Looking at the first half of 2013

Can you believe we are half way through the year?!

Whew!  We have worked hard this year.  Our season was challenging and very long with the Syrah only being picked 14 April.  After the wine was racked to barrel in May, I had a lot of catching up to do.


DURBAN
I spent time in Durban developing Lismore's position there and what a fantastic market it is!  We met great people and had some amazing food.  The excitement for all things liquid is palpable.  One of the highlights was Cafe 1999 with Mo and Marcel.  Between the amazing food, the passion for incredible wine and hand-crafted beer, I was smiling from ear to ear to be surrounded by such knowledge and passion!  Durban really welcomed our wines and I am looking forward to going back there in October.

JOBURG

Joburg has also been incredible and I am thrilled with the listings and the response to the wines.  DW Eleven-13 (Eat Out top 10), Licorish Bistro in Bryanston, Montego Bay at Nelson Mandela Square, Possum's and Coobs in Parkhurst and many more have ordered wine.  Watch this space for exciting new Joburg listings...

CAPE TOWN
Cape Town has welcomed the new releases with open arms, with many of the Eat Out top 10 restaurants as well as many elegant favorites listing Lismore once again.  

But it is crazy to think that we will be pruning shortly and the cycle starts again...

Harvest 2009 is almost over.

Harvest 2009 is almost over. Everything is in the barrel except for 2 tons of Cabernet Sauvignon from another Greyton farm, Oewerzicht.

Well, this vintage was definitely the payoff for a lot of hard work and suffering. Much has been sacrificed and lost. But the 2009 Lismore wines will mark the beginning of an era. The grape quality was amazing on young vines that have finally settled in. The Chardonnay and Viognier should present what we now know are classic hallmarks of Lismore terrior and the Syrah is showing maturity and complexity even as it is going through MLF. It is distinctively Rhone in character with leather, black pepper and tobacco already predominating the aromas coming from the newly filled barrels.

And all will be labeled Wine of Origin Greyton!

For those of you who are loyal fans of this blog because of the charismatic and talented Jake, I am very sad to say that Jake has chosen to leave Lismore and it will be only me, Sam, who will be posting updates from time to time. I assure you they will not all be as melancholy as this one.

Keenan, Quinn and I are working hard to make sure that spirits are strong, the wine is delicious and that life remains beautiful and full of adventure.

Until next time…
Sam

ISSSH MARSHH

Yes, you read the header correctly...we are tired...not tipsy or wasted, tired.

We have two boys, 2 and 5 (Quinn and Keenan). They did not like sleep for their first year. Not much on it since then either...in fact we like to think they're in Astronaut training to simulate multi-day space work...its really the only way we can reconcile their lack of sleep and never ending energy. But, to this crush, we'd really like to understand how we're not allowed to wake them up at 4:45 when Jake has to go to work and not have a mid-day nap...which we thankfully allow them both to accomplish if their meta-energy runs out (no sugar in those little bodies just BOY-Energy!).

AICH! I'll just have another cuppa coffee and get through another marvellous day! Stunningly cold last night though yesterday was quite warm (30C). The sugars on the Chard are still low in the 22.9, 23.4 range. We're picking around today to try to find the best fruit possible.

The basket press went in the can on Friday evening. All the gaskets and seals decided that now was the best time to stop functioning...so they exploded. We spent Saturday driving to and fro to meet Peter Peck from CDS (love him for taking so much of his time to help us through this moment) and collect 2 litres of food grade oil for the press. It was a clear liquid that had no odor and no taste (yes it was tasted...maybe gross but come on if it sneaks into the wine we've got to know what it tastes like).

Come Sunday the 2nd. ANDY MITCHELL TO THE RESCUE!!!! Andy Mitchell (sans his lovely wife, Vicki) came through on Sunday with the bladder for his 1.2 ton stainless tank, his destemmer, his expertise (surely with the sorting of the grapes inside the tank, after a free run of three hours, counts as an artistic endeavour) and his patience. He stood on the balcony sorting grapes while Ralph passed lugs to Rowan, who lifted the 20kg boxes over his head to me on the ladder, where Jake accomplished the "clean & jerk" with each lug, to John who hoisted them across the railing and into the de-stemmer. In truth is was a good workout. Fun and interesting for all of us...well not for Ralph's hands but fun for the rest of us.

