| Posted: 20.11.2009 | ||||||||
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Since the writing of the last newsletter in May, time hasn’t stood still at Oak Valley.
A major highlight was the announcement in November naming Oak Valley as the overall winner of the inaugural Nedbank Best Environmental Practices Award at a function held in the Mount Nelson’s Cape Colony restaurant.
The award is deeply satisfying for all at Oak Valley as it recognises our efforts in pursuing sustainable farming practices, whilst at the same time preserving our priceless fynbos heritage under the wine industry’s Biodiversity and Wine Initiative banner.
Oak Valley has 282 hectares of pristine mountainside covering the area above our mountain vineyards, and this conservation area extends right up to the summit of the Groenlandberg. It is a unique site which is home to 5 Red Data listed plant species including the largest known colony of Protea Stoekoei on the planet, making its conservation a long-term priority. We are proud to be entrusted with this responsibility.
The results of the 2010 Platter Wine Guide have now been published and Oak Valley has been rewarded with four 4½ star awards and one 4 star wine. This impressive result means that no Oak Valley wine has been awarded less than 4 stars in this benchmark publication since our first vintage was released in 2003. Not many wineries can boast a track record of consistent quality to match that! Looking ahead, and with an inside knowledge of future vintages in the cellar at present, our view is that we can do even better.
The Oak Valley Pinot Noir 2008, a 4½ star Platter wine was the only SA wine to win gold at the 2009 Mondial de Pinot Noir held in Switzerland in September. The same wine won the Diamond Award for winemaker, Pieter Visser, in the Winemakers Choice Awards programme announced in October.
The new high density (10 000 vines per hectare) Pinot Noir block will hopefully give us even more fruit concentration when this comes into bearing in 2011, and we look forward to this event with great anticipation.
The existing block is situated at 450 metres above sea level, on a site which has never yielded more than 3,8 tons per hectare. Growing conditions on the mountain slope are difficult but it is classic example of hardship creating character.
The Oak Valley Chardonnay 2008, also a Platter 4½ star wine was selected in November for a permanent listing at the Swedish wine monopoly, Systembolaget. This means that the vintage was effectively sold out within months of its release at mid-year. Many producers have never achieved a listing with the Monopoly, and it is a credit to the wine that we achieved this goal with only our 4th vintage of Chardonnay. This wine will hopefully pave the way for listings of our other wines in the range, once the Chardonnay has gained high visibility in their retail outlets which are located throughout Sweden.
The Oak Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2009 was not rated in the latest Platter, as the wine was not ready for tasting by the final cut-off date for the submission of samples. This was due to the final wine containing small components of lightly wooded barrel fermented Semillon and Sauvignon which were still in tank prior to the final blending. We think that the 2009 Sauvignon is one of the best wines we have made and since all the other vintages since 2003 have achieved 4½ Platter stars, we have no reason to see why this wine should not be up there as well. We will submit it in 2010 and put it to the test!
The OV 2008, a Sauvignon/Semillon blend with 40% barrel fermented Semillon blended with Sauvignon Blanc from our single vineyard block located at an altitude of 500 metres above sea level, achieved 4½ Platter stars. This wine, we believe, will improve with some aging as it is an addition to range and is made in limited volumes for the wine lover who is looking for that extra dimension in a wine.
The Oak Valley Blend 2006 was given a 4 star rating, but it is still early days for this wine which spent 18 months in French Oak, 69% of which was new. We have taken a decision to mature our Blend for at least 2-3 years in bottle prior to release, as our view is that the wines, being classically styled and made, have been released too young in the past.
The spring weather conditions have again been cold, wet and testing. Within the next couple of weeks we will be able to have an idea of fruit set on the vines. Although strong winds have been a consistent feature of our climate over the past month, we are hopeful that the vines will come through relatively unscathed.
If the same weather pattern gives us half a chance, we will this Sunday be launching our 3 new release white wines on Midnight Blue, a 60’ Salthouse Sportfisherman that was custom built in New Zealand for my brother Pete, and shipped to Cape Town last Spring. The event is designed to be a fun day with celebrity chef, Peter Goffe-Wood doing the honours around an all-seafood menu. The planned venue is Clifton, but we hope to watch the start of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in Table Bay on the way through. Our guests will hopefully be firmly strapped onto their sea-legs for the occasion!
Oak Valley will once again be hosting the ABSA Cape Epic mountain bike race on the farm between the 26th to the 28th March 2010. This gruelling endurance race takes place over 8 days and 2010 will be the third consecutive year that the farm has been used as a stage location for the event.
Whilst my contribution has happily been restricted to the firing of the start-gun, I have developed an enormous respect for the sheer athleticism of the contestants who come from countries around the globe. It is the most televised biking event after the Tour de France itself with its reputation growing by the year and we are proud to be a part of the race’s success.
Our own MTB trail has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds, partly driven by the Cape Epic exposure, but also because it has become known as one of the finest rides in the Cape.
Our son, Christopher, who has taken a keen interest in Oak Valley’s diverse farming activities since returning this year from a stint as an investment manager in the British Virgin Islands, was this month accepted by Adelaide University to read for their world renowned MBA course in Wine Marketing, starting in February 2010. Christopher already holds a B. Bus Science degree from UCT majoring in Finance– perhaps the ideal qualification for a farmer during these troubled times!
We look forward to the coming vintage with quiet confidence, but I have been in the farming business for long enough to know the next challenge lies just around the corner. This has to be the ultimate profession for eternal optimists like ourselves!
Anthony Rawbone-Viljoen
20th November 2009
