Articles

The Old Vine Project in South Africa is an attempt to both discover vines and help make wines from vineyards that go back 35 years or more, but also convince growers and buyers that these vines need to be protected and nurtured. Su Birch talks to Andre Morgenthal and Jaco Engelbrecht who have got behind the initiative to ensure it achieves its ambitious goals. By Su Birch | www.the-buyer.net

We have a little experiment on a farm in the Voor-Perdeberg area. It is a block of Cabernet Sauvignon with supplementary irrigation (not the one in the photo, that is Cinsaut for The Blacksmith Barebones). The soil form is Klapmuts of the Malmesbury Shale family, with a moderate water permeability. By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

In Stellenbosch you’ll find two men with a mission – a mission to safeguard South Africa’s ’s heritage of old vines. By Su Birch | www.winemag.co.za

The plight of old vines, or more correctly, of the owners of old vineyards, has been in the media lately. It is becoming increasingly clear that, pretty much at the same time as we have discovered the joy of wines made with fruit harvested from old vines, we’re about to watch our heritage vineyards vanish into extinction. The KWV era which held sway for most of the 20th century ordained that volume was the highway to value. Growers were paid a fixed price based on tonnage, ra

So we where off to our final stop – a bizarre vineyard on the West Coast, planted in what seems to be a flattened sand dune… By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

Our final stop in the Skurfkop mountains was at Henk Laing, producer to several well known wines in South Africa, including, but not limited to, the Cape of Good Hope Laing Semillon, produced by Anthonij Rupert wines. By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

We arrived at Clanwilliam at around 18:00. Our home for the night would be Saint du Barrys. Owners Joan and Wally were fantastic hosts and we felt welcome from the start. By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

What a privilege and honour to be able to work with these beasts. Muscat d’Alexandrie planted in 1973 – 13 years my senior.... By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

André Morgenthal and myself met up with the bloke from Bishops in the Bottelary Hills early this morning. Our mission for the day was to discuss the economics of old vines and to visit some of these vineyards. It was a stunning day to be out in the office, with the sunrise blessing the stunning hills in Bottelary. By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

As part of my job at the Old Vines Project I will map all the vineyards older than 35 years. First I’m doing just the regions. Then I will have to find all the vineyards and GPS them and then each one of them will get their own terrain analysis done, including Area Solar Radiation. By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

Today was fantastic. I did what I love to do – visit exceptional vineyards. By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

In the wake of recent articles about the Grapevine leaf roll dilemma in South Africa (just note this is a global problem, not fixed to South Africa), I would like to throw you a curve ball, but I’ll get to that later. By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

Last year I spotted an almost forgotten patch of vineyards. I saw them from across a hill, hidden on terraces between the bushes and trees... By Jaco Engelbrecht | www.visualviticulture.co.za

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZBtZFzQuKY