OUR APPROACH TO WINEMAKING
Making Pinot Noir: Our take at Charmant Vineyards
We're small, very small, in lot sizes. But big, really big, in aspiring to create great wines. Pinot Noir is our focus, and takes the most time and thought. It is our firm belief that the best wines are made in the vineyard. So it all starts in the field for us. The beauty of what we are able to do here at Charmant Vineyards is to control the process all the way from the vine to the wine. We...
How to make great Chardonnay
...In very small quantities. When we decided that we'd like a white wine to complement our Pinots, our thoughts naturally gravitated to Chardonnay. Chardonnay is the great white wine of the Burgundian vineyards, a true role model of what this variety can deliver. We don’t currently grow Chardonnay at Charmant Vineyards — so first we had to find great grapes – easily said, not so easily done. We...
Making Rosé
Rosé – a wine we love to drink on that warm summer afternoon; and perhaps the most difficult wine to make well. Rosé wasn't originally part of the plan. But, we had a really pleasant surprise in the vineyards. The farm responded very well to our greater attention after we took over the farming practices in 2017, which resulted in greater yield levels faster than we expected. As a new winery,...
TERROIR: EVERYTHING HAS ITS PLACE UNDER THE SUN
Have you ever noticed that vineyards tend to grow in the most beautiful places on earth? Places that seem to have absolutely everything going for them, like heaven on earth. Perfect climate, perfect soil, perfect vegetation, perfect topography, perfect geology, perfect diversity — not only plant and wildlife diversity, but also people diversity, thus ensuring the perfect culture!
Have you ever noticed these things? And have you ever wondered why this is so?
When I visit these places, I’m often struck by the sense that everything seems to be in perfect balance, perfect harmony! And I get a sense of peace and happiness like the kind of feeling you get when you come home to the place of your birth, after being away for many years.
For me, it’s spiritual — knowing that everything is connected. Not just us as humans, but everything. Like my grandmother used to say back in South Africa: “Elke ding het sy plekkie onder die son!” Everything has its place under the sun!
We are all connected — to each other, and to everything under the sun. And when I visit these beautiful vineyards in the far corners of the earth, I feel this, more than anything else — a sense of connectedness, and of peace, harmony and happiness. And of love. A great love! Like those feelings that sweep over you when you come home to the place of your birth.
When Julie and I found this farm in 2014, we breathed all of that in, in those very first moments.
And this to me, is terroir! It is the interconnectedness of everything that makes up a specific vineyard. Everything under the sun: the ground, the air, and yes, the love! It is all of it — all these ingredients come together in the making of a great wine of origin, from Charmant Vineyards.
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