16 Oct 2013 Forget the Western Cape. Wine farming hits KZN
The vineyards, created with the help of an enterprising economic development agency, were established in the heart of the Ilembe District, north of Durban. In total 12 hectares of Villard Blanc grapes were planted in 2010.
The first grapes were harvested in March this year and viticulturalist and now winemaker Daniel Maerkl is in the process of bottling the first vintage. “It’s a dry white wine called 1781 which is the year in which King Shaka was born,” says Maerkl. “We are trying to create something that is unique to KZN and which will become a tourist attraction in its own right.”
The wine project is the brainchild of Enterprise iLembe and was primarily funded by local government. It aims to create economic opportunities for rural communities in the region. Each vineyard is located in a different local municipality and is owned and farmed co-operