Wynand Hamman will launch his own Sauvignon blanc this year under the Fryer's Cove label. The wine is made from a vineyard in Struisbaai up the west coast and is designated as Wine of Origin Bamboesbaai.
When Wynand became interested in winemaking, his holidays in Strandfontein got new meaning. He realised that the average day and night temperatures (19°C and 13°C respectively), high fog and filtered sunlight during summer, provided a wonderfully cool climate to grow grapes.
After months of planning Wynand and his brother-in-law, Jan van Zyl, went into partnership with Jan and Pieter Laubscher and developed ten hectares of land, 820 meters from the sea. The first plantings commenced in 1999 with 1 ha Sauvignon blanc, 1 ha Merlot and 1 ha Cabernet sauvignon.
In 2001 the area was demarcated as Wine of Origin Bamboesbaai, named after the nearby bay between Strandfontein and Doringfontein. The company was named Fryer's Cove Vineyards after Richard Fryer who was the first commercial farmer in the area.
Originally the farming was registered as organic, but after problems with growth, which necessitated the use of fertiliser, they went back to conventional farming. The lack of growth was due to the saline water used for irrigation that prevented uptake of nutrients. Salt residues on the leaves also became a problem.
To overcome this problem a fresh water pipeline was built from Jan van Zyl's farm. The 29km pipeline stretched over three other farms, finally emptying into their newly built dam. They also installed an overhead sprinkling system to wash salt from the leaves twice a week. The system proofed to be worth the effort and the vineyards grew much better.
There were no problems with Downy mildew or Oïdium, but due to the humid conditions botrytis had to be coped with.
This year was the first commercial harvest producing 1,8 tons of Sauvignon blanc as well as 4,6 tons of Cabernet sauvignon and 4,1 tons of Merlot. The Sauvignon blanc will be launched this year.
The normal rainfall in this area is about 200mm per year and therefore the supplementary irrigation was essential. The two clones used were SB 161 and SB 317 on R110 on a soil with a red sand layer covering Clovelly with lots of calcareous soil underneath.
The grapes where harvested on the 18th of February at 23,7 Balling with a pH of 3,48 and a TA of 8,7g/l. The grapes where hand picked in 18kg picking trays where a 6% sulphur solution was added to obtain a total SO2 level of 50mg/l. The grapes where then transported overnight to arrive at the winery at 07h00 the next morning.
No further SO2 was added at the crusher. The grapes where crushed and destemmed directly into a bag press at a temperature of 14°C. Lots of dry ice was used throughout the process with no skin contact and no further cooling.
The grapes were then pressed up to 1,2 Bar and no acid additions where made. The Total SO2 was adjusted in the settling tank to 50mg/l and no ascorbic acid was used. After the addition of pectolytic enzymes the juice was allowed to settle for 72 hours at 12°C. The juice was then racked and inoculated with Vin 7 yeast. The juice had a high nitrogen content and was allowed to ferment at a constant temperature of 15°C with 80g/hl bentonite added during fermentation.
After fermentation the free SO2 was adjusted to 40mg/l and the wine was left on the lees for two months. The final wine analysis showed an alcohol of 13,6, pH 3,50, TA 7,16 and RS 1,1g/l. The final bentonite requirement was 120 g/hl.
The wine will be bottled in an Antique Green Burgundy bottle BN 441 from Consol Glass with a 44 mm Extra cork in the second half of May 2002. The capsule will be a bronze coloured tin capsule. The wine will retail for R120 a bottle.