Drive through any vineyard during mid-winter and you will notice that the vines have been cut down to their bare bones. No leaves, no stalks, just naked cordons with stubby little shoots which have been cut back. The practice of pruning is one of the most important aspects of growing grapes.

Pruning is necessary for the vine to regenerate, as when the canes are cut off, it enables the vine to conserve energy and rest during the cold winter months. However, the main aim of pruning is to ensure a healthy yield come harvest time. Done correctly, pruning allows for a controlled quantity and quality of fruit. This is maintained by controlling the number of shoots per cordon (the straight part of the vine running parallel to the ground). Reds have two or three bunches per shoot, so by controlling the amount of shoots left on the cordon it is possible to control for the number of buds which will develop during spring. 

As with nearly everything relating to wine there is a bit of science behind the art: in order to bear fruit a vine needs a one-year shoot, growing on a two-year shoot, growing on a shoot which is more than two years old. This ensures that the canes which develop are mature enough to yield grapes which are ready to be made into wine. It also means that the person doing the pruning can’t just cut and chop as they please; they need to know what they’re doing. Some vines have larger shoots called casanaves. These thicker shoots have more buds (about 6 – 8 ) and hence more fruit zones. However, more does not always mean better. The theory of apical dominance means that the further away from each other buds are, the better the resultant bunch will be (every bunch enjoys some space to grow and develop).

A freshly pruned Steenberg Vine

Fruit needs about 45 – 60 days hang time from veraison (when the fruit changes colour) in order to ripen fully. As a result of our cool climate at Steenberg, our grapes ripen very slowly thus the idea is to prune earlier than most other vineyards. The earlier you prune, the earlier the vine will bud and thus the earlier it will ripen.

So what would happen if you didn’t prune at all? The vine will produce more fruit than it knows what to do with because when you prune a vine correctly, you remove as much as 95 to 98% of the previous season’s growth.  If you leave all of that growth from the previous year it will develop buds, increasing the crop for following year. It will be an uncontrolled mess!

The vine cannot produce enough energy to ripen an unregulated crop, and thus the crop will be poor quality. The clusters will be dishevelled, and you won’t have much fruit worth using.  Even if it is able to ripen, the vine will have diverted energy that it might ordinarily use to mature the wood and to help the vine get ready for winter.

So in essence, when we cut away at the vine we are giving it the best chance to grow: a form of botanical reverse psychology!

The cool climate at Steenberg Vineyards means that harvest is significantly longer than in warmer growing regions, yet not as intense. The heat waves earlier in the year changed this slightly as it meant grapes had to be harvested quickly. Overall yield increased and there was great quality across the board. After all had settled, it was time to reflect on a long and busy harvest.

The 2011 harvest was JD Pretorius’ third at Steenberg and it had its fair share of ups and downs: “Every vintage presents its own set of challenges and for us it’s all about being patient and picking at the right time”. With a few of the Sauvignon Blancs to be released before the end of the year, it won’t be long before you’ll be able to taste the combined result of man and natures efforts.

The heat waves in late February/ early March threw a few curve balls at the cellar team, yet it was nothing they couldn’t handle. Heat waves shorten the ripening time of the grape leading to pronounced sugar ripening rather than phenolic ripening (a sudden increase in heat causes the sugar levels in the grape to rise faster than usual). This results in lower acid levels and hence higher pH levels. On the other hand phenolic ripeness increases with more time on the vine. However grapes need to be picked at the correct degree balling (a measure of sugar levels in the grape) in order to ensure the consequent alcohol level is where it needs to be. Thus the grapes were harvested at an earlier stage as flavour development reached maturity sooner as a consequence of higher sugar levels and lower acid levels.

The 2011 harvest also saw Steenberg record a bumper crop. There was far less wind in the flowering period (typically late September/ early October) which allowed more bunches to develop. This increased overall yield and tonnage was up by more than 30% on some blocks. Our three year old Sauvignon Blanc block underwent its maiden vintage and JD was excited about using the grapes for the first time: “The younger vines have very interesting flavour compounds which will add complexity to the 2011 vintage. Although the new block is quite big we harvested little fruit from it because of cropping (to keep quality high)”.

The cellar team completed a marathon effort with the harvest starting in late January and finishing in mid-April. Be sure to visit and sample the fruits of their labour!

Freshly picked SB grapes

The de-stemmer in action

The Cellar Team celebrating the Harvest

Every season has its own mood, its own colours, its own character, but most interestingly here at Steenberg every season has its own sounds. Seasonal change is glaringly obvious in a vineyard as vine plants change drastically every three months. Visit Steenberg in the middle of winter and again in the middle of summer and it will seem a completely different place. In winter the vines are bare and brown yet in summer they are full and green while the natural cycle methodically ticks through its own course. However, as with any working wine farm, the main focus is caring for the precious berries the vines produce and with that care comes an entire variety of sounds.

During December the Tasting Room and Bistro are both busy and bustling places as summer holiday-goers revel in their high spirits. Loud cries of laughter and a constant buzz of energetic chatter fill the air while visitors sip and savour their vinous treasures. Come February the harvester is out in the vineyards droning away as it works through the rows of vine. Carrying trailer loads of valuable cargo, the tractor trundles by noisily. The cellar clanks and bangs with crushing, pressing and racking.

Lush Green Vine Leaves during Summer

Walk into the cellar in early autumn and all the fermenting barrels are bubbling and gurgling aggressively. The wine sloshes and splashes as cellar staff rack it from tank to barrel. The lees filter whirs and zings as it the separates sediment. Later in autumn, out in the vineyard, the click-click of garden shears resonates from farm workers carefully pruning the vines, preparing them for the rest to come.

Yellow Leaves during Autumn

Lady winter ushers in a period of dormancy: Days grow shorter and nights become colder. Lashing sheets of rain smack the roof of the cellar as out in the vineyard plant-life slowly shuts down. The water trickles and drips down the slopes. After the rain everything is still as the pervading sound of silence encompasses the farm. The icy cellar lies frozen from cold-stabilisation, lying in wait for the months ahead.

Kaal stokkies during Winter

Come spring and crispness fills the air, the once whispering wind picks up and breathes life into the vines. Birds chirp and tweet, squirrels scurry and scamper and flowers begin to bloom. After lying in maturation wines are ready for bottling. The ruckus of knocking and pinging emanates from the production bay as bottles are packed and boxes are stacked.

Pop a bottle

Noises may come and go from one season to the next but there is one sound which you will always hear: the popping of bubbly bottles and clinking of glasses!