Now that South Africa is emerging from the third wave and the summer holiday season is fast approaching, we are optimistic that life will slowly be getting back to what we once knew BC.
We have missed several open weekends at Hout Bay Vineyards and can’t wait to welcome you all back for delicious wines and MCC, great food, fantastic Hout Bay views and (socially responsible) good times. We did, however, improvise and held our open weekends in a different format but it just wasn’t the same as seeing everyone enjoying themselves like before. The last 18 months presented us with many challenges which we managed to overcome with the support of loyal wine lovers, essentially helping us to survive and continue with our passion of making quality wines.
Methode Cap Classique is what started our whole adventure with Hout Bay Vineyards. We purchased a piece of land on the Skoorsteenskop mountainside which was covered in blue-gum and black-wattle trees. Once this was cleared, and we could see the land again, a quick decision was made to plant grapes for bubbly. The challenge was to learn how to care for the vines and then, obviously, to make the wine!! We are very proud of our achievements so far and are always thankful when we can open a bottle with friends and enjoy the fruits of our labour.
In one of our previous newsletters, we told you about a new Chardonnay vineyard which will present us with its first crop next year. Although this will greatly help to increase our production of MCC, we constantly seem to run out of the current release before the next vintage is available. For this reason, we have just planted another small block of Chardonnay vines on the property of Vida Nova Retreat in Valley Road. After about three years the grapes from these vines will be added to our MCC, thereby increasing the quantity we are able to produce while keeping it ‘Wine of Origin, Hout Bay’. In line with the ethos of Hout Bay Vineyards and Vida Nova, these grapes will thrive using biological farming methods focusing on the health of the soil and the vine in order to produce quality fruit.
With the warmer climate and abundance of rain last summer, we enjoyed a particularly good harvest and have produced what we consider to be our best Sauvignon Blanc to date. Our production is forever creeping up and is now in excess of 25 tons. We managed to bottle the white wines and rosé in June and have just finished bottling the current MCC. Though we are very excited about its potential, it is a real patience game as this vintage will only be opened in 2024!!
Next year’s Platter’s Wine Guide ratings were released recently and four of the seven wines submitted by us achieved 4 stars. Our Klasiek, Petrus and Shiraz missed four-and-a-half stars by only two points, and our Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot were a mere one point short of 4 stars.
On the 27th & 28th of November, we will have our full range of wines available and you will also be able to enjoy delicious food from Seven Circles and charcuterie platters, cheese, cold meats and sausages by Origin Foods. Honey and olives, as well as olive oil from our centennial trees, will also be on sale.
We will be open from 12h00 until 17h00 and look forward to welcoming you. As always, it is a happy occasion and everyone is welcome, so please bring your friends and family along but we kindly ask you to leave your animals at home.
We will be selling our wines at special cellar-door prices which means a 15% saving for you as this price will be including VAT.
- 2019 MCC Klasiek by Catharine
- 2021 Blush
- 2021 Sauvignon Blanc
- 2020 Rosé
- 2019 Merlot
- 2017 Petrus
- 2011 Port
* Accepted methods of payment are cash, credit card and SnapScan.
Last but not Least
We are looking forward to another very exciting event in 2022. It will see the release of our 2012 Petrus which will be labelled as Peter & Paul, in memory of our artist friend Paul du Toit. The event will be held on 9th January and will also showcase the Zip Zap Circus. Please keep an eye out for the newsletter that we will be sending in the next month.
Header photograph courtesy Chris Morgan.
