THE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER – BRING ON THE BUBBLES!
After almost 2 years without Hout Bay Vineyards bubbles, we are delighted to offer you our 2020 Vintage MCC, Klasiek by Catharine.
In the last couple of years, we have planted 2 new Chardonnay vineyards in Hout Bay in order to increase our MCC production and keep it as a Hout Bay Wine of Origin product.
Did you know that some of the world’s finest sparkling wine is produced in South Africa? Alongside Champagne, South African bubbly is globally known and respected as a traditional method wine. South Africa, in 2020, was ranked as the world’s eighth largest wine producer, contributing 4.0% of the total wine volume.
Methode Cap Classique (MCC) refers to South African sparkling wines made in the traditional method. The term was adopted in 1992 in response to the ban on the use of the words ‘Champagne’ and ‘Champenoise’ for anything other than the bottle-fermented wine from the Champagne region in France.
MCC is a premium sparkling wine reflecting South African climate, soils, terroirs and the passion of the producers here. It is not a replica of Champagne. It is Methode Cap Classique itself. There will now also be a new Category – of which our Klasiek By Catharine already qualifies.
“Methode Cap Classique with extended lees aging”
Quite a mouthful, but this means that you will be able to distinguish it as a wine made from the three classic Champagne grapes only, and has been bottle fermented and aged for a minimum of 36 months. This is a fantastic effort by the MCC Producers Association to ensure the quality of this noble drink! We happily raise a glass to them!
Back to Vineyards
While the Northern Hemisphere harvest is already finished, for us below the equator, we are rapidly starting to prepare for the 2024 season. Vines are showing more leaves by the day, winemakers are bottling and shipping out wines to make way for the new harvest, inventories are being checked, machines serviced, and in many cases, vineyard activities now also have to incorporate damage control after the recent devastating floods.
Hout Bay Vineyards was fortunate enough to have escaped the floods relatively unscathed. Apart from an enormous amount of water rushing down the mountains on all sides of the valley where we have our vineyards, we suffered only a few mudslides and some freshly cut out grooves & ruts between the vines.
After a cold and very wet winter, we are positive and optimistic about the upcoming harvest. While we saw a smaller harvest this year, ideal winter conditions and lots of rain has set the stage for a promising 2024 harvest. So far so good. Bring on summer!
Summer Open Weekend – 25th & 26th November
With that said, our 16th summer open weekend will be held on 25 & 26 November.
We will be selling our 2022 Sauvignon Blanc, Blush & Rosé. Along with this will be the 2020 Klasiek by Catharine, and 2020 Merlot & Shiraz as well as the 2018 Petrus. On special will be a few ‘cellar master’ Petrus releases as well.
On Open Weekend, we look forward to welcoming you from 12h00 onwards. As always, it is a happy occasion and everyone is welcome, so please bring friends and family along, but we kindly request that you leave your dogs at home.
We will be selling our wines at cellar-door prices, which of course means that the standard price includes VAT.
In addition to Maxine’s honey and Samantha’s olives and olive oil, we will have the following wines available for tasting and sales:
2022 Vintage
Blush
Sauvignon Blanc
Rosé – Grenache Noir
2020 Vintage
MCC Klasiek by Catharine
Merlot
Shiraz
2018 Vintage
Petrus
Black Swan 10-year-old Tawny Port
A great variety of delicious food will also be on offer. Maurizio from Origin Food will once again be offering his fantastic charcuterie platters and Gill of Seven Circles will have a variety of tasty wraps and burgers.
An entrance fee of R100 will be charged. This includes 6 wine-tasting coupons and a R40 refundable deposit for the glass.
We do hold wine tasting by appointment at our cellar. This is a very special, personalised time for not only tasting the wine but also for learning about the grapes and the production of the different wines.
Accepted methods of payment are cash, credit card and SnapScan.