But we're off to pick block 11 now and though feeling fatigue in the back of my sensory memory we're fond enough of coffee and anti-inflamatory drugs to allow for a bit of the work work work...

"High ho high ho its off to work I go..."

lovelovelove,

Sam & Jake

ps. Almost gone...out therer en sheshe vineshe...

"...all you need is love..."

So sayeth the Beatles.

In fact all you really need is, ok they were undoubtedly correct, love.

(Trumpets in your head please)

The vine bareth (is it bearith, or beareth...oh well go get a dictionary I suppose) fruit.

Too much; maybe.

We delivered to a wonderful winemaker and incredibly stylish cool cat Mr Kevin Grant on Tuesday. No fanfare but heaps of love. The sugars were higher than we thought but the flavours were subtle and clean.

Wednesday Jake was locked in a car and had no way out of it except to endure and chase down electricians, alan-keys (not the politician), great beans (from Origin coffee), great bread from Kalk Bay and a fun but hard to reach real estate agent in Muizenberg.

Yesterday, Thursday, we picked Chardonnay for Lismore. Estate wine we say. Single vineyard if we'd like (not feasible at present). The fruit was WOW likeohmygodwhatflava kind of WOW!

The amout is the troubling thing. The 1/2 ton basket press is maxed out and the teams helping are equally maxed out. Two cycles of rotating heads turning the screw and the tyres to fetch as many tons as possible in a day (we're maxing out at 2.3 tons...which means we're picking for the next five days solid). Sleep is on q and if you miss your glimmer of sleep...oh well. BACK TO THE LOVE!

By the way the pectolytic (the correct spelling of this word will remain a mystery until re-use of the bag sometime in July) enzyme we use to settle the juice and soften the grapes is amazing. Last season we obtained 600 litres of juice per ton of grapes. This season we're into a whopping 680 litres per ton. Yes 80 litres to the good my chyna! Not a lot, but if you calculate that each litre brings in...oh, not supposed to tell that one...suffice to say we're better off with the 80 in our pocket than waiting for it to magically appear from the bush.

Life goes on...no matter the song...

"...love love love..."

Its all you need.

Jake & Sam

ps. Bye I'm gone...sleep...Sam is on the night shift on the press...

Happy Holidays

Oh, after a wine sopping good time over the modern Latin based pagan ritualised consumer holiday that we experience in summer it was time for a bit of the ole DE-TOX.

Here's the farm score card:

to January 15th...Vines - Excellent growth...Lovely grape set...Chardonnay looking stunning (again)...Sauvignon Blanc (for Kevin) still in the pea stage,
Apples - Great color and good fruit set in the Golden Delicious...Royal Gala are yummy...And the Pink Lady's are off to the juicers because of the fungal rot due to the HUGE rain in November;

Feb 1st...Vines - Fantastic growth in the Chard (5 tons a Hectare min) with Balling at 17.7 yesterday...Sauvignon Blanc is sitting with 9 tons and a balling of 13.5 grass green...Viognier is to quote two separate winemakers (the labels sound like "Sataraxea" "Aumabridge") "Bloody beautiful"...Syrah hasn't fully started verasion yet but looking at 3 to 4 tons a Ha.
Apples - Ready to pick on Wednesday the Royal and Golden's.

Baboons, Buck and Birds - We bought 7 Meerkats (now called Eagle Eye's legally) to dissuade the birds from entering the vines...they work alright...Installing first Mirror ball in the Big block on Monday...and now have a source for a 2 meter diameter mirror ball for the Cab Franc! If they don't run from that damn thing they'll at least take a while to learn to s(h)it on it.

Holidays are flippen over and though I could use a nice glass of wine I'm trying to clear my palate to give it the greatest chance of harvesting the best grapes.

Besides, at the end of the day I'm really only waiting for the paradise stage in the viognier when I can sip a glass of perfection once a day for a month.

Love,

Jake