Gerhard’s 2021 Flagstone Vintage Update – 28 February

by Andrew Arnott in News. Posted 28th February 2021

Since commencing our 2021 season on 1 February, we have harvested 150 tons of fruit, this is about 40% of this year’s crop. Almost all of our Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc is in the cellar with only a single load of Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc still hanging on the vine. Next week we begin picking our Viognier for Word of Mouth and we expect to complete this during the week.

Elgin Sauvignon Blanc vine – we picked a portion earlier and will be picking the last portion in a weeks’ time. This helps us maintain a lower alcohol level and gives us complex aromas with greener aromatic thiols and more tropical fruit in the riper pickings. This block has stunning decomposed sandstone soils with some shale soil between the vines.

The vintage started slowly and some 7 – 14 days later we are looking at the remaining vineyards being later than usual. The next three weeks will be busy with around 50% of our grapes coming in and a mad rush to make space for the red wave of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

We are also happy to report that our strict COVID protocols are working and all our staff members are safe and healthy.

We have some Pinotage and Chenin Blanc that has finished fermentation and I am pleased to report that the wine is looking great with ripe fruit flavours and good colour on the Pinotage. The Chenin is also displaying ripe tropical fruit and wonderful concentration.

This vintage requires us to spend a lot of time in the vineyard to make the right picking decisions as most varieties exhibit uneven ripening, making the final picking decision tricky and critical. I have already done over 7,000km this harvest with many more kilometres to come.