News

With unusually warm weather in spring to late-summer rains, 2023 will certainly go down as a harvest that kept Stellenbosch winemakers on their toes!

As expected, the 2023 harvest across the Stellenbosch Winelands is shaping up to be smaller than the previous year, and Hazendal is no exception. However, what we lose in volume we expect to gain in quality, and so far we are extremely happy with the quality of fruit off the vines. Overall, the varietals have yielded smaller bunches and berries, which translates into better concentration and flavour in the wines. Furthermore, healthy bunches mean we can keep to our philosophy of minimal intervention in the cellar, and let the fruit truly express both the terroir and vintage.

The warmer weather in spring led to a shorter budding season, with early flowering and fruit-set. Happily, we found even budding and good fruit-set across our varietals and vineyards. The only exception was our Chardonnay vines. As varietal often sensitive to climatic conditions, the Chardonnay vines showed uneven budding and fruit-set, and subsequent uneven ripening. This is a challenge that our skilled vineyard team took to with great energy, bringing a more focused approach to harvesting.

We were also thrilled to bring in the maiden harvest from our young Pinot Noir vines, which have produced healthy and uniform bunches. The fruit is all destined for our Blanc de Noir Cap Classique.

During fruit sampling in the vineyard the Sauvignon Blanc showed exceptional flavour, and we expect that this will be a notable vintage for this varietal. Pinotage was the first of our red grapes to be brought into the cellar, and we were grateful to harvest our Cabernet Sauvignon shortly afterward, allowing us to bring healthy fruit into the cellar before the late-summer rains that swept across the Bottelary Hills in early-March.

While our Carménère and Carignan didn’t ripen sufficiently before the rains, we expect to harvest them early next week, signalling the end of the 2023 harvest season for Hazendal.

View our Harvest Video HERE

Shop HERE now!