The week has been racing past, but in the best possible way! We have taken in all the Sauvignon Blanc destined to be the 2012 vintage from South Hill.

While I know every year we winemakers tend to talk up the harvest and proclaim it to be the ‘best ever’—when last did you hear anyone in the trade telling you it was terrible?—I can honestly say it has been some time since I have experience the breadth of favours in our juice and been as genuinely excited as I currently am at the moment.

For the first time I am doing both bunch sorting and berry sorting on all my varieties.
The bunch sorting safe guards against any substandard bunches that snuck past our picking team, after which the stalks are removed and the berries are gently vibrated across a long sorting table where any rotten ones are removed before they are covered in a protective layer of dry ice.

The idea behind leaving the berries whole for longer before they are pressed, is so the delicate and very volatile aromatic qualities are protected from oxygen, which is enemy number one, at this stage of the process. It is amazing to see how quickly the juice browns when it comes into contact with air, much like when you take a bite of an apple and leave it for a couple of minutes. The freshness quite literally evaporates before your eyes.

It is early days yet, my first tank was only inoculated with yeast to start the fermentation yesterday, but all the markers for a brilliant Sauvignon Blanc vintage are there!
 

Sean Skibbe is a winemaker at South Hill Vineyards in the Elgin Valley. Follow him over the next few weeks as he shares his view on how his 7th vintage is panning out. Visit www.southhill.co.za to find out more about what's happening at the estate.