Flagstone "The Capsule" Email Newsletter
Winemaker's Journal January 2004
To all those who haven't received our monthly email recently, please don't panic - I haven't managed to write one for the past six months or so. I have had numerous emails from customers demanding to know why they have been taken off "The Capsule" Email Newsletter List. You haven't and I promise to make a better effort at writing a more regular newsletter in the future.
The 2004 Harvest - How is it shaping up?
As old Flagstone friends will know we grow our grapes all over the Western Cape. Besides our own farm in the Overberg, we rent land from farmers on long-term leases and either manage the vineyards ourselves or direct vineyard management. This means we see vineyards situated in different areas on a very regular basis during the growing season.
Generally this year’s harvest looks very good. Up north in Tulbagh we seem to be about a week earlier, whereas way down south in Elim we are at least two weeks later than last year. There appears to be good, speedier phonological ripening than normal in all varieties, but particularly in Merlot and Pinot Noir.
However there is widespread evidence of uneven ripening in most varieties - Shiraz and Cabernet being the worst affected - probably due to the warmer winter and the cold snap we had during budburst.
We have had to drop more green bunches than normal to ensure even ripeness and have even resorted to marking bunches that show delayed ripening so we can pick them later.
There are great flavours already in The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc vineyards proving yet again that this variety responds brilliantly to the right vineyard site.
I am pretty confident it will be as good as last year, probably better.
The 2004 Crush Team
We have a great team of interns this year. Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand and Australia are all represented. As usual we have subjected them to a few Cape Town cultural events such as Sunday evening concerts in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Shakespeare at Maynardville. They all seem to be settling in and I look forward to seeing who shines under pressure.
Having interns from around the world apply for a crush position at Flagstone is a real privilege. We can pick and choose the best – according to their CV anyway! The proof, of course, is in the pudding wine.
This month's special offer:
As most of you will know if you are part of The Flagstone Club, we can deliver your wine purchases direct to your door in all the major cities in South Africa.
There is a limited Flagstone Club service in Europe and Scandinavia, but this is growing rapidly. I have attached a South African price list for your interest. Please email
Monique or myself on
marketing@flagstonewinery.co.za for any additional information.
This month we are introducing our latest release: Bowwood Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot 2002. There is a 5% off "Introduction Offer" on this wine for the months of February and March 2004.
The grapes for this wine are grown with extraordinary care and skill by Julian and Bridget Johnsen. The vines are closely planted in supremely well-drained, de-vigorating shale-derived, ancient soils. After the Merlot is hand-picked we softly de-stem the berries, but we do not crush them. They fall into our specially designed open top fermentors, where they cold soak until the Cabernet Sauvignon is ripe and ready to be picked.
Weeks later the Cabernet is de-stemmed into the same fermentor, which is allowed to warm up, until natural, spontaneous fermentation starts. The grapes ferment together and are therefore blended from the very beginning to ensure perfect harmony. The wine has won a coveted Gold Veritas Medal and received 4 stars in the 2004 John Platter Wine Guide.
Recent Awards
We are really chuffed to announce that our Jack & Knox Green on Green Semillon 2002 was awarded a rare Gold Medal in the Classic Wine Trophy. This is an extremely prestigious competition with only a dozen gold medals handed out to the entire industry.
We all hope 2004 is great for you. Thanks so much for the continued support.
Yours sincerely,
Bruce Jack
The Flagstone Cook Book, Entry # 12
Breakfast-When-You-Shouldn’t-Section
Refreshing Scrambled Eggs (for 2)
6 spring onions
Butter
A splash of milk
Flat leaf parsley
Real free range farm eggs
Cape Seedloaf bread
Dijon Mustard
Chop the spring onions very finely, about a third of the way into the green bits. Chop them until they look like bits of vegetarian glitter. Dollop a generous knife-hanging of butter into a thick bottomed pot. When past melted, but before burning, sprinkle in the green glitter and stir, on medium heat until browning.
All the while whip the hell out of five eggs and a splash of milk until full of air or when your forearm goes numb from the pain. Add the best salt and pepper you can grind. Pour this onto the browned spring onion glitter and turn down the flame. Chop a good handful of flat leaf parsley. When you buy this, make sure it tastes of something.
Add half of the parsley and softly scrape that pot with a wooden spatula continuously until the eggs are scrambled in a layered way – the layers mustn’t ever burn, but fold off the bottom of the pot like fluffy, miniature yellow eiderdowns. Remember the eggs carry on cooking after you turn off the heat, and even when placed on the toast, so take them off the heat just before you think they are done.
