Beaumont Harvest Report 2005

Picked at perfect ripeness, the grapes gave lovely green melon and ripe peachy, pear flavours while retaining their acidity. It will now rest on its lees, for the next ten months, in 400L French oak with only the barrel thief and one iron golf club (for the stirring of the lees) disturbing it. Watch the press for this one!

The 2005 harvest has been a combination of good luck and hard work. A dry winter, no snow, then rain and lightning to spark the vines to life in spring, had us guessing as to what this vintage was going to deliver.

High nitrogen levels due to the lightning gave lots of healthy, strong growth that we kept in check with good canopy management and early exposure of the bunches to the sun. This was followed by a dry summer, with rain only in February, resulting in small berries and a lighter crop especially on the Pinotage and Tinta Barocca.

The annual pre-harvest angst was made even worse when fellow winemakers found that in certain areas their grapes were ripening two weeks earlier than in previous years. This was quickly calmed by tasting through the grapes on the vines. Eventually harvesting started in the first week of February, only two days earlier than last year, and continued at a steady and fairly hectic pace until the middle of March.

Sauvignon Blanc was the first off with lovely crisp acidity, green fig and granadilla flavours. This was then blended with some richer and fatter Semillon to round off that fresh acidity.

We had fantastic fruit from the Chardonnays this year. Both wooded and unwooded are packed full of melon and citrus flavours with the unwooded showing extra green apple crunchiness.

We had to be patient with the reds leaving them to reach full tannin ripeness until the sugars were nicely balanced with the acid levels. Great analysis, and even better flavours and structures show wines with good ageing potential.

The Pinotage is very similar to '04 with lovely cherry and strawberry fruit backed by good structure and fine tannins. The Shiraz carries its white pepper, spices and savoury tones with a great acidity and lovely structure. With 100% natural fermentation (no inoculated yeast) of the Mourvedré, we seem to have enhanced the wild meaty and herbal character that makes it so distinctive and such an exciting blending component with the Shiraz. This year's single Mourvedré will need extra time in old barrels to tame it down.

The Ariane's components are looking very exciting. Rich plummy Merlot, blackcurrant fleshy Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc's herbal, floral characters will be complimented by small amounts of Petit Verdot's structure and Malbec's juicy fruit. This will be a really exciting wine.

A few pairs of size 13 feet helped the smaller feet successfully stomp the Pinotage and Tinta Barocca grapes at our annual port stomp this year. The resulting port is rich with Christmas pudding and stewed fruit aromas and is slowly marrying with the wood matured grape spirits that were used for its fortification.

Light weekly showers followed the harvest and cooled the land down allowing the botrytis to start on the Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. After a Sunday of rain and thunder, where half the world seemed to wash away, botrytis flourished quickly. We harvested a week later at the end of April. As we tipped each crate into the press, plumes of botrytis spores filled the air as the golden nectar slowly started dripping into the press.

What a perfect way to end a very exciting harvest!

Sebastian Beaumont
WINEMAKER