Last year winemaker JD Pretorius took himself overseas immediately after harvest. Not for a holiday, sadly, but to immerse himself in yet more Sauvignon Blanc. He was the first South African invited to judge at the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon. It was the inaugural event, a spin-off from the bigger and better established Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. He came back a little wiser about the way competitions are judged as well as how much competition is out there and how many different expressions of one grape are possible.

As is evident from the name, the competition focuses solely on Sauvignon Blanc – unlike its bigger brother which covers still, sparkling, fortified, sweet, red, white and now even spirits. The second Concours Mondial du Sauvignon event was held in Bordeaux in May this year and of the 600+ wines entered in total, three South African wines made it onto the honour roll.

Sauvignon Blanc on the Vine

What was interesting looking at the results was just how widespread the cultivation of Sauvignon Blanc has become. Medals were awarded to wines from France – and not just from the Sancerre area of the Loire valley as one would expect, but also from Bordeaux and the Languedoc-Rousillon and a few even boasted the newly approved and simple Wine of France labelling. New Zealand also featured prominently of course but then there were a profusion of wines from Spain – from Rioja, Castilla-y-Leon, Navarra and from Catalunya. But some of the wines didn’t specify an appellation – they were simply Vino do Mesa. Italy’s Sauvignon is almost exclusively from the north, Veneto or Fruili Venezia.

The interesting “left field” examples came from Slovenia and Switzerland, the latter country which boasted four golds and four silvers: Which all goes to show why this grape fascinates JD – because each area and country has totally different soils, weather patterns, rainfall, winemaking techniques and styles. And the person who benefits from this diversity is the consumer.

Anyone who ventures outside onto the terrace at the Steenberg tasting room and looks up at the surrounding mountain views will notice the ‘eye of the elephant’ looking back at them. Located on the Southern end of the Constantiaberg, Elephant’s Eye is so named because the eastern profile of the mountain resembles an elephant (the range that continues toward Cape Point being the trunk). The ‘Eye’ itself is a cave which day-hikers often visit with clear days affording sweeping views of the Constantia Valley.

from the 13th hole par 3 on the Steenberg Golf course, Elephants Eye is replicated on the knoll just behind the green.

Besides providing picturesque views from the tasting room, the Table Mountain Range has its part to play in creating the unique terroir at Steenberg. The decomposed granite soil in which our vines are planted has its own story too. The 540 million year old rock formation is known as the Peninsula Granite: a large emplacement of igneous intrusive (also called plutonic) rock that formed from cooled magma deep in the Earth, but has since then been exposed by prolonged erosion.

A scanned legend showing the geological strata of the Constantia Valley and surrounds. The red shows the Peninsula Granite.

It is this decomposed granite soil which contributes to the mineral and flinty nature of our Sauvignon Blanc. The lean soil type is perfect for Sauvignon Blanc as it results in a naturally controlled yield. The vines are naturally strained which means we do not throw off any white berries. This results in very concentrated fruit with only a 4 ton/ha on average: low quantity, high quality.

Next time you visit Steenberg keep an ‘eye’ out for the ‘elephant’!

Viticulturist Johann de Swardt now has to mentally and physically switch gears. The whole mindset and work programme changes from harvesting (the last grapes are bubbling away in the winery) to nourishing the vine and doing as much for the soil as possible.

“The vines have done their thing for the year and are starting to shut down,” the viticulturist said. “You can see the leaves turning yellow almost before your eyes. A big strong wind will no doubt come through and blow them off at some point and then the vines will just be naked stokkies again for winter.”

Brown Autumn vine leaves

“Winter rain is the biggest thing – and for that we rely on nature,” de Swardt said. It’s been a long, hot, dry summer as everyone knows and the ground water reserves need to be replenished in order for the vines to be ready for growth in Spring.

One of the first things the vineyard team got stuck into was soil preparation for a new Sauvignon Blanc vineyard. A big bulldozer tackled a 2.3 hectare patch, cross ripping. Basically the dozer drove one direction across the block and then did a 90 degree turn and crossed the same area at right angles. This is to ensure the soil is not only well mixed and turned, but loose and friable, enabling the newly planted vine ‘stokkies’ to easily send their roots down and establish a firm anchor for the plant.

“We’re quite excited because we’re going to be using a new V-shaped trellising system,” de Swardt said. As everyone else’s eyes glaze over at the mere prospect of trying to understand the significance of the pole and wire support system for the vine, de Swardt’s light up…”It means we can crop up to a third more off the same area!” So it’s a more efficient production system: where you’d normally harvest 10 tons of fruit, for example, it means that 13 tons of grapes can be reaped. Most importantly is that it’s not a matter of the vine simply bearing more fruit but rather increasing the amount of cordon to carry bunches – without any drop in quality and concentration in the berries themselves.