Toast the seedloaf slices well, plaster with butter and spread a very thin layer of Dijon mustard on the slices before placing the scrambled eggs on top. Serve with a glass of The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc.
This is a great Sunday evening dinner at the end of a long weekend of kids and other wondrous distractions. It is quick to prepare and oh-so-tasty.
Winemaker's Journal 29th August 2003
The bottling and labeling season is upon us. I fall asleep with the clinking of bottles on the bottling line still reverberating in my head. After a while it sounds like a dysfunctional, irritatingly precise percussion group practicing the same three notes for 16 hours a day.
And then the labelling starts. Labelling is a great test of character. I personally know hundreds of winemakers who have started drinking heavily due to the pressures and frustrations of labeling.
We start off as mostly teetotaler boys and girls, earnestly trying to translate our terroir. Sooner or later however we have to start labeling our creations. And then the slow slide into slurring and delusions of grandeur starts. Well that's our excuse and we're sticking to it.
The one really satisfying thing about labeling is the result. The enduring thrill of opening a newly labeled, new vintage wine keeps us going.
The Flagstone Club - Global Launch
After three years work we have finally managed to get a global deliver structure in place that guarantees professionalism and efficient service. It has been a logistical adventure!
We will be launching our private client club called
The Flagstone Club next month. Flagstone Club members will be able to order mixed wines by the case, delivered straight to their door throughout the world. Initially this will only be available in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. From November 2003 onwards we will be offering this service in London (within the M25), Germany and Holland.
It will not be long before this service will be offered to customers in much of Canada and Scandinavia as well - hopefully by the end of the year. The rest of America will follow, as well as the rest of Europe. Besides all our wines by the case (see price list attached) we are offering three special mixed cases. Our
Welcome To Flagstone Tasting Case, our
Special Selection Strata Series Case and our
Daily Philosophy Fuel Case.
Our Welcome To Flagstone Tasting Case (Price R516 for 12 bottles) is an introductionary case of 12 DIFFERENT Flagstone wines. Each case will come with a detailed tasting sheet explaining the origin of the wine, offering food pairings and suggested magnificent views over which to gaze while sipping:
Whites
1 x Flagstone Noon Gun 2003
(The 2002 was recommended by UK wine writers Jancis Robinson and Matthew Jukes. It is a big hit in the UK and Holland. The 2003 is better)
1 x Flagstone Heywood House Sauvignon Blanc 2001 (Most recent award: This was the highest scoring barrel-fermented Sauvignon at the Fairburn Capital Wine Show this year)
1 x Flagstone Strata Glass Carriage Chenin 2002
(Not released yet. A strapping, huge blockbuster of a Chenin)
1 x Flagstone Two Roads Chardonnay 2001
(Most recent award: Silver Veritas Medal)
Rose
1 x Flagstone Semaphore Rose 2002
(Most recent award: Highest awarded Rose at the Fairburn Capital Wine Showthis year)
Reds
1 x Flagstone Longitude 2002
(Not released yet. Very satisfying to drink already)
1 x Flagstone Cellarhand Backchat Blend 2002
(The Cellarhand brand is a joint venture with our staff. Great wine. Not released yet)
1 x Flagstone Strata Heartbreak Grape Pinot Noir 2001
(From the oldest vineyard block on Muratie Estate since uprooted. Fantastic Pinot Noir. Most recent award: Silver Veritas medal)
1 x Flagstone Strata The Shindig Shiraz 2000
(From our library collection, held back to mature and now ready for real enjoyment. Lots of medals over the years)
1 x Flagstone Dragon Tree Cabernet Sauvignon & Pinotage 2001
(Most recent award: 2nd placed Cape Blend at this years Juliet Cullinan awards in Gauteng)
1 x Flagstone BK5 Pinot Noir 2001
(Last-ever vintage from a wonderful old block on Zevenwacht Estate. Lots of accolades as well)
1 x Flagstone Music Room 2001
(The Flagship Flagstone wine. Most recent award: 2nd place at the Juliet Cullinan Wine Awards)
Price R516 per case, delivered free in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban. Outlying areas will attract a further deliver charge. Please call for quotes. We should be able to supply exactly what is listed above, if we can't we'll call you and offer a replacement. This offer is valid for all orders placed before 31st December 2003.
Our Special Selection Strata Series Case (Price R538 for 12 bottles)
As followers of Flagstone know, the Strata Series is our range of one-off wines that we only ever do once. There is always an interesting reason why we can't make this wine again. Sometimes the vineyard is pulled out! Sometimes the farm is sold or the farmer gets divorced and his estranged wife wants the grapes. Sometimes we just feel like experimenting with a really cool blend and we end up loving it so much we bottle it. The names of the different wines are explained on the back labels.
3 x Flagstone Strata Glass Carriage Chenin Blanc 2002 (This is a blend of young fruit from a wonderful farmer in the Piketburg region and an old, old block of grapes on the Pickernieskloof ridge. You have to taste this wine to really appreciate the extra-ordinary complexity and class of this grape. We love it, but beware; it is not for the faint-hearted)
3 x Flagstone Strata In Cahoots Merlot & Pinotage Blend 2001
(One of the groovy blends we loved. A real hit in Scandinavia and Germany. Very different tannin structure to our normal Flagstone style probably due to the Elgin Merlot)
3 x Flagstone Strata The Shindig Shiraz 2000
(We kept this wine back to see how it would mature. It is really looking
great and offers a succulent, mouth filling, seriously sexy take on Shiraz)
3 x Flagstone Strata The Heartbreak Grape Pinot Noir 2001
(From the oldest vineyard block on Muratie Estate since pulled out. Fantastic Pinot Noir. Most recent award: Silver Veritas medal)
Price R538 per case, delivered free in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban. Outlying areas will attract a further deliver charge. Please call for quotes. We should be able to supply exactly what is listed above, if we can't we'll call you and offer a replacement. This offer is valid for all orders placed before 31st December 2003.
Daily Philosophy Fuel Case (Price R523 for 12 bottles)
3 x Flagstone Heywood House Sauvignon Blanc 2001
3 x Flagstone Two Roads Chardonnay 2001
3 x Flagstone BK5 Pinot Noir
3 x Flagstone Strata The Shindig Shiraz 2000
Price R523 per case, delivered free in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban. Outlying areas will attract a further deliver charge. Please call for quotes. We should be able to supply exactly what is listed above, if we can't we'll call you and offer a replacement. This offer is valid for all orders placed before 31st December 2003.
Web Diary 22nd May 2003
My first Sauvignon Blanc winemaking encounter was in Bordeaux in 1994. I was put in charge of monitoring ferments in a sprawling, dark-cornered co-operative in the Entre-Deux-Mers. Co-operative Hysteria (as it was soon re-named) was run by a large rodent called Jacques.
At 4pm everyday I was summoned to his mouldy office two stories underground where I was forced to survive vicious beer drinking competitions with him and his stooping, seven foot sidekick, the toothless, silent forklift driver. Trying to make Sauvignon Blanc there was almost as testing.
Every Sauvignon Blanc ferment I was in charge of smelt of H2S (rotten egg). Temperatures raged out of control and tanks overflowed. After two weeks I couldn’t sleep due to the stress and couldn’t wake up due to the hangovers.
When I did sleep, I had awful nightmares of being chained to a pallet of cheap French beer and thrown into a huge swirling whirlpool of browning Sauvignon Blanc juice where I died a sickly sweet, gory death. I swore I would never make Sauvignon Blanc again.
Well I did, mostly because I hired Adam Mason to help me for the 1999 crush and he was madly in love with the ethereal, punishing grape.
We have always made Sauvignon Blanc on the edge – it is a variety that demands obsession and risk-taking. You find yourself abandoning all safety-first recipes because it isn’t worth making boring Sauvignon Blanc. With Sauvignon Blanc you are either devoted or damned, and sometimes, when luck looks away, you are both.
As a result we have made every Sauvignon Blanc mistake there is to make at Flagstone. We’ve had vintages rejected by the wine and spirit board, we’ve had wine throw a protein haze in the bottle – you name the disaster, we’ve courted it. But you accept the lows, and you learn from them and you don’t make the mistake twice.
The 2002 vintage was mostly made by Elize Wessels, a young graduate from Stellenbosch University. She poured her soul into the wine, and that is the only way to make Sauvignon Blanc.
The wine is more or less a 50/50 blend of two very special vineyards, one in Bottelary and one in Elim. The latter new area is also home to The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc and Land’s End Sauvignon Blanc.
Immaculate viticultural management in both vineyards has paid off, as Flagstone Free Run Sauvignon Blanc 2002 was the only South African Sauvignon Blanc to win an internationally coveted Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge in London last week.
This comes hot on the heels of The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc scoring above 90 points for two vintages running in the USA Wine and Spirits Magazine.
The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc 2003 is looking seriously special. We will blend and bottle this beautiful co-incidence of geography and time in the next few weeks. It is without doubt the best white wine we have ever made.
Web Diary 20th April 2003
What might happen if you work at Flagstone
It is during the unglamorous, dark hours of the vintage crush when magic happens. It is during the unseen, unappreciated, quiet hours. Long after tiredness has crumpled your ego and made your eyes sting with the dangerous dullness of fatigue. Your fingers are almost raw from rolling barrels. Your back is stiff and your feet are wet.
It is 4am. The Cab in OT6 needs four vigorous punch-downs. You’ve done three already. No one will ever know you don’t punch down that Cab tank again, you think. It can’t make a real difference, your think. And then something weird happens. You walk past that tank and feel a gravity-like pull. It’s like an inexplicable pang of guilt. And then without thinking you wash down the punch-down board and sterilize the punch-down stick, and go to work.
Halfway through the punch-down you are sweating and exhausted, but you carry on anyway and finish. You are for those few beautiful moments a real winemaker, immersed in the life of the ferment. You’ve become an integral part of a magical cycle. But, no one will have seen you go the extra mile and no one will ever know how much extra effort it took. But the wine will know. We call it the X-factor. This is the love and soul you pour into the wine, for the wine’s sake only.
This X-factor is why some wines contribute joy to a meal, a conversation, even a dream, while other wines just do the job of getting you drunk. The X-factor is what separates a winemaker from a production manager, and a wine-grower from a grape-grower.
Internships at Flagstone
Every vintage we receive many requests to work at Flagstone. These come from within South Africa and from all over the world. We usually select four to five interns for the crush period, from January through to March. We provide accommodation, lunch, and access to a vehicle. I will not pay an intern more than a casual cellar-hand, so the salary is pitiful by international standards, I am afraid.
We guarantee that you will work harder than you have ever worked in your life, and that you will learn a great deal. If you work well in a team and don’t mind my tyrannical management style, you will also have fun. A winemaking degree is important, although more important is a thirst for knowledge, a generous spirit and a mind open to exploring the little mysteries of life and the big mysteries of wine.
Bruce
Web Diary | 25th March 2003
Jancis Robinson, perhaps the most prolific, informed and universally well-respected wine writer of her generation has just chosen Flagstone Noon Gun 2002 as her "Wine of the Week" on her website publication, www.jancisrobinson.com.
She described the wine as:
"This inexpensive white from one of South Africa's bright new producers reminded me just how good a blend of different white grape varieties can be.
… Where else in the world can you find a wine made up as follows?
* 30 per cent Riesling
* 30 per cent Chenin Blanc
* 19 per cent Sauvignon Blanc
* 9 per cent Pinot Blanc
* 9 percent barrel-fermented Chardonnay
* 3 per cent Semillon
Much less one that tastes really interesting and retails for less than £4.50/$6.75. It's effectively dry yet intensely fruity without any obvious oak character, just an attractive depth of flavour. A particularly accessible, New World take on Riesling dominates the nose while the last three varieties add depth. This is just the sort of wine to keep in stock as a house white - or to drink in the sunny outdoors as I have just done, miraculously for London in mid-March, with a lunch of gravadlaks and chicken mayonnaise."
It’s cool to have a wine recommended by the only established UK wine writer who looks foxy in reading glasses – however, before I offend anyone, I will freely admit that I haven’t seen the bespectacled Malcolm Gluck in his boxer shorts!
Ms Robinson is obviously much more than a wine siren. She is also the one writer all my colleagues seem to respect. What makes her fascinating, however, is her wit. It’s sharper than razor wire, often as riveting, and always cunning.
Bruce
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JOURNAL | 16th March 2003
We are almost finished picking. It has been a busy, wonderful harvest. This week we’ll bring in the last few parcels of fruit. There’s a small block of Cabernet from the coastal vineyards near Elim, a block of Mourvedre, planted high up on a southern slope above Ashton and a tiny parcel of exceptionally late Pinot Noir from the Darling Hills.
We got the new winery built in time… well, that’s not quite true, as it is still being built around us everyday. But we were ready for the grapes when they ripened.
The quality of grapes this year has been the best I have ever seen in my shortest career, in any of the four countries I’ve worked in. Some of the older hands are saying the same thing, so I think we will see quite a few exceptional wines from the 2003 vintage.
A full vintage report will be written for you in due course. Thanks for all the support and I am glad people are enjoying this Diary Section so much.
Bruce
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JOURNAL | Monday 6th January 2003
Last year ended recently. I can tell because of the date just written and the fact that Penelope and I stayed up late a few nights ago with friends and tried to sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight. I knew in my bones, as we cracked a few too many bubbling bottles of Villiera 1996 Monro, that the new vineyard irrigation system was going to cause more headaches than the ethanol.
And, as the fairy tales will attest, it came to pass that the suction hose to the Daddy Pump wriggled irresponsibly away into the Dam of Iniquity. This happened about 3 hours after Auld Lang Syne.
Daddy Pump, previously purring contentedly, started gagging and coughing - sucking in futile, mechanic rasps at the throttling air. The death-throes of this beast somehow managed to wrest me from my alcoholic slumber.
I zigzagged up to the dam to sort it out. I then stood for a long while gazing up to the star-lifted sky. I saw the inevitable shooting star and made the usual wish. It was actually a beautiful start to the year.
To all those who've supported us so brilliantly during 2002 - thank you. I hope you have a great 2003 and continue to get joy and pleasure from our work.
JOURNAL | Monday 9th December 2002
The weather here at the top of the world tangles your imagination and ruffles your dreams.
Let’s deal with how we view the world first, so we can get it out of the way once and for all. Besides the Chinese, the general view of the world has been confused by the unfortunate and inaccurate assumption that the Northern Hemisphere is at the top. Besides the fact that in our solar system there is no top, you only have to look outside on a clear summer morning to realise that the deep blue, engulfing sky about to smother you in freedom here has to be at the top of the world. It just makes sense.
Now for the ruffling of dreams bit: this is less straightforward. The weather is the glue between a winegrower and his/her sanity. It is like the ripcord of our free-falling creativity, the grease in our angst, the salt in our pruning wounds, the veil of crop expectation… the weather is us, and makes and breaks us. When the wind changes direction the blood starts swirling around a different way.
So when this weird wind cranked up from the east, pillowing before it a bank of gravid white clouds I panicked a bit. This is not only a strange direction for the wind to muscle us from; it is also unseasonable, mirroring the entire ripening year to date.
And when it rushed through us, it ripped vineyards apart. One could almost sense the density of its anger. It didn’t blow, it smacked. It was less like a wind and more like an undemocratic proclamation. Nature, it seemed, was pissed off. End posts snapped under the sudden strain and canes were whipped in half.
It lasted from yesterday evening until about an hour ago. I think I can almost go to sleep now.
Bruce
JOURNAL | Monday 2nd December 2002
For those of you new to this site, this is a weekly (more or less) winemaker’s diary.
The day broke with another unseasonable North Wester buffering over Table Mountain and smudging the sunrise. I managed to haul my way out of bed by 6am, which requires a combination of brain-deadness and creeping harvest fear. Fear that our growers haven’t suckered, leaf-pulled, irrigated and sprayed, as we want.
Monday is West Coast vineyard visit day. First stop the building site in Somerset West where F3 is slowly taking shape. Then onto vineyards in Tulbagh, Wellington and Perdeberg. Monday is a 700km day.
I’ve been thinking about potential. This is a strange, unsettling concept, as much in the mind of the beholder as beauty, but with the opposite response to time. The 2003 harvest looks too quiet. It feels like the moment before an ambush. We have escaped most of the ravaging diseases. The dams are still full of water. Things look good. But can it last?
Maybe it will and 2003 will prove to be a great year, one of the greatest years, perhaps?
Bruce
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JOURNAL | Wednesday 27/11/02
Woke up feeling like a forklift had reversed over me in the night. Found myself in a meeting at 10am as a board member of the newly formed South African Winemakers Forum. Quite how I was nominated is a mystery. I am not designed to sit on committees. My brain was bouncing off the walls after 10 minutes. I will just have to learn how to focus on one thing for a while.
F3 does not even resemble a winery yet. If anything, it vaguely resembles a bombsite. We are about 60 days away from our first grapes.
Red is back in the team, after finishing his exams last week. His lowest mark was 72%, and in that subject he came first as well. He arranged a phalanx of contractors, who lined up all afternoon to measure and ponder. We met with the plumber, the electrician, the cooling contractor, the building contractor, etc...
My overly fertile imagination can quite clearly visualise the whole organic, energised structure, so I cannot even introduce an element of panic into the situation. Besides, this is the third winery we have put together in four years. It will get built and it will be built on time. It is going to be a dream to work and live in. The hard years of experimentation have paid off.
Bruce
