Harvest 2021 started off with sparkle this year as Boschendal’s Cap Classique winemaker Danielle Coetsee began picking grapes on the 20th of January. This was 10 days later than the 2020 harvest start date, and a week later than the average start of harvest.
According to Danielle, this was due to the long and cool winter and the fact that when Spring started, the days weren’t as hot as they usually are in more moderate years. “Our first real heatwaves only started hitting around mid-December and Christmas,” she says. Regardless, the quality of the grapes was stellar for producing Boschendal’s finest bubbly, with high acids and optimal sugar levels and ripeness obtained. Of course, 2021 is a harvest like no other for all South African winemakers, as it started during the midst of the National Alcohol Ban.
Danielle reflects on the challenges, and remarks that the team’s positive attitude “just solidifies the resilience, grit and hopefulness that has in recent generations maintained the wine industry. We are all very grateful to be able to harvest and have faith that we will be able to, at some degree, return to normal sooner rather than later”.
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