED WINE

Healthy, freshly picked grapes
De-stalked and crushed, add SO ² (to prevent oxidation)
Pure yeast culture added, skin contact for colour, fermentation 5 - 7 days
Temperature controlled @ 24 - 27 degrees C
Skins removed after 3 - 7 days (can be
Left for much longer)
Dry red wine
Malolactic fermentation (to convert from one acid to another)
Rackings 2 or 3 times. Wine drawn off
Lees until clear, SO ² added
Maturation in oak vats. Natural
Stabilising of wine (depending on style of wine)
Filtering
Blending
Bottling