Nurturing the vines

There’s a short cut into the Hemel-en-Aarde valley: the Karwyderskraal road – a graded gravel road that cuts out about a 20km round trip. And on this road, a stone’s throw away from the dam which supplies Hermanus’ water, is a farm called De Bos. It belongs to the Bosman family who are more well known for their Lelienfontein vine nursery in Wellington and, increasingly, for their Adama and Bosman Family Wines.

Planted in meticulously ordered – and monitored – rows are 47 different vines. Marsanne, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Morio Muscat, Grenache Blanc, Tannat, Tinta Amarela and then hosts of different clones of Chenin Blanc, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and more.

It’s the tail end of a long season and many of the bunches on the vines are showing signs of rot or over-ripeness but that’s purely because there’s been a lot of rain this year and the vines haven’t been harvested in places in order to monitor their cropping levels.

Nearby De Bos is one of Tokara’s other vine sources, a vineyard called Siberia – and for good reason because it is consistently cooler there than on its Helshoogte vineyards in Stellenbosch and at the Elgin farm. An idle comment about the previous day’s temperature – just shy of 40 degrees in Cape Town and Stellenbosch – had farm manager Pieter Carstens commenting that if the mercury climbed to 28 degrees at De Bos they were sweltering!

Viticultural consultant Dirk Bosman and Marco Blom of the Wellington operation have a wealth of experience between them. “The first thing any farmer asks me,” said Blom, “is what tonnage per hectare the vine carries. If you tell him this particular clone of Merlot crops at 20 tons a hectare, he’s happy. The second thing is then how many stokkies (vine cuttings) I can deliver!”

Crop levels and disease resistance are the two main factors of interest to them and it was fascinating listening to the two men chat about the merits of different clones of Chenin Blanc, for example. Clone 24 doesn’t rot, said one – even in the wettest or most humid areas. But then the other pointed out that there had been a few problems with millerandange or uneven berry and bunch development in some places.

Blom described Chenin clone 1064 as “die kar-perd kloon” or good ole faithful. “It’s the rock solid pillar which gives you everything you need. It’s been around for ages and is still very popular because it bears well, it’s disease resistant and the quality of the fruit is good.”

Then there was a whole discussion about the withdrawal of the 99 clone of Shiraz from South Africa because of the huge prevalence of Shiraz decline disease – but that clone 300 had been planted at De Bos for five years without showing any symptoms of the same problem which was significant because it was “from the same family as clone 99”.

Standing next to a row of Roobernet, a crossing of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pontac, it was obvious to see why the vine is growing in popularity. There’s no doubt that it can deliver abundant fruit as bunches hung heavy in the fruiting zone, comfortably over 10 tons per hectare, but it has good Cabernet character as well as beautifully dark juice. “Lots of guys use Roobernet to stretch their Cabs or add it to a blend to fill out colour,” said Bosman. “The problem with Roobernet is that it can give too much of a herbaceous or green character if not farmed properly.”

One of the most interesting things was the huge demand for Muscat. “We can’t keep up,” said Blom. Bosman recounted that the American market in particular does not necessarily want Muscat or Muscadel wines – but they want wines that offer the ripe, honeyed and perfumed character that muscat grapes contribute. So Morio Muscat, the Muscat clone of Chenin Blanc, Hanepoot and other Muscat varieties are all high on farmers’ wish list for future plantings.

Also walking through the vineyards, secateurs in hand was world-renowned photographer Alain Proust. He was collecting suitably photogenic bunches of all the different grape varieties he could. “It’s for Graham Knox’s new book, an Atlas of South African grapes,” he said.

– Fiona Mc Donald