Notes from Mike, Journey’s End
Vintage 2021
We finally picked our Cabernet Sauvignon Block 6B yesterday and are finished taking in grapes for the 2021 vintage. This was quite a long vintage (20th April is the latest we have ever picked) but it was definitely worth the wait as the sugar of Block 6B looks spot on with a balling meter at 25.5 in tank. The juice has already got quite nice colour intensity but we will add enzymes and tannins today for better extraction. The juice will go through a 5day preferment cold soak before we initiate fermentation.
Overall the harvest has been excellent in terms of quality:
Our Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon fermentations went through without a hiccup and we have some stunning aromatic wines (some which are very tropical and others which are more mineral and green), all have brilliant natural acidity and low pH’s which is great for the longevity of the wines. They all have great mouthfeel and weight so I think it’s going to be a great year for these varietals. All components are currently maturing in full stainless steel tanks with regular lees stirring.
I think it has been a specifically excellent vintage for Chardonnay quality although there is very little Stellenbosch Chardonnay in the market from the 2021 vintage. We subjected our Chardonnay juice to either natural or inoculated fermentations (only using 1 yeast strain product which has worked beautifully. We did around 85% barrel fermentations in a combination of 300L and 228L French barrels. We have used a lot of older oak on the Chardonnay this year and the fruit is really shining through – lots of citrus and again great natural acidity. The other 15% was fermented in stainless steel tank, amphorae and concrete. We have subjected 15% of our barrelled Chardonnays to complete natural malolactic fermentation (quite new to me on Chardonnay) to soften out the malic acid on some of our blocks. All of these fermentations are now complete and the Chardonnay is maturing in full barrels/vessels with regular lees stirring.
Our Viognier came out really nicely this year and was fermented in stainless steel tanks to preserve the fruit component. Nice and tropical characters which should make an excellent blending component for our Chardonnay’s and Huntsman SMG.
White grapes were picked slightly earlier than on previous years (I didn’t take high acids into consideration this year when harvesting) to try and obtain wines with lower alcohol and better balance. The acidities are naturally high but are very well balanced in the wines.
We have completed and pressed all of our red fermentations except for two tanks (one of which was picked yesterday – Block 6B) and the colour and aromatics are extremely intense through the board with absolutely perfect natural acidity ,low VA’s and great purity. The reds have amazing tightness which bodes well for the barrel maturation period. We have subjected some cultivars to malolactic fermentation in barrel with the remainder undergoing this secondary fermentation in stainless steel tank, all vessels are completely full. It is a bit early to give a detailed report on the reds at the moment but I will send an additional red wine report in the next couple of weeks.
A huge thank you to Lod and his team as well as Edward and his team for the amazing quality grapes and very fast harvesting times, this helps us out immensely in the cellar when pressing white grapes specifically. They were also extremely helpful and integral in the production of our Carbonic Shiraz and Mourvedre fermentations which are quite labour intensive.
Another huge thank you to the cellar team who have worked superbly this year with Keannon at the helm. All individuals have come on in leaps and bounds this year and I think we have the most amazing hard working team at the moment who are all showing huge commitment to the vintage and have not let me down once this year. All involved, Keannon, Rozieta, Ronell, Bruce and Wayne need a mention, it is such a pleasure working with them.
Vintage 2020
The 2020 vintage was off to a fast start with grapes ripening a week and a half prior to what was experienced over the last few vintages. Extremely strong winds in early to mid-January caused a little bit of damage to some of the vine leaves exposing the bunches to sun, the grapes were therefor picked slightly earlier to prevent any sunburn damage to delicate cultivars like Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Beautifully high natural acids and yeast assimilable Nitrogen as well as low pH’s have become an apparent trend on the white grape analyses this year allowing for a more simplistic winemaking technique, most of our fermentations are undertaken using indigenous yeasts from the vineyards. The more protected blocks have been left to ripen slightly longer so that we can maintain a good balance of alcohol, acid and fruit flavours and aromas from early and later harvested vines. The initial Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and barrel fermented Chardonnays have just completed fermentation and are looking amazingly clean with pure aromatics and great natural acidities. These wines will be left on fine lees for the next few months with constant lees stirring for added pallet weight and flavour complexity in the eventual product. I am feeling extremely optimistic about the quality of the 2020 vintage at present.
Vintage 2018
The 2018 flowering period took place two weeks prior to previous years and nice synchronized budding was evident on our respective vineyard blocks. Our cold units (cold days and nights) were sufficient allowing the vines to pick up reserves and to produce high quality fruit. Unfortunately, the annual rainfall for 2017 was below average for the third consecutive year where only 600mm of rain fell over Journeys End farm in comparison to the normal 800mm.
Sporadic rainfall during Spring and early Summer provided a little bit of relief for the vineyards, saturating the soils which has not been the case over the last couple of vintages. This was however accompanied by extremely powerful South Westerly winds towards the end of our Cabernet Sauvignon and Mourvedre flowering period, luckily very little wind damage was observed.
Due to our proximity to the ocean and the ever-present coastal winds, absolutely no disease pressure was evident, and the vines remained disease and pest free this year.
The on-going drought in the Western Cape brought about another exceptional vintage at Journey’s End in 2018. The berries were small and had very concentrated flavours (very little water present to dilute flavours) and the bunches were also far lighter than previous vintages.
The ripening period was met with temperate conditions, mild temperatures and light breezes differing drastically from 2017 which had number of heat waves and very strong winds. These conditions allowed for longer hang time on the vine and harvest commenced two weeks later than in the 2017 season. Mild temperatures meant that the harvest was evenly spaced and much more drawn out than previous years especially because of significant sporadic rainfall occurrence during mid to late March. Our final block of Cabernet Sauvignon was picked on the 5th of April concluding one of the longest harvest periods Journey’s End has experienced.
Minimalist wine making was the name of the game this year with extremely small concentrated berries which could potentially create highly phenolic and extractive wines. The white grapes were pressed very gently minimizing phenolic extraction and lessening the risk of juice browning and bitterness. Our red wines were also treated very gently (non-intensive colour extraction techniques) keeping them soft with a balanced tannic structure. Red colour uptake was intense and immediate due to the high skin to juice ratio (smaller berries) and nice high natural acidity and the correlating low pH’s produced very clean refined wines with great linearity and elegance.
Vintage 2017
The 2017 harvest at Journey’s End hasn’t been without it’s challenges with a second year of very little rainfall putting stress on the vineyards and thereafter the fermentation kinetics.
The quality of wine this year however has been absolutely fantastic with great aromatics and fruit purity on the whites (I anticipate a very strong Chardonnay quality this year) as well as great fruit concentration, deep colour extraction and delicate powdery grape tannin extraction on the reds showing superbly prior to barrel aging.
We are very excited about the wine quality for 2017 and are looking forward to giving more good news as the wines are allowed time to develop.