HARVEST REPORT 2024

Wow. What a vintage 2024 was.

I most likely start every harvest report with something in this vein, but it really was over in a flash. It was yet another gentle reminder of just how fleeting these special harvest moments are, and just how caught up in the organised chaos of a vintage season one can get. "Always make wine with a good energy", my mother used to tell me. "You need to enjoy it. Otherwise, you can feel the bad energy in the wines." She was right. We do need to embrace every second of it, and celebrate them, because they're over in a flash.

Harvest 2024 kind of caught us all by surprise. It was mid-January, and we were all still cleaning equipment and stocking the fridges with beers to get us through the imminent onslaught of February and March. Next thing we knew, temperatures had spiked, and there was a tsunami of fruit rushing through the winery doors. Say what you will about climate change, but there were several producers in the warmer regions of Swartland, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Wellington, who were done with harvest halfway through February. The sobering realities of a changing landscape. But here we are, and this is it.

THE WINES: WHITES & ROSÉ

This year, I'll be making some Chenin Blanc for the first time. This is organic fruit coming from Andrew Mellish in Durbanville, a beautiful bush vine block that looks back towards Table Mountain from the north, and sits in a nook that is soothed by the cooling ocean breezes that blow off the bay. This was planted in 2017, and is decomposed shale with clay soils. This fruit was destemmed, and macerated for a week on the skins, and although is showing quite a bit of grip on the pallet currently, will be more of a white wine idea after a few months resting in barrel.

I picked some Sauvignon Blanc this year for the first time from our farmer friends Tabby Robertshaw and Alex Chouler at Good Luck Homestead in Stanford, and macerated this on the skins for two weeks. This block always suffers from some pretty heavy bird damage, and so there wasn't loads to play with. However, this is looking stunning: bright, structured, tannic, but with an amazing salty freshness. This will likely be the experimental 2024 What Could Go Wrong? cuvée. We've also got the Good Luck Syrah Rosé, showing amazing freshness and loads of red fruit character. It smells like strawberries and cream in those barrels. It's fast becoming one of my favourite wines.

THE WINES: REDS

In terms of reds this year, there are some developments. Syrah has always been a theme for Yo El Rey, and this year I've taken some of the Good Luck Syrah fruit, and I'll be making a red out of that. Holy smokes, it looks amazing. Deep purple, loads of black and blue fruit and spice and earthiness. I can't explain to you how good that fermentation smelt. It was pressed on Thursday and went to barrel the day after, and I am so excited about that wine.

Lastly (plot twist), I wasn't able to find any Grenache this year. The amazing Nabot block in Bot River that I've worked with since 2018 has sadly been ripped up (I know, I'm devastated). In it's place: enter Mourvèdre! It's not a grape that I've worked with before, but this is from a remarkable organic vineyard site up in the Swartland called Kasteelsig, farmed by Alan Cooke, and I was pretty blown away by the quality of the grapes that came in. I maybe picked it a wee bit late, but I kept the maceration short and sweet, and I think this is going to make a really, really awesome wine. The vineyard is growing in Koffieklip soils, and was planted in 2001.

That's all for now, and I can't wait for you to get your hands on the 2023 release that is a few months away from being ready to ship out to all of you thirsty folk. Thank you for the continued support. This wine game is tough, but every bottle purchased is a step closer to realising a lifelong dream.