Once the planting of new vines is done, it’ll be fertilising and mulching right across the farm. “We need to sow cover crops between the vines – oats and clover. The newer vineyards will get lupins because they release nitrogen into the soil which assists the younger vines with growth.”

Whilst avid gym-goers and pilates addicts are more than familiar with planking (or bridges) as a way of increasing core strength and fitness, what we’re dealing with here is a completely different scenario.

It all started in Australia and has already claimed one casualty as an irresponsible man attempted a daring plank on a seventh-floor balcony. This prompted Julia Gillard, Australia’s PM, to urge plankers that the “focus has to be on keeping yourself safe first” with Australian police warning would-be pranksters that they may be charged with ‘unauthorised high-risk activity’.

To be technical about it: planking is the act of lying face down with arms to the sides of the body, in unusual spaces and photographing it. Mainly it’s a bit of a laugh, anyone can do it and it is surprisingly enjoyable if you have the courage (and time!) to look like an idiot. After discovering the craze we immediately realised the abundance of unusual spaces we have here at Steenberg. Below you will find various members of the Steenberg team lying rigid and still like fish sticks out the freezer. Every single one of them a profoundly creative and deeply misunderstood artist in their own right: What we have then are multiple overt attempts to express the relationship between man and his working environment, an alternative perspective on the wine industry through the lens of a ridiculous fad. Enjoy!

JD

In this piece Winemaker JD Pretorius uses the oval counter as a vehicle to juxtapose the two binary elements of light and dark, perhaps a metaphor for good and bad or even the trickier topic of right and wrong. Acting as a human barrier, his planking position is angled so as to accentuate the relationship between the darkness below and the light above. Notice his clenched fists as he mentally grapples with the issues his artistic planking so blatantly presents.

Jurgen

Lida

Cellar Door Manager Lida van Heerden bravely decided to compare herself to a real plank of wood. A planker’s prerogative is to be as straight as possible and what better way to weigh this up than against a full length table. Her entire body is a prisoner to the cause, minus her fringe which sways mockingly in front of her face in full defiance to her attempt to pull off one of the more ambitious planks.

Johann

Viticulturist Johann de Swardt is planking like a fish out of water in a planking pose decidedly akin to a salmon jumping out of the water. In this instance Johann highlights the connection between man and machine in a natural context. Shown planking on the canopy of his trusty bakkie many difficult questions arise. Do we need machines or do we want machines? Can we see ourselves in a world without machines? Has our level of dependency on machines limited our scope for real personal growth? Would it have been funnier if his legs were hanging off the end?

Brad

Bistro Sixteen82 Chef Brad Ball decided to plank against the grain. Ever the maverick and pioneer, in this piece Brad underscores the relevance of following your deepest desires in contemporary society. With the arrow pointing to the left, Brad confidently planks to the right, and with great intensity. Notice him gritting his teeth in anticipation for his entry into unchartered territory.

Graham

In this plank we have Graham de Vries (E-marketing assistant) attempting to take planking to new heights. The forklift is a real mule of the production side, a relentless performer who gets the job done and this case was no exception. This piece illuminates the extent to which humans are but mere threads in the intricately woven tapestry of society, able to be placed wherever needed.

Christie

Production manager Christie Swart chose this planking position to demonstrate our inescapable dependency on the sun as a primary source of energy. As the sun casts longer shadows towards the end of the day so we have to routinely accept its inevitable absence only to begin the entire process the next day. Christie here can be said to be planking in futility, in abject tolerance of the power of the sun.

Mario

Mario Louw our wine club assistant was quick to seize the angular metal Eduardo Villa Sculpture as his planking platform of choice: A stout and firm plank to honour the man responsible for these works of art.

Anetha

Sales and Marketing manager Anetha Homan planks with poise and guile, boots and all! We see her gazing at her own reflection, mid-plank, which conjures up challenging insights into the idea of the self and who it is we really are. Her reflection plank is a distorted version of the original plank, but it is all she has to go by.

Jenna

Jenna Adams (Assistant Front of House Manager at Bistro Sixteen82) pulls off possibly the most poignant plank of all. She is planking on top of an engraved depiction of harvest time at Steenberg made in 1820. This historical timepiece is a snapshot of vineyard life from days gone by and Jenna planks it with aplomb: A humbling reminder that we are all but part-time actors on the stage of life.

John

General Manager John Loubser here portrays planking zen and the art of climbing the corporate ladder. He is symbolically at the top of his own needs hierarchy and what better way to achieve self-actualisation than through a meditative plank amidst the white wine cellar. Connoisseurs amongst you will of course know that this is also known as a ‘tank plank’.