Backsberg's Blog

Back Chat

2008-09-03T16:29:00.003+02:00

I have moved to a new home. Please visit Backsberg.co.za/blog to read my latest posts.

Thanks,

SB

Danwin James - SA wine ambassador to South Korea

2008-06-27T14:08:00.002+02:00

Backsberg's Tasting Room Manager, Danwin James (pictured fourth from the right), has just returned from a successful wine trip to South Korea. He was invited by a Korean delegation to go to Seoul to act as an ambassador for South African wine. Danwin participated in lectures and wine judging, rubbing shoulders with some of the top sommeliers from Bordeaux and Burgundy. Danwin's level of excitement on returning from this, his first overseas excursion, is indicative of a hugely stimulating and informative experience. Korean sommeliers want him to come back to South Korea in the near future.

Earlier in the year, a Korean delegation of wine experts visited some 40 wine estates in the Western Cape in search of an ambassador for South African wine. The delegation had a private tasting with Danwin in February at Backsberg. Toward the end of May Danwin was formally invited to represent South African wine in South Korea.

Danwin’s trip was sponsored by the Kyung Hee University. Students of the university can take a rigorous wine appreciation course as part of their studies. They have an annual sommelier event where guests from the world’s wine regions are invited to judge. Danwin was part of the judging panel that evaluated blind tasting, food and wine pairing and decanting and serving of wine by the students.

Danwin reported that Pinotage was a favourite amongst Korean tasters. He was also very impressed with the excellent levels of customer service and hospitality experienced in Seoul and hopes to implement these key learnings from his trip here in South Africa.

I think basically the only Danwin didn't enjoy from the trip was the Korean food- apparently a bit too exotic for his tastes!

Backsberg is Greening the Future

2008-06-09T09:03:00.004+02:00

Yay! We won the the M&G Greening the Future award for energy efficiency and carbon management. Here is the official and a bit more formal and official press release.

Enjoy. SB

Backsberg is Greening the Future
9 June 2008

Backsberg Wine Estate has won the Mail and Guardian Greening the Future award for energy efficiency and carbon management.

The M&G Greening the Future awards are now in their fifth year and seek to recognise the achievements of companies and organisations that work unflaggingly to ensure a cleaner and healthier planet.

Michael Back accepted the honours on behalf of Backsberg at the award ceremony held in Johannesburg on 5 June 2008. There were six different environmental categories that were recognised on the night. Other category winners included the likes of Woolworths, Wesbank, Coca Cola and Omnia Fertilizer. Backsberg is thrilled to be flying the environmental flag for relatively smaller companies.

The judges praised Backsberg for the discerning manner in which it has approached energy usage and conservation. Based on some of the changes implemented on the farm and in the vineyards, the judges cited Backsberg as a great example of a company identifying environmental risks and opportunities.

Backsberg became Carbon Neutral in 2006 through measuring its carbon emissions and taking measures to offset their impact. One of the offset projects was a major tree-planting program in the nearby town Klapmuts. Since then Backsberg has continued in its quest to reduce its impact on the environment.

Results from the first and second carbon audits showed that electricity usage and fossil fuel consumption are the major contributors towards Backsberg’s carbon footprint. Projects that are underway to reduce the carbon footprint even further include a methane digestor and a woodlot research project carried out in conjunction with the University of Stellenbosch. The methane digestor will be used to decompose poultry litter and waste grape skins in order to generate methane gas. The purpose of the woodlot programme is to make use of the calorific value of optimal tree type. The intention of both these projects is to reduce dependence on electricity and fossil fuels in the future

Other fundamental decisions taken include replacing all tractors and farm vehicles with the smallest and most fuel-efficient possible on the market. There have also been significant changes in thinking regarding vineyard layout and yields. Vineyard layouts have been changed to decrease the amount of running metres or kilometers a tractor has to drive per hectare. All of these measures are in keeping with the belief that protecting the environment and producing top quality wines are parallel goals.

The national electricity supplier, Eskom, sponsored the award for energy efficiency and carbon management. This certainly contributes to raising awareness about the need to protect the environment for future generations.

Backsberg now offers visitors to the Estate the opportunity to also make a difference to the environment. Visitors will be able to purchase trees directly from the Backsberg tasting room to offset carbon emissions caused by travelling to the Estate or other activities.

neutral (adj.) means indifferent, disinterested, dispassionate…
Carbon Neutral since 2006 means the opposite

Congrats to Noeleen

2008-06-03T08:39:00.003+02:00

Noeleen, our in house lab analyst, together with our cellar guys, attended and completed the Food Bev Seta Wine processing course. Congrats to Noeleen who came third overall in an exam written by about 250 people!

Back from the US

2008-05-19T11:36:00.002+02:00

My being on a very hectic sales trip to the US is the reason behind my mild blogging hiatus. I have just arrived back on the farm. Give me a chance to get me ducks in a row and then I will be back to blogging. SB

A Pressing Matter

2008-04-10T08:36:00.008+02:00

Harvest, or at least the picking grapes part of it, finished last week at Backsberg. Thank Bacchus (that's the God of wine). We have a few tanks still fermenting and the greater part of the last few days has been spent pressing tanks. When I say 'pressing tanks' I don't mean pressing a 20 000 litre stainless steel tank itself. Pressing refers to the contents of the tank after fermentation is complete.

Yesterday we pressed a tank of Cab. Taking a step back for a moment, when the grape juice ferments to wine, the skins and pips rise to the top of the tank and form what's called the cap, with the wine underneath. So, when you press a tank, you first drain off all the wine. This wine is known as free run (i.e it hasn't undergone any pressing). You are then left with all the skins plus a fair amount of wine at the bottom of the tank.

We don't pump any skins because you risk releasing some very harsh tannins into the wine- not a cool thing to do. So, getting all the skins out of the tank to the press comes down to some good old fashioned manual labour- lots of fun. Opening the tank door is also a fairly nerve wracking thing. Somehow you expect to be flooded with wine , but it's not quite that dramatic. Slowly but surely you open the door and allow the remaining wine to drain into a bak (Afrikaans for a container of sorts). Cab generally drains quickly, so after a short while you can open the tank door completely and start shovelling out the skins.

To get out all the skins someone has to actually get into the tank. You have to be quite careful because there is still a lot of carbon dioxide (from the fermentation) inside. We place an extractor fan at the top of the tank, preventing the person inside from passing out!

We have a lift system to get all the bakke of skins to the press. The press itself is a cylindrical like mechanism. We have two presses, both of the pneumatic variety, i.e. they have a sac inside which can exert various levels of pressure on the skins. The old school presses literally contained two metal plates which squashed the skins together...very Spanish Inquisition.

So once all the skins have been tipped from the bakke into the press, we let wine run out of the press, which is still part of the free run. Then you start the press cycle. In the case of red wine, the cycle is, on average, about one and half hours long. This is generally shorter than white wine cycles. The press exerts increasing amounts of pressure on the skins allowing the remaining wine to drain off. Depending on the taste of the pressings (which you taste continuously throughout the process) we would generally not exert more than between 1.6-1.8 bars of pressure on the skins. To give you an idea, the pressure in a car tyre is about 2.3 bars.

We keep the pressed wine separate from the main batch. If you treat it very carefully it can become some of your best wine and a really interesting blending component.

That's pressing in a nutshell.

SB

Make Millions through Investing in Wine?

2008-04-04T15:32:00.001+02:00

I recently received a rather flattering email. The message was passed on to me on the grounds that I was a 'professional in the field' [of wine]. It posed a number of interesting questions on investing in wine. Whilst as yet I don't consider myself a pro, I do like to think I have bit of gray matter and with the backing of some financial economics I can be build a logical argument. Here are the questions and my attempt to answer them:

Is wine a good investment?
I hate to answer a question with a question, but what is a good investment? What criteria are you applying? Is investing in a house a good investment or an art piece or a doughnut, for that matter. I think, to delve into a touch of finance, it comes down to your required rate of return. By that I mean, what does an investment have to deliver to you, either in terms of a monetary return or aesthetic pleasure (if you drink your own stock!) in order to justify that investment. If you believe the investment in wine is going to deliver more than that threshold, then go for it.

How does one approach it?
If you are going to be doing the investment yourself I think you certainly need to have a high level of wine knowledge. If you don't have the requisite knowledge you have to set about either acquiring it yourself or finding a wine expert to invest on your behalf. Acquiring a high level of wine knowledge is a long term project and wine experts to advise on purchases are in short supply in South Africa, so no easy answers there.

