Oldenburg Vineyards

Sitting on the front stoep of The Homestead at Oldenburg in the middle of winter, watching the point where the vineyards melt into the mountains, is a mesmerizing pastime.

Vanessa and Nic are on our winter visit to the Cape, and the refreshing coolness surrounding us is a welcome relief to the heat wave we have been experiencing in northern Europe. I have also been in China, where moving around in 39˚c Beijing heat (with its associated pollution) seems worlds away from how things are on the stoep. Here, the daily temperature only hit mid to high teens, with nights in mid-single digits. Perfect

Things are quite busy on the farm as our new farm manager - Gareth begins his tenure at Oldenburg. This will also be our second year of pruning with Livio - a consultant pruning specialist, who is visiting from Italy. We work with Livio to further our understanding of the advanced pruning methods we started adopting last winter. Pruning marks the beginning of the long road to harvest 2020. It is essentially our first intervention with the vines - and a very important one at that. The careful work of the farm team and their secateurs sets the vine’s path for quantity and quality of grapes it will produce. No short cuts here (excuse the pun).