Since my last winemaking update, the red blend has made it into barrel - a process that was not without incident.

After being informed of the terrific progress of our white wine blend (which has since fermented dry and already showing ripe fig aromas), we could shift our focus to the making of our red blend (Merlot/Petit Verdot blend and not Merlot/Malbec as previously stated. First rule of winemaking: know what you are making).

In line with our hands-on approach, Commandeer Crafford, with Samarie and me in attendance, manually destalked 30kgs of Petit Verdot. Samarie quickly grew tired of this monotonous process (not helped by my giddy dating talk around the plastic bin) and opted to rather clean out a stainless steel tank in the De Grendel cellar. It made for comic relief as we could hear yelps and thumps as Samarie was falling around in the slippery container.

Once the bunches were destalked the grapes were topped-up with approximately 300kg of Merlot, followed by punch downs (four times a day). Elzette du Preez, assistant winemaker at De Grendel, reported on 16 March that the colour and the aromas of the wine looked promising. It was also a call to press as the basket press on loan was only available that coming Thursday.

Used for gentle pressing, a basket press is best applied in boutique operations where only a small amount of grapes are used in production. Crushed grapes are placed in the basket, and a plate is then slowly lowered onto the pulp to further extract juice. Overall it should be a simple, straightforward process.

However, due to the softer skins of the Merlot grapes, pressing the pulp resulted in the juice to be squirted over the cellar floor in a most spectacular fashion. De Grendel winemaker Charles Hopkins looked on with an expression of disdain. This was clearly not an intended outcome. Therefore I found the Merlot fountain to be all the more exciting.

Luckily enough juice could be saved to fill a new French barrel.

I listen intently as winemaker Charles Hopkins explains the workings of the basket press.

Crushed Merlot/Petit Verdot grapes are loaded into the basket press.

We watch as the plate is slowly lowered onto the crushed grapes.

Merlot juice all over De Grendel's cellar. Evidently Samarie also found this amusing.

 

*Photos courtesy of Commandeer Crafford.