What should the substance of your portfolio be?
Most serious wine portfolios that I know about are fairly Old World driven, with French wines predominating. Italian, Spanish and to as lesser extent some New World wines tend to make up the rest of a portfolio. That is not to say you can't have a portfolio more weighted to South African wines. I don't think, however, that you can expect to see the same returns with SA wines as you would if have some of the blue chip Bordeaux wines in your cellar.

How / what to buy?
To get hold of the wine you want you would need to establish links with various wine merchants here in South Africa and abroad to get to the point of a diversified portfolio. The 'what to buy?' question is a tough one. I think you need to split you portfolio between more established brands and those which are below the radar. The weighting of those two categories would be dependent on your appetite for risk.

Is it only for the rich?
Well, without wanting to douse hopes, I don't think you can be concerned about your next meal or paying the rent, if you are going to make a serious investment into wine with the purpose of making a significant financial return. I don't think this is true, however, if your purpose is one of aesthetic pleasure, i.e. you just want to enjoy a decent bottle of wine. I think most of us, including myself, subscribe to the latter category. Don't go out for dinner or don't shop at Woolworths for a month and use that money to buy a couple of good bottles of wine!

What are the rules of wine investment?
Like any investment making serious dosh requires you to take a contrarian (against the market consensus view) and being right about that view too! So if the market thinks that a certain vintage of wines from an area are average, but you are convinced that they are great you can buy them on the cheap. If the market is proven wrong then you will enjoy a good profit with the price upgrade . I think there are very solid returns to be made through investing in certain established brands. And don't forget storage- you must be able to provide a decent home for your wines (The pic up top is a sneak peak at my dad/Backsberg's stash of wine).

Here's to enjoying wine whichever way you.

SB

The Reason Why a Wine Bottle is 750ml

2008-04-03T18:34:00.004+02:00

Last night I went to my virgin Rootstock meeting at Kleine Zalze. Rootstock brings together the younger members of the wine industry in a forum to debate relevant current issues. Last night Robert Joseph, well-known UK wine writer, was the speaker. The main thesis of his talk was about slaying some of the sacrificial cows of the wine industry.

One of the many interesting points made during the evening concerned the reason behind the size of a normal wine bottle and how it has become convention. The chief reason is not that God divined it so, but rather that the volume of a 750ml bottle is equivalent to the lung capacity of the average 19th Century French glass blower! Nothing more, nothing less.

SB

Pic courtesy of wine.co.za

Making Sense of Wine Barrels

2008-03-26T16:23:00.005+02:00

Yesterday at Backsberg, I was filling some barrels with cabernet (pic below), and in the job of filling barrels there is an amount of time available for (constructive) daydreaming. To be fair, you can hardly take your laptop to the barrels and get through some emails whilst filling them. It requires just enough attention that you can't walk away and do something else, but not enough constant concentration to keep you focussed on that barrel the whole time.

Anyways, the point is my thoughts wondered to the whole notion of a barrel. For me, a tremendous amount of the art of wine making consists in one's barrel selection- choosing the right barrel for the right wine.

Let's take a step back for a minute to the basics:

-Made from? Wine barrels are made from Oak wood
-From? The majority of the Oak is sourced from France and to a lesser extent the US and a few other countries
-Why there? The climate is of such a nature that the trees grow at the right speed
-Right speed? Well, in SA, because it so much warmer (than France), oak trees would grow too fast for barrel production. The wood would be too porous
-Porous? In a cooler climate (such as parts of France), the trees grow slower, and the grain of the wood is finer (and less porous) resulting in a more gentle extraction.
-Extraction? This refers to how the wine takes up the wood flavour and character.

On the barrel itself there are number of clues as to its character. Firstly, there is the cooperage. This is the brand of barrel. Just like you have Nike or Addidas you have a whole range of different cooperages. The barrel pictured above is made by Francois Freres. There are number of different forests in France where the wood for the barrels originate. Some of the main forests include Allier, Limousin, Nevers, Tronçais and Vosges. The 'N' on the barrel indicates the wood is from the Nevers forest. The other major variable with barrels is toasting. When the barrel is put together the wood (on the inside of the barrel) is exposed to an open fire for a certain amount of time. This process is known as toasting. The 'MT' indicates that the barrel is of the medium toast variety. There is also a major spectrum within toasting- you can get light, medium and heavy toasts and within that, light plus or medium minus...you get the picture.

That's the basics!

The white sticker, placed so neatly on the barrel, is for our records. The wine in the barrel is the Pumphouse Shiraz 2007.

SB

Painting the Town Red

2008-03-20T07:56:00.005+02:00

The cellar is burgeoning with red wine at the moment. This is on the back of the last week or so of harvesting where we have taken in much of our cab and shiraz. Its been a juggling act of timing the pressing of red wine tanks, cleaning tanks, refilling them, filling barrels plus an ever increasing pump over schedule. Oy!

It is incredibly interesting to monitor and track the fermentation of the various batches of wine and witness how the colour, aroma and taste changes over the course of the fermentation. Every morning we go through the cellar and record the sugar and temperature level and taste the wine. Based on this, we adjust the cooling or make any necessary additions to the wine to ensure the fermentation runs according to plan.

Studying economics laid the foundation for a deep love for graphing numbers and graphs themselves (I'm serious). Graphing the fermentation makes it far easier to see what is really happening. Here is an example of a merlot ferment at Backsberg. (Note that 'balling' refers to the sugar level)

Ideally, once the wine is fermenting (and the sugar level dropping) one wants the ferment to be taking place between 26-30 degree celsius. This is especially key in the first number of days of fermentation. Beyond 30 degrees the yeast (which you add for fermentation) cells are not at all happy with life and they start dying off, and this means trouble.

Above is a pic of me mixing some yeast to add to a tank of shiraz that we just harvested. Temperature is also key in this instance. Here the yeast are happy with life at around 38 degrees celsius. SB

A (Hectic) Backsberg Week in Review

2008-03-06T15:39:00.007+02:00

Things have been very busy on the farm the last week. Last Saturday we had a small harvest day with some key restaurant clients (and their kids). Some serious harvesting and stomping of grapes were involved. We also did a walk and taste around the farm where people could taste wine from the block it was produced along with the grapes themselves.

In the cellar, there is a lot of fermentation going on. We are busy, amongst other things, fermenting viognier, chardonnnay and sauvignon blanc in barrel. Below you can see the bung we use during barrel fermentation which allows the carbon dioxide to be released.

We have harvested a mix of red and white grapes this week. On Monday we took off some sangiovese and barbera, both Italian varieties. These varieties are destined for our Elbar Wine. A question that came up during the harvest day was about the addition of the 'r' to 'Elba'. Originally, we named the wine after the Italian island Elba, as a symbol of the Mediterranean. We hadn't intended to export the wine, but some of our importers really liked the wine and thus exports ensued. Changing the name slightly is a preventative measure on our part because we know that the Europeans can be a bit sticky on geography specific names. We don't want to get a year or two down the line and have to change the name entirely!

On Tuesday we harvested some chardonnay from vineyards we have established in the Hoewhoek area (close to Elgin). The thinking behind these vineyards is that we can have a component from a cooler climate, to add complexity to the wine. Wednesday saw us harvesting the last of our merlot and on Thursday we harvested some bush vine chenin for the small amount of Special Late Harvest that we produce. For Special Late Harvest we let the grapes hang a lot longer than we would in order to get the sugar up.

Enjoy the weekend- I know I will.

SB

Merlot in Moscow

2008-03-04T17:47:00.003+02:00

Here's a pic snapped in a wine shop in Moscow, Russia.

The Backsberg Merlot 2007 is retailing for 529 Russian Rubles, which at an exchange rate of about 3 Rubles to the Rand makes the retail price about R173.

I am a bit curious about the write-up (click on the image and check the text), unfortunately my Russian is a bit rusty, so if anyone can translate please let me know!

SB

P.S. Nice one on the Simonsig Chardonnay for getting to Russia with love as well.

Western Cape Minister of Agriculture visits Backsberg

2008-02-28T08:57:00.006+02:00

On Thursday afternoon the Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Mr Cobus Dowry, came to visit the farm. The main motivation for his visit was to chat to my dad about some of the environmental and energy saving measures that we have implemented on the farm and in the winery.

We took the minster around the farm explaining the steps we have taken to becoming carbon neutral and the plan going forwards of making further improvements to our carbon footprint.

We spoke about the Eskom electricity crisis and the threat it can potentially pose to quality in the winery during harvest. If the power is off then, amongst other things, the cooling of wine in the winery cannot be controlled. If the wine is busy fermenting and the temperature goes too high then one can be faced with some major problems.

A measure that we have put in place to combat the electricity situation, is to build two sizeable water banks at the back of the winery. During off peak electricity tariff times (10pm-6am) we cool the 200 000 litres of stored water to between 3-5 degrees celcius. This gives us cooling capacity throughout the day and saves us the money we would have spent on electricity for cooling during the high and standard tariff periods. In the event that the electricity does go down, then we can hook up a small generator to a circulating pump and voilà, cooling in the winery. Investing in generator capacity for cooling and to run an entire winery during harvest would literally have cost millions. Apart from the direct cost saving to us, the added plus is that we are reducing demand for electricity during high and standard tariff periods and thus the capacity that Eskom needs to provide.

We went one step further and clad the water banks with straw bales and re-used some shade cloth to cover the roof of the water banks to ensure that the water stays as cool as possible during the day.

Other more recent projects on the go, that we showed the minister, include a methane digester which uses winery and farm waste to generate methane and a woodlot research program we are working with the University of Stellenbosch on to investigate the biomass of a number of different tree species.

SB

A Week of Whites

2008-02-21T09:44:00.005+02:00

This week is turning out to be all about our white grapes. On Monday we harvested sauvignon blanc. Tuesday saw us harvest our prime Chardonnay (pictured in the bins above). Thankfully, the effort we put in taking out leaves post the rain paid off with little to no evidence of rot in the grapes. Wednesday was a busy day with us taking in viognier, some more sauvignon blanc and a small amount of semillion.

Here is a pic from one of the viognier blocks that we harvested on Wednesday. In the valley one can see the koppie known as Babylonstoren. The farm which Backsberg is situated on is actually know as Klein Babylonstoren (Small Tower of Babylon in English) derived from the koppie's name.

The early morning slots of today and tomorrow are being spent/going to be spent at Durbanville at our sauvignon blanc vineyard on Altydgedacht. The grapes that have come in this morning taste and look fantastic!

SB

Let the Pump Overs Begin

2008-02-18T15:47:00.005+02:00

The harvesting of our merlot towards the end of last week ushered in the beginning of pump overs at Backsberg. The idea of a pump over is to circulate the juice/wine out the bottom of a tank (seen above), up and back over the cap of skins formed at the top of the tank. This circulation encourages both colour and flavour extraction in the case of red wine.

For at least the first half of the pump over we use a hose, making sure the entire cap (at the top of the tank) is soaked. Then depending on the length of the pump over we may attach a sprinkler (like below) to distribute the juice/wine over the top.

Another version of the pump over is the punch down (example below), a slightly more physical challenge. The punch down tool involves a metal rod with a flat plate at the one end. Whilst on my gap year in 2003, I worked at Stephen Ross Wine Cellars in California. Stephen is a pinot noir specialist and (unfortunately for me) great proponent of the punch down. Let's just say that after a month or so of punch downs what hadn't killed me, had made me stronger, literally. SB

This pic is courtesy of Avalon Wine Tours Australia.

Muchos Merlot

2008-02-14T11:03:00.007+02:00

The last two days have seen us harvest the majority of our Merlot on Backsberg. The quality looks fantastic. The berries are really small with great flavour concentration, as well as being fairly loose on the bunch (evidenced below) allowing the sun to ripen just about every berry uniformly. Above you can see the grapes in a trailer before they are tipped into the crusher.

Here's a pic of me on top of tank 95, a 12.5 thousand litre tank and home to some of the merlot for now.

We are all excited about the prospects of the merlot. No doubt it will make the perfect accompaniment to a Valentine's date in years to come. On that note, Happy Valentine's Day. I am still looking for a date myself! SB

Sunday Rainy Sunday

2008-02-12T07:58:00.000+02:00

The Western Cape experienced fairly heavy rain this past Sunday. With sugars, especially with the white varietals, already high there are some major risks at play. They are namely grape rot and dilution of flavours.

Backsberg's vineyards were not overly stressed (ie. in need of water) in the run up to Sunday and so fortunately the risk of the vines slurping (literally) up all the water and diluting flavour concentration, is low. To combat the risk of rot, we are going through our white blocks and taking out any excess leaves from underneath the canopy and from within the canopy itself (Clive, the farm manager, calls it a milking-the-cow action). This action is vital because we don't want to go and over expose the bunches to the sun. The key idea is opening the vines up sufficiently to allow the wind to dry off any moisture and reduce the risk of rot. The first vineyard on the agenda this morning was a block of viognier. I tried to take the pic above, kneeling on the ground. One can see the slightly exposed bunches from below with the leaves discarded on the ground.

Fortunately, the south-easter is playing its part this morning in drying things up. Looking at the weather report, temperatures are in the mid 20s this week which is also good, because high temperatures serve to accelerate any cases of rot. So, things are looking postive. Here is a fetching pic from the viognier looking out over vallery towards Paarl Rock. SB

Backsberg Week in Review

2008-02-05T11:04:00.004+02:00

Last week Tuesday and Wednesday we harvested some merlot and cab sav respectively for our Backsberg Rosé. Both the blocks of vineyards are carrying a heavy-ish crop. We had already dropped some of the fruit weeks back, but still felt things were on the heavy side. Merlot grapes have this tendency to sometimes grow in clumps (or 'koeke') with the inside bunches lagging the rest of the bunches in terms of ripeness. Thus, we went through the merlot block and took off these inner bunches. Because this was a slightly trickier job than purely harvesting the entire block we decided to start at first light (i.e 5:45am) instead of the usual 4am start.

Here is a view from the block.

Here is Pieter who we placed in the trailer to assist the carriers offload the crates of grapes in a slightly more gentle manner. Just chucking the grapes in the trailer can lead to bruising of the grape skins and the releasing of unwanted tannins.

On Wednesday we also took in some pinot noir for our sparkling wine (which is a blend of chardonnnay and the pinot).

We didn't harvest for the rest of the week, but Thursday saw me going through to our Durbanville sauvignon blanc vineyard to check on the progress. The vineyard is established on the farm, Altydgedacht. The grapes we tasted in the vineyard were nothing short of delicious- I couldn't stop munching on them! The grapes, without question, are going into the John Martin, our reserve Sauvignon Blanc. Here is a pic of the vineyard.

To round off the week I did a last minute wine delivery on Friday evening to a ship that is docked at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The ship, The World, does a two year route, yes you guessed it...around the world. Chatting to the food and beverage managed I gathered that ship was not your normal cruise liner, but rather comprised of a number of luxury apartments which were occupied on a time-share basis. So you could hop on for that part of the trip which interested you...shame very rough:)

I do hope the Backsberg Cabernet Sauvignon and the Sauvignon Blanc, which they ordered, will ease the suffering!

SB

A Sparkling Morning at Backsberg

2008-01-29T16:43:00.000+02:00

Yesterday morning kick started at the fresh time of 3:15am. I got up to go fetch breakfast (evidenced below in the back of my Landy) for the pickers. They arrived on the farm at 3:45ish and immediately tucked into their peanut butter and jam samie plus a crunchy apple.

At the same time they were divided into their picking teams: red, green, blue and yellow. Each respective team is marshalled by a team leader (Maria, Moos, Hendrik and Dantjie) who oversee the picking and make sure that both efficiency and efficacy are on point. The picking team mostly consist of ladies since they are generally speaking more gentle with the grapes! The gentleman assist in carrying crates of grapes from the pickers to the trailers (normally two carriers per team). At each grape trailer we have two people in charge of removing any leaves that may have crept into the crates.

Unfortunately my camera phone didn't really cope with the lighting situation or lack there of, but in the pic below you can see a leaf QC lady armed with her headlamp making sure that the bins of chardonnay grapes were sans any leaves. The leaves can lead to nasty green flavours in the wine if they aren't removed.

The scene of of all the pickers with their headlights was very sci-fi-esque. The dark silhouette of the Simonsberg mountain above the slopes also contributed to the dramatic quality of the morning.

By about 5:45 the light started to glint onto the Simonsberg (pic below)...

...and by 6ish the sun made an appearance

The chardonnay grapes are destined for both our kosher and our normal sparkling wine. They were whole bunch pressed. The logic behind this is that if you crush chardonnay grapes you release unpleasant phenolic characters into the wine.

Yay, the first day of harvest is under the belt!

SB

Backsberg is Ready to go for Harvest 2008

2008-01-27T18:03:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow is the first day of the 2008 vintage. We are going to be picking some chardonnay to make a base wine for a kosher sparkling wine. To our knowledge this is going to be the first kosher sparkling produced in South Africa to date, which is quite cool.

Talking about cool, in the temperature sense, we are going to start harvesting at a bright and breezy 4am tomorrow morning. At 4am it is still dark, so the pickers are going to be armed with camping headlights to illuminate the way. Starting that early allows us to get the majority of the fruit into the cellar whilst it is still cool, which is great for wine quality. We also use far less energy in the cellar since we don't need to cool down the grapes. Whilst for the pickers getting up to start work at 4am is a bit of mission it does mean that by midday, work is finished. So it's a win win win.

SB

The 1st Sugar Sample of '08

2008-01-22T21:03:00.000+02:00

I had to document the start of my first sugar sample of the 2008 vintage (7am this morning to be exact). The vineyard in the background is a chardonnay block on Sonop, a satellite farm we have a few kms down the road from Backsberg.

Taking a sample involves trying to get the precise sugar level of the vineyard. A bunch of grapes tends to ripen from the bottom upwards. Therefore to get an accurate sample one should take grapes from the bottom, middle and top of various bunches throughout the vineyard. One also alternates between the morning and afternoon sun side of the vineyard rows to account for possible differences in this regard.

The net of the sample was that the grapes at this block have a way to go in terms of ripeness.

SB

3 days 300 wines

2008-01-22T20:25:00.000+02:00

I attended the Wine Tasting Academy over this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The three-day event was put together by WINE Magazine and Michael Fridjhon. My being there was borne out of a need to fast track my wine tasting experience. I was definitely punching just slightly above my weight category with most of the other course attendees being wine makers, sommeliers, wine buyers and wine writers-nothing like being thrown in the deep end.

The weekend was rigorous. We tasted whites (the Backsberg Viognier was tasted and showed very well- thank goodness), reds, fizz and fortified wines. Young wines, old wines and really old wines. There was a fair amount of foreign wine on offer too, which was great since I have had little exposure in this department. As the weekend wore on I definitely grew in confidence and with that seemed to come an increased deftness in identifying wine character.

Yes, sure you can be born with an exceptional palate (and there were some very impressive palates on the course), but my overriding conclusion from the weekend was that it's all about experience. The more you can drink, or at least taste and be exposed to, the better.

Hats off to KWV, the 1930 Muscadel is delicious.

SB

The US of A is the Promised Land

2008-01-17T21:10:00.000+02:00

Today I attended a VinPro Information Day in Goudini, of all places. Lets just say, I didn't get the fashion memo. It appeared that wearing khaki chinos and short sleeve shirts were obligatory if you were in the wine industry. I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt- which in the end proved lucky since Goudini is not exactly a place of cool ocean breezes.

VinPro is an organization that provides technical support to wine producers on a broad range of relevant wine topics. There were four main speakers with talks on the SA economy, the international wine market in 2008, trends in UK wine retail markets and lastly, but probably most importantly, marketing challenges facing wine brands.

I want to pick up on one point made by Dr Johan Bruwer from Adelaide University- the US represents a major opportunity for South African producers. 26% of wine consumption in the US is made up of imports, with a forecasted [when VinPro uploads the presentations I will insert the source of these stats] 2.6% pa growth in consumption predicted for the next five years. Crucially, however, that growth has been and continues to occur at the higher prices points. We, as South Africa, need to take advantage of that growth. Currently, of the Southern Hemisphere countries, Australia is really kicking proverbial butt, but with a major drought on the go in Oz and supply issues on the way, South Africa has an opportunity to grab some of that market share.

SB

When VinPro uploads the presentations to their website, I will link them to the blog.

Pic courtesy of http://ironmitch.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html

Back to Blogging- Véraison Thin

2008-01-16T18:29:00.000+02:00

Firstly, Happy 2008.

After a bit of an economics honours thesis/final exams induced blogging hiatus, I have started working full-time at the farm since the beginning of Jan. Now I am in a much better position to blog about Backsberg happenings.

On the back of a seriously long winter season and much rain, harvest is about two weeks late. After a fairly quiet first two weeks of 2008, véraison is kicking in nicely now. The word ‘véraison’ being the French word to describe the changing of colour of the grapes. This time signals the ripening process in the run up to harvest.

If one considers a block of vineyard, 1st prize, from a quality perspective, is that entire block ripens and is ready to harvest at the same time. It’s no good, if you are aiming for a specific sugar level, and half the block is underripe and the other half is overripe. This would lead to unwanted green and jammy flavours respectively. Much of the preparatory vineyard work is geared to getting uniform ripeness.

To aid this uniform ripeness, we do a véraison thin. That is, we go through the vineyard and we take off all the greenish bunches as well as bunches which show colour variability. The reason to do this now is that soon most of the bunches will have changed colour and it would be impossible to recognise which bunches are behind in terms of ripeness.

This morning we did some véraison thinning on a block of Cabernet Sauvignon. Above is a pic, taken just after 6:30am (the early mornings are something of an adaptation for me after uni life!) demonstrating some unwanted variability next to great bunch of Cab.

SB

Backsberg hits the big time with Manto Parody!

2007-08-29T11:13:00.000+02:00

Backsberg manages to make it into a parody of our infamous South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. For those who are not familiar with our inimitable (not a hint of irony) minister, she has been accused of having a mild drinking problem, and using taxpayers money to have her liver fixed up! She is probably most well know for her somewhat checkered comments on HIV AIDS remedies.

There was a hilarious parody aired on East Coast Radio featuring Backsberg '69s.

SB

Minor markups, Great Value

2007-08-22T17:58:00.001+02:00

In response to my last posting Peter May of the Pinotage Club posed the question: 'Why does Backsberg mark up wines sold at the winery restaurant?'.

Our restaurant sells wine at 10-15% more than you would buy it on the estate. This is basically to cover the operational costs of the restaurant, for example, staff costs, cleaning, breakages of glass ect. We have kept the markups as low as possible to enable our customers to try quality wines at great value. Put in context the restaurant wine prices are similar to what you would expect to find in a retail outlet.

In comparison, in Cape Town (where I am based), 100 to 300% markups in restaurants are the norm – some more justifiably (e.g. those with extensive wine lists and proper storage facilities) and some less justifiably (e.g. with minimal listings who restock from a retail outlet next to them everyday!).

In the restaurant setting: here's to minor markups and great value!

SB

A Premium for Wine

2007-08-17T08:25:00.000+02:00

Here is a great posting from the Economist.com blog called Free Exchange, entitled Discover you dinner economist:

'RESTAURANT wine, as we all well know, goes for a bit more than wholesale. The markup on a bottle of wine from a restaurant's wine list might typically be anywhere between 50 and 500 percent. This state of affairs is the reason that "drink cross-subsidizes quality food," as Tyler Cowen notes, and the idea of a fine dining subsidy leads Ezra Klein to formulate an optimal dining out strategy. Namely, where wine markups appear to be high just eat and don't drink; the food should be a deal.

But why is it that restaurants are able to mark wine up to such a great extent? It could be that exclusive rights to the sale of alcohol within a restaurant limits competition, allowing proprieters to capture a larger portion of an alcohol buyer's consumer surplus relative to a high street retailer. This explanation is problematic, however, given the generally common practice of allowing diners to pay a corkage fee in order to bring in their own bottles. It's also possible that the range of drinks and vintages available, with varying prices and markups, allow restaurants to price discriminate, capturing more consumer surplus from their patrons in that way.

Stephen Dubner at the Freakonomics blog suspects that wine markups are possible because diners wish to signal certain positive attributes to their dining partners--either knowledge about wine or deep pockets, for instance. That certainly seems reasonable. I would add that the price quoted on a wine list includes not just the wine, but also an expertise premium. In other words, diners are paying for wine, but also for the knowledge that the wine they select will be good. When choosing a bottle in a wine shop, usually from a dizzying array of bottles hailing from regions scattered across the globe, a consumer either knows very little about the ultimate purchase, in which case there is a fair probability that one's relatively cheap wine will be bad or inappropriate given the situation, or the consumer knows a great deal, in which case he has invested time and energy into obtaining the knowledge necessary to get value for the money spent on a bottle.

