Published February 28, 2013 12:19

Wines at Hawksmoor House

Although February is nearing its end, harvesting is still in full swing. Some vines such as our 29 year old Chenin bush vines have been cleared but our younger Mourvédre vines are still waiting patiently, laden with fruit, while ripening more in our wonderful summer heat. Our terroir is perfect for Shiraz also as this prefers the very high temperatures to glean all its wonderfully complex spicy notes.

For the first time we are actually going to use our Cabernet Franc grapes, also from bush vines to produce a very small run of Cabernet Franc so watch this space for 2013 releases next year.

Our Shiraz from 2011 was tasted straight from the barrel by means of a wine thief at the beginning of 2012 and held great promise. We left it in the barrel a little longer before we recently tasted samples on the sunny Hawksmoor terrace. After much tasting we blended two of the best, a process reminiscent of potion concoction. We managed to create a spicy but soft Shiraz for which a relevant Hawksmoor name still has to be chosen before bottling can begin. This is one of my favourite processes, other than the tasting, of course.

Animals at Hawksmoor House

Despite concerted efforts by a resident heron to decimate them "sushi style", our Koi population have bred and we have some 10cm baby specimens featuring quite a few interesting colour combinations making it difficult to hazard a guess at the identity of the parents.  We are delighted that our Koi family is growing.

With the warmer temperatures, some wonderful air currents have created perfect conditions for our many birds of prey.  Eagles, kites and hawks hover effortlessly over our gardens in search of prey and sometimes swoop down on each other to defend their air space. Their very distinctive cries are a lovely reminder of the Cape winelands’ wonderful array of fauna and flora.

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