By narrowing potential wine choices to a smaller, more manageable list and providing a server or sommelier to assist in decision-taking, a restaurateur adds considerable value to a bottle relative to its retail shop counterpart. Perhaps not enough to account for the entire markup, but definitely enough to encourage plenty of happy tipplers to swirl, sniff, and sip.'

SB

Backsberg in the Mail & Guardian

2007-08-08T10:07:00.000+02:00

We got a nice mention in an article in the Mail and Guardian Online. In the article Climate countdown in the carbon kingdom, Richard Calland points to the need for an 'integrated vision for sustainable development'. Calland also suggests that 'visionary leadership' in the battle against climate change is a necessity.

We are mentioned in the following paragraph:

'Some companies are adapting fast. SABMiller is developing new business models for different markets and supply chains in Africa -- making an inexpensive yet safe sorghum-based beer, for instance. Backsberg in the Western Cape is now the first carbon neutral wine farm in South Africa and, in response to what it rightly perceives to be a shift in consumer attitudes in European markets, will proudly be able to label its bottles accordingly.'

SB

Tipping Points for Wine?

2007-08-02T08:36:00.000+02:00

I have just started reading the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I have only read the introduction and chapter 1 thus far, but they have prompted me to begin to think about the occurrence of tipping points within the wine industry.

Firstly, per the Gladwell website a tipping point is '... is that magic moment when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire'.

Gladwell suggests that this phenomenon is akin to epidemics. The question for wine producers is how does one 'deliberately start and control positive epidemics of our own?'

For this post I want to just share what Gladwell posits as 'The 3 Rules of Epidemics':

I quote from his online reading guide.

'The Law of the Few:

The 80/20 Principle states that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the 'work' will be done by 20 percent of the participants. This idea is central to the Law of the Few theory where a tiny percentage of people do the majority of work. But say you took those 20 people who do all the "work" away, would changes or epidemics never occur or would the next 20 people step into that role and assume the position of "workers"? Is one born an exceptional person, a 'one of the few,' or could someone eventually learn how to become a member of this exceptional group?

Stickiness Factor:

Stickiness means that a message makes an impact and doesn't go in one ear and out the other. Take a simple, every day example of this. Think about a song that you couldn't get out of your head or that television commercial you still remember from when you were a kid. Could you pinpoint what it is you think makes them "sticky?"

The Power of Context:

This says that human beings are a lot more sensitive to their environment than they may seem. How attuned are you to your environment and its effect on you? Have you felt your mood change because of the surroundings even if it's as subtle as standing near a couple in a bitter argument or being in a cluttered, messy bedroom?'

A challenge to wine producers is to internalise those rules and come up with a plan to use them in an effort to drive sales.

SB

Woman Winemaker of the Year

2007-08-01T09:37:00.000+02:00

Last week the Landbou Weekblad SA Woman Winemaker of the year was announced. There were 53 entries into the competition. 6 winemakers made it to the final. Included in that 6 was Alicia Rechner, Backsberg's winemaker.

Whilst Alicia didn't walk away with the top prize, making the final was a serious feather in the cap.

For more on the competition visit the SA Woman Winemaker site.

A Hint of Pepper

2007-07-31T08:56:00.000+02:00

Here's a really interesting article from the Mail and Guardian entitled Australian scientists sniff out wine's peppery aroma:

Australian scientists said on Tuesday they had isolated the substance that gives red wine its peppery aroma, allowing them to modulate the bouquet of one of the country's most popular varieties.

The Australian Wine Research Institute said its scientists spent five years trying to find out what gave Shiraz wine its destinctive black pepper fragrance before identifying a single compound responsible for the spicy smell.

The compound, known as alpha-ylangene, is so powerful that a single drop is enough to make an entire Olympic-size swimming pool smell peppery, institute researcher Mango Parker told a wine industry conference.

Parker said the discovery could have major implications for the multibillion-dollar Australian wine industry, as Shiraz constitutes one-fifth of its output and is by far the most popular red variety.

"If you can measure something, you can understand its behaviour and how to control it," she said.

Parker said the discovery meant winemakers may one day alter the pepper aroma in red wine the same way they now alter its characteristics with different yeast varieties or oak barrel fermentation.

While scientific instruments such as a mass spectrometer were used to track down the aroma compound, which has a concentration of one part per billion, Parker said old-fashioned methods were the most effective.

"At the end of the day, a lot of people did a lot of sniffing throughout the research," she said.

"Our noses were our most sensible and relable detectors." - AFP

Wine is Intimidating

2007-07-30T19:26:00.001+02:00

Today was the first day of the second semester at the University of Cape Town. I was in class, chatting with a buddy of mine who recounted to me how he had started to drink wine in the holiday. He told me about how he had never felt comfortable drinking wine. He said he found the whole deal very intimidating.

The tipping point for him was a trip out to Backsberg as part of a wee end of 1st semester Economics Honours party. As part of the party, we did an informal tasting in our vat cellar. The tasting included some basic wine education delivered in a fun-filled way. It sounds perhaps a bit cheesy, but for him, realising that wine could actually be fun, made all the difference.

As producers, everyone is trying to increase market share, and as such trying to attract new wine drinkers. I think the implicit intimidatory nature of wine should be uppermost in the minds of the marketing departments and efforts made to reduce it.

SB

Picture courtesy of allposters.com

Backsberg stands out at Sunday Times Food Show says Pendock

2007-07-09T22:17:00.000+02:00

Backsberg's tasting room manager/sommelier Danwin James combined with chef Philippe Wagenführer to pair food and wine at the recent Sunday Time Food Show.

Neil Pendock writes, 'Most normal people drink wine in conjunction with food and Backsberg were the only producers to make the connection and have sommelier Danwin James match up food with imaginative chef Philippe Wagenführer. But then Backsberg are usually riding the crest of the wave as their gay and carbon-friendly wines show'.

Pendock in the same aricle, Sunday Times Food Show - A Missed Opportunity, railed against the wine industry's involvement in the show, or at least lack thereof. Perhaps there is more to be done, in terms of producers as a whole realising that food and wine are so fundamentally intertwined.

What do you think?

SB

A Team Effort

2007-06-05T16:16:00.001+02:00

Here is the winery team, proudly showcasing the the Old Mutual Wine Trophy awards: the fruits of their labour. Pictured top (from left to right) is Sam, Doon, Force, Izak, Piet, Nolene and Alicia. Next is Force with the Best Chardonnay Trophy followed by Alicia, in the tasting room, with both the Best Chardonnay and Best White Wine Trophies.

Many smiles in the winery today!

SB

Backsberg's Babylons Toren Chardonnay takes 1st prize at the Trophy Wine Show

2007-06-04T19:59:00.000+02:00

The Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show awards function was held today, in Cape Town, at the Vineyard Hotel. It was a really good day at the office! Backsberg received the Miele Trophy for the Best Chardonnay for the Backsberg Babylons Toren Chardonnay 2003. The same wine went on to win the Trophy for the Best White Wine with a score of 96.

The Babylons Toren selection Chardonnay came from low yielding vineyards producing grapes with exceptional flavours of apricot and pear. Barrel fermentation in small French oak barriques has provided the structure and nuances of almond and vanilla. Malolactic fermentation and ten months ageing on the yeast lees, has added a creamy texture and a long finish. Oaked for 10 months.

I invite you to come taste it, for yourself, at the farm.

SB.

Backsberg wins Gold at Swiss International Airlines Wine Awards

2007-05-17T22:58:00.000+02:00

The Backsberg Babylons Toren Viognier 2005 won a gold medal at the renowned Swiss International Airlines awards. The John Martin Sauvignon Blanc 2007 claimed a silver medal, which was great.

The Viognier came from low yielding vineyards right at the top of the farm producing grapes of exceptional flavours of apricot, peach and lemon. Fermentation in small French oak barrels has provided complex nuances of cinnamon and hazelnut, whilst maturation on the lees for six months has added a butterfly texture and a powerful finish.

The block of vineyards, with winter on its way and muddy roads with it, becomes increasingly trickier to access- even my land rover 90 thinks twice before trekking up there.

SB

King Goodwill Zwelithini visits Backsberg

2007-05-14T19:41:00.000+02:00

On Friday King Goodwill Zwelithini visited the farm. He is the reigning King of the Zulu nation in South Africa. King Zwelithini is pictured left with John Spiers (Backsberg's CEO) in the gardens adjacent to my late grandparents' house.

With a crisp autumn day as a backdrop, King Zwelithini and his family enjoyed a private tasting and lunch over the course of the afternoon.

King Zwelithini, born on the 14th of July 1948, became King after his father's death in 1968. He was officially installed as the 8th monarch of the Zulu nation on the 3rd of December 1971.

We hope to see King Zwelithini back on the farm in the not too distant future!

Have a good week.

SB

Historical information courtesy of this article on answer.com

'World Class Sauvignon' from Durbanville

2007-05-07T17:03:00.000+02:00

Neil Pendock reports in his article Superb Sauvignon From The Pumpkin Patch of a recent tasting tour of Durbanville. Pendock concludes on visiting Durbanville 'you can’t help falling over world class Sauvignon.'

Backsberg shares this view and it is for this reason we have established a satellite vineyard at Altydgedacht. My dad has had a longstanding friendship with the Parkers of Altydgedacht and this lead to the development of a south sloping block of Sauvignon Blanc on their farm.

The micro climate of Durbanville with its coastal influence leads to fruit with incredible intensity and flavour.

Much of the fruit from the satellite vineyard goes into our Black Label range Sauvignon Blanc John Martin.

Have a good week.

SB

NY Times: 'When the wine is Green'

2007-05-06T17:09:00.000+02:00

I recently logged onto The Pour- New York Times wine writer Eric Asimov's blog to read his article When the wine is Green.

Here is an excerpt from the article:
'Green has not yet replaced red or white or even pink as the most important color in deciding which wines to buy, but people have started to think about it. Words like organic, biodynamic, natural and sustainable are increasingly resonating with consumers, not just because they are concerned about health and the environment, but because they are beginning to associate them with great wine, the way organic has become a synonym for high-quality produce.

You've taken your hybrid car out to run some errands. You’ve stocked up on organic produce and nontoxic cleaning supplies at the supermarket. You’ve stopped at the Home Depot to take advantage of its new Eco Options plan, picking up energy-efficient light bulbs, paint that is low in pollutants and wood harvested according to the principles of sustainable forestry. You’ve dropped off the recycling. One more stop to make, the wine shop.

Why should wine be any different?'

What do you think?

SB

Backsberg Greens Klapmuts

2007-05-01T18:06:00.000+02:00

As part of Backsberg sequestering our carbon emissions we, together with Food and Trees for Africa, launched a greening project on Friday 20 April in the nearby Klapmuts community . Over 900 indigenous trees were distributed to local residents. My dad was overseas at the time so my mom, Jill (pictured left), headed up the day along with leaders from the community and local municipality. There was overwhelming support and enthusiasm from the Klapmuts community. The headmaster, Mr Frans, of the local Klapmuts school remarked that he never thought he would see people queueing for trees.

During the week in the run-up to the Friday there was a program of education where residents were informed about the various indigenous trees, methods of planting and ongoing maintenance.

Overall it was a very special day for all involved with the environment the ultimate winner.

SB

More on Backsberg going Carbon Neutral

2007-03-29T18:46:00.000+02:00

We have had some really positive feedback on going Carbon Neutral: thank you for that. I have included an information sheet below which elaborates on some of the more technical aspects of the Carbon Neutral process.

INFORMATION SHEET

Michael Back has recognised the fundamental importance of taking responsibility for our impact on the environment. We have started up the Environmental Initiative to assess the impact of all of Backsberg’s activities on the environment and take measures to reduce that impact as far as possible. We are also taking steps to actively invest in the environment. One of the ways to measure impact is through a “carbon audit” which assesses the amounts of carbon based emissions which are generated as a result of one’s activities.

Through a carbon technician, we have completed a full carbon audit of Backsberg and have come out with the amount of CO2 equivalent (all factors are converted to equivalent amounts of CO2) that Backsberg produces in one year. All figures were taken from the 2005 / 2006 financial year. We looked at everything from electricity and fuel consumption through to fermentation during harvest and air travel. Once we had the amount of CO2 that Backsberg’s activities generated, our carbon technician calculated the number of trees which would be required to absorb that amount of CO2. This is referred to as “offsetting”. We are working with national NGO Food and Trees for Africa (www.trees.co.za) to plant these trees and we are now certified as a “Carbon Neutral Estate since 2006”. All of our products that are produced at Backsberg will therefore also be “carbon neutral”. We will continue to carry out these audits at the end of each financial year and continue to offset our annual carbon through the planting of trees.

The first phase of the audit assessed everything which happens at Backsberg and covers up to the point that products leave the gate. The second phase of the audit looks at the distances which Backsberg products travel across the world to reach their destinations. We calculated the amount of CO2 equivalent generated as a result of wine being trucked to Joburg or being shipped to New York. Again, from the last financial year’s figures, we have calculated the total distance that our wine travels. This means that we will be a carbon neutral estate and that our products are carbon neutral all the way to the distribution centres. For this audit we used the Green House Gas Reporting Protocol, but from next year we will be certified under the new ISO standard for carbon auditing which has just come into place.

We place tremendous importance on the integrity of our Environmental Initiative, with our focus being on reducing our environmental impact and not just paying to offset our emissions and continuing to pollute the environment without changing our behaviour. This is often the criticism with companies that are certified as carbon neutral. Backsberg is actively taking measures to reduce our “footprint” as far as possible and that is why we are investing in biofuels, renewable energy and making huge efforts to reduce our energy demand. Furthermore, the organisation that we are working with does amazing work with planting trees in schools and housing projects that really need the greening and the trees are planted along with environmental awareness and education programmes. We are committed to the highest levels of environmental stewardship and are continuously aiming to improve our environmental performance.

The information sheet was put together by our in-house environmentalist Jess Schulschenk. For any questions please feel free to contact either myself or Jess (jess.schulschenk@gmail.com).

SB

Backsberg Carbon Neutral Press

2007-03-22T16:43:00.000+02:00

Here are some links to read more about Backsberg going carbon neutral:

Business Report

iAfrica

Wine.co.za

bizcommunity.com

SB

Backsberg goes Carbon Neutral

2007-03-22T16:31:00.000+02:00

My dad has been passionate about the environment for as long as I can remember. Over the years, wherever possible, we have implemented energy saving measures and taken an environmentally friendly stance. Backsberg going carbon neutral is a major milestone on the environmental path.

Here is our official press release:

BACKSBERG LEADS WINE INDUSTRY IN COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE

Backsberg has become the first wine producer in South Africa and one of only three in the world to gain Carbon Neutral status by sequestrating its carbon emissions.

Proprietor, Michael Back, who joined the family business in 1976, is passionate about the environment, believing that each generation is the custodian of the land for a limited period of time only.

“Care for the environment means care and concern for succeeding generations. As custodians of the land, it is our duty to understand and recognise potential threats, and to mitigate against them for the benefit of the next generation,” says Back whose forward thinking has already rescued several plant species from extinction by reserving 10% of his land for non-development and preservation of the endangered “Fynbos” biome.

Backsberg has completed a comprehensive carbon audit initiated to understand the carbon emission consequences of its farming and wine making activities. The carbon audit reviewed all activities from overall energy consumption, to CO2 emitted during fermentation. The level of detail considered in the audit allows Backsberg to deliver a range of Carbon Neutral fruit and wine to clients, both domestically and internationally.

The carbon standard applied at Backsberg follows the Kyoto Protocol on Green House Gas emissions. The scientific nature of the carbon audit allows Backsberg to understand the magnitude of the sequestration solutions it needs to seek and develop, in order to reduce its carbon footprint and maintain a status of carbon neutrality going forward.

The sequestration solutions developed by Backsberg will involve a greening program within the nearby village of Klapmuts. This program will be managed by the internationally respected Jeunesse Park, CEO of Food and Trees for Africa, the non-profit national greening organisation driving the Carbon Standard offset program in South Africa. This collaboration will see Backsberg use the Food and Trees for Africa Carbon Standard logo.

“We are indeed proud to be associated with Food and Trees for Africa,” said Back, who believes that a whole new market sector with the emphasis on care, not only for the wine and the consumer, but also care for the environment is about to open.

“Backsberg will now deliver to wine lovers throughout the world, fine wines, individually crafted within our wine making philosophy of producing wines with a high level of “drinkability” which are also Carbon Neutral,” added Back.

"Trees are the most efficient and simple means for us to store carbon, providing us with the air we breathe and absorbing the carbon dioxide we exhale and that is emitted in large quantities by our carbon based society," says Park, who was honoured with an International Chevron Conservation Award in California in October last year for her efforts to improve the quality of life for disadvantaged South Africans through natural resource improvements. Since the start of the Public Benefit Organisation 17 years ago, Food and Trees for Africa has distributed over 2,5 million trees throughout South Africa.

Whilst tree planting is crucial to the absorption of greenhouse gas emissions, it is equally important to develop more conservation oriented practices by becoming more energy efficient for long term sustainability.

Backsberg sees tree planting as part of a package of solutions to climate change and is currently either applying or reviewing a number of these solutions. This “package” includes conversion to bio fuel, setting aside land for development of additional biomass, reviewing packaging (especially in terms of glass weight) and the development of methane digester technology.

Fortunate to have both an environmentalist and a horticulturist in its employ, the Backsberg “Green Team” is helping to create a paradigm shift of care for the environment.

SB

The Lamb Spit and Backsberg Pinotage

2007-03-19T21:40:00.000+02:00

Peter May of the Pinotage Club (a
cyber-based fan club for wines made from the Pinotage variety) made a visit to the farm last week. He enjoyed the Lamb Spit at our restaurant accompanied by the Pinotage 2006. Peter and I both agree that they make a great combination.

Read more about Peter's experience at the farm by clicking here.

Do come and try the Lamb Pinotage combo for yourself sometime soon.

SB

P.S. On Peter's blog post, Lennox, our expert carver is pictured. He is poised ready to carve your ideal slice of lamb!

Backsberg Shiraz: Wine Spectator's Pick of the Day

2007-03-12T09:19:00.000+02:00

Backsberg Shiraz 2004 was chosen as the Wine Spectator's Pick of the Day for the USD$15-30 range.

From the Wine Spectator:

BACKSBERG Shiraz Paarl Pumphouse 2004 (88 points, $21)

Dark and smoky, with charcoal and tar notes leading the way for dark plum and currant fruit. The burly, grainy finish should soften with moderate cellaring. Drink now through 2009. 600 cases imported. --James Molesworth

Have a good week.

SB

Is Wine Art?

2007-03-08T10:09:00.000+02:00

Over the 21-25 February, designers, artists, musicians, architects, jewelers and other creatives converged on Cape Town to attend the annual Design Indaba. The Design Indaba now in its 10th year has grown into an international event on the design calendar.

The Design Indaba comprises of two parts: firstly a conference of 3 days where there are talks by both international and South African designers, and then there is an expo open to the public where South African designers showcase their work. The conference ticket was way above my student budget, but by continual persistence and asking very kindly, I was allowed to attend the last afternoon session gratis.

In the afternoon slot Brian Eno (pictured above) spoke. Eno is a renowned artist, musician and music producer. Eno, in his talk, posed the question 'What is art for?'. In part, he answered the question by providing a definition of art: 'Art is everything we don't have to do'. By that definition, we have to wear clothes, but we don't have to wear tailored suits; we have to eat, but we don't have to dine on gourmet cuisine; we might need to own a car, but we don't need to drive an Aston Martin and so on.

Since the conference I have been thinking how wine fits into that definition 'art is everything we don't have to do'. My thoughts concluded this past Sunday- a languid afternoon, the sun gently warming the skin, enjoying a good bottle of wine with friends, time lilting by: wine is art.

I charge you with the challenge of considering for yourself: 'is wine art?'.

SB

Note that the picture is courtesy of Artist Direct.

Music at Backsberg

2007-03-05T09:42:00.000+02:00

I was working in the tasting room and the restuarant at the farm over the weekend and I was reminded that Backsberg has a lot to offer for the music lover.

On a Saturday we have Lenie Coetzee playing my grandmother's grand piano from 11:30 till 13:30. Lenie played at well known Franschhoek restuarant Le Quartier Francais for 13 years before going on her own. She is now playing at Backsberg every Saturday entertaining wine tasters with effortless flowing melodies.

On a Sunday at the restauarant we have Guy Veldman singing and playing the guitar. There is nothing better than enjoying a meal at the farm with Guy's music floating in the background. Guy plays with a number of Cape Town bands and has an incredible repertoire.

Come out to the farm and enjoy the wine and the music!

SB

Pick 'n Pay Obs Report Back

2007-02-27T13:10:00.000+02:00

Jean from Pick 'n Pay kindly collated the data I requested (see my post 'Backsberg Pinotage: one in...'). The answer is not exactly simple, but in terms of the Observatory Branch the answer is 1000. By that I mean Pick 'n Pay Obs can draw from a possible 1000 wine product lines. The split is also fairly interesting with white wine winning out over red 60% to 40% respectively.

There are a number of conclusions I think one can draw. To mention a few: from a consumer perspective there is a trememdous amount of wine on offer and along with it choice. From a producer perspective, the competition is fierce, making for market conditions where producers have to be on their proverbial game for the long term to stay ahead. Hopefully consumers are winning from a cost standpoint and similarly, though I can't say it with as much confidence, from a quality standpoint.

Backsberg, I believe, is meeting this challenge through delivering consistently great wine at excellent value!

SB

Cabernet and Cabernet Franc

2007-02-22T20:27:00.000+02:00

I was at the farm earlier this week, and while I was at the winery a trailer of cab came in (pictured left). For those of you who have been at the farm before, we were havesting the winery blocks, so named, believe it or not, because they are situated right next to the winery (as you come up the avenue). The day saw us harvest cabernet and cabernet franc. The fruit looked and tasted great holding much promise for the wines to come.

SB

Backsberg Pinotage: one in...

2007-02-17T19:40:00.000+02:00

Following on from my last post I was interested in how the number of private cellars actually translated to the shelf situation. Thus my sister, Jenny, and I went on an investigation Sherlock-Holmes-style. I thought the best place to start was my local Pick 'n Pay in Observatory (Observatory being my neighbourhood) and more specifically the wine section. I quickly realised that an attempt at counting every single brand was too ambitious and therein lies the crux of the matter: the number of brands on the shelf. My second option was to enlist the help of the Obs Pick 'n Pay manager Jean. Jean in turn directed me to Renshaw the wine section stock manager.

I think my questions slightly overwhelmed Renshaw, who explained that the store was changing over to a new stock system, and whilst he wasn't able to help me on the spot, he would get back to me this coming week.

The basic question I asked him was how many brands or lines did the Obs branch carry (how many white and how many red)? Also, how many lines could they draw from? By the latter question I mean how many lines does Pick 'n Pay run nationally.

I'll post the answers as soon as I get them from Renshaw.

Have a good weekend on my behalf: I am studying for an economics exam on Monday!

SB

By the way Jenny is pictured holding the Backsberg Pinotage

Some SA Wine Stats

2007-02-13T17:58:00.000+02:00

In the February edition of the SA Wine Magazine, there was a small booklet included which detailed some 2005 statistics courtesy of SAWIS (SA Wine Industry Information and Systems). There were a number of interesting stats about SA wine production.

-For instance, in 2005 there were 495 private cellars compared to 210 in 2001. That is a 60% increase. I think that is fairly massive.

-101 607 hectares under vine (with the Vatican city being the World's smallest state at 44 hectares, SA vines makes up 2309 Vatican cities!)

-308 million vines planted, with the Paarl area (where we are situated) having 18% of that total.

-The top 4 reds in terms of total red and white vineyard plantings are Cabernet Sauvignon 13.4%, Shiraz 9.6%, Merlot and Pinotage 6.4%.

-The top 4 whites in terms of toal red and white vineyard planting are Chenin Blanc 18.8%, Columbar(d) 11.3%, Chardonnay 7.8% and Sauvignon Blanc 7.5%.

-Our per capita wine consumption is 7.37 litres per year which is fairly light going compared to 48 for France, 47 for Italy and 20 for Australia.

Have a good week.

SB

The Culinary Academy at Backsberg

2007-02-09T12:21:00.000+02:00

Last week saw the real start of what I hope to be a long relationship between Backsberg and The Culinary Academy (TCA). After having been located in Cape Town for 10 years TCA is moving out Backsberg. Last week saw some of the new students for this year move into their accommodation on the farm.

I can't really say it better than the TCA website. '[It's] a move that will stimulate and enhance the creativity and practical instruction that the school is renowned for. Building on the successes and looking forward to the future.

This unique partnership offers students the chance to study the one - year Advanced Food and Wine Diploma course in a new, heart of the country environment where safe and secure accommodation will be offered and where the distractions of city life are few.

Imagine living on a wine estate whilst learning everything about being a chef. Harvesting, tasting and understanding the wine making process, planting and watching your own vegetables grow - knowing that your dishes contain the freshest produce and are made in the healthiest environment. If cooking is your passion imagine being able to step out of the classroom to help with the wine harvest. Or pick vegetables fresh from the ground to produce the crispest salad. To have everything that a good cook needs - right on your doorstep!'

To find out more about the school you can check out the TCA website or email the school at tca@theculinaryacademy.com

...Maybe I should quit my economics degree and become a chef!

SB

A letter on the Barrels

2007-02-07T12:05:00.000+02:00

My dad received a letter from Elizabeth Molony, who lives in Beer close to Branscombe where the ship carrying our barrels ran aground. I thought the letter was definitely blog-worthy.

Michael,

I live in Beer , Devon, the fishing village beside Branscombe.
On Saturday 20th January after the terrible storms of the 18th, I stood on the chalk cliffs with many of our village fishermen and their families, and looked down with great sadness at the wrecked ship. We stood in silent shock as we saw on those rough seas your barrels tossed in the waves.

That night the storm worsened and more damaged containers were washed ashore. Our local volunteer coastguards who were guarding the beach witnessed blocks of 5 containers lashed together rise up out of the sea like whales, as they hit the rocks and then crashed onto the beaches.

By morning they had spilt their contents onto our once long empty pebbly beach. Now this beautiful coastline looked like a bomb site.

Our youngest fishermen rowed out at dawn and picked up floating barrels. Later local lads climbed down the cliffs and also discovered 16 BMW bikes in a broken container. They queued up and the police gave them forms to fill in and allowed them to take the bikes away. Likewise with other goods lying there.

Sadly by evening on Sunday and all through Monday as a result of media reporting hundreds of people had been drawn in from all over Britain. The police could not control the situation and these two tiny village found their lanes clogged with cars and the beaches swamped with a thousand curious visitors, and a few ruthlessly greedy scavengers.

Mostly people were awed by the disaster and amazed at the strange assortment of goods scattered about - nappies, sweets, biscuits, gear boxes.

Above all we have marvelled at the craftsmanship of these magnificent oak barrels. And I have now been interested to read about them on your website and the destinations they have failed to reach.

Barrels have a special significance in these villages. For hundreds of years the poorest fishing communities of Devon and Cornwall have had to feed their families on the proceeds of smuggling. Great seamen have made a precarious living from sailing by night to meet French boats carrying lace and barrels of brandy. Such was their courage that still today we celebrate these skills in our summer Regatta with a BARREL ROLLING event down the village street. We use heavy metal barrels and it is a test of strength and stamina. In a neighbouring town the barrels are lit with burning tar and carried in team races on youngsters' shoulders as a mark of manliness.

We appreciate good craftsmanship. The youngsters who carried the barrels out of the sea and up the steep cliffs, or rolled them by hand the 5 miles by road will long admired and use them, unless they are reclaimed by the authorities.

I am sad at the distress to your family and to many of the other growers at the loss of these barrels. Please forward this email to any known to you.

I will make sure our village now know your wines and I hope we shall open some bottles and drink to your harvest and to our separate skills - yours as farmers, and ours as men of the sea!!

With greetings from Beer

Elizabeth Molony

Thanks for the letter Elizabeth.

SB

It's Hot at Backsberg

2007-02-01T15:16:00.000+02:00

Last week I commented in my post Backsberg sees the light…at 4am that at this time of the year, being summer, the temperature is fairly high.

Clive Trent, Backsberg's farm manager, kindly collated some temperature data represented above which confirms that last week was decidedly warm.

The temperate table represents the daily minimum and maximum temperatures from 24h00 to 24h00. So on the 25th the minimum and maximum was 32,0 and 40,2 degrees Celsius respectively.

Therefore the average minimum and maximum for the week period were 28,8 and 36,1 respectively.

A well chilled bottle of sauvignon blanc sounds good about now.

SB

The last Friday of every month at Backsberg:

2007-01-30T13:40:00.000+02:00

This past Friday evening saw the launch of a new initiative at the farm. The last Friday of every month, going forward, is being set aside to host themed wine evenings. The evenings are going to range from tasting rare Backsberg vintages to niche range tastings to unique food and wine pairings.

On Friday we had a splendid evening. Sitting outside on the terrace, underneath the cool vine pergola, guests enjoyed a glass of Elba or Bella Rosa accompanied by some delicious canapés prepared by our Restaurant.

From there everyone moved inside to the vat cellar where all were formally welcomed to the event. From there Danwin James (Backsberg’s cellar door manager) lead the evening. The theme revolved around tasting various vintages of the Klein Babylonstoren. The Klein Babylonstoren is a cabernet sauvignon merlot blend that has really been integral in the fabric that has made up Backsberg over the years.

The ’98, ’99, ’01, ‘02 and finally the ’03 vintage were tasted accompanied by an analysis of each. Danwin ventured 'I am not going to ask you which wine is good, as we know that they are ALL good, rather which wine is your favourite,' highlighting that tasting wine and one’s experience of its colour, nose and pallet is so very personal.

From there Mark Goldworthy (vineyard and cellar assistant) took over with a breakdown of the various cultivars that made up the KBS blend, explaining the role each component played.

Much merriment was had by all and everyone agreed that they would be coming back to the farm in a month’s time.

The next evening is set for Friday 23rd February. Please contact John Spiers (john@backsberg.co.za) if you would like to attend.

Watch the space for the next theme!

SB

Backsberg sees the light…at 4am

2007-01-26T19:27:00.000+02:00

This past week saw harvest get underway at the farm. This vintage is slightly different from others though: we are setting our alarm clocks a wee bit earlier. When I say earlier, I mean we are starting to harvest at 4am in the mornings!

Well, you might say, how do you see what you are doing at that time of the morning, surely it is still dark? Yes, indeed it is still pitch dark at 4am. To combat the darkness however, we have equipped each of our pickers with a LED headlamp. The headlamp produces an ideal beam of light over the vineyard canopy area and it is as easy as picking in daylight. I must say that the scene in the vineyards is fairly reminiscent of a science fiction film.

The headlamp we use is similar to the one pictured above left.

There are 3 reasons why we have gone this route: it is better for our pickers, its better for wine quality and the process is environmentally more friendly.

Though our pickers have to wake up rather early to start at 4am, it effectively means that they can work in the coolest time of the day. By 9am we are basically half way through the working day and our pickers can finish up and go home by lunchtime. This means that they don’t have to work in the afternoon heat, which can be extremely punishing at this time of the year. If you have been in the Cape over the last week, you will know that almost every day has been 35 degrees Celsius and above.

From a wine quality perspective it is far better to handle cooler grapes. Handling cooler grapes leads to less extraction of harsh phenolic compounds.

By harvesting more grapes at a cooler temperature, we save energy. Today we harvested sauvignon blanc grapes. From 4am till about 9am the grapes came in at a temperature of about 20 degrees and shifted up to 28 degrees by the last load at midday. At 20 degrees, we only needed to cool the grapes down by 8 degrees to 12 degrees (the temperature we want to handle the grapes at), and at 28 degrees we need to cool them down by 16 degrees. So harvesting earlier and cooler means less energy needed!

So starting the day at 4am makes for a win win win situation.

Have a good weekend.

SB

What are Backsberg barrels doing on the front page of the Cape Times?

2007-01-24T20:35:00.000+02:00

Mentally I had penciled in the 1st of February as the starting date for the Backsberg Blog - B's Blog - but it became fairly clear this morning when I picked up the Cape Times (click here to read the article) that the date needed to be shifted forward to today!

In short, a major container ship ran aground on Thursday off southwest England. The article in the Cape Times features a dramatic image where some not-so-happy-looking French oak barrels are strewn over a beach landscape (I could not find the Cape Times image online but the following image courtesy of the New York Times gives you a good idea of the situation)

Fortunately, whilst we were expecting a major order of barrels from France, the majority of the order was NOT on the MSC Napoli container ship, which ran aground. Only a handful of our barrels were on the ship and thus affected.

Within minutes of us hearing the news we had contacted our barrel supplier and the issue sorted out.

Backsberg wants to thank those of you who contacted us with concern over the incident and assure you that all is well at the farm.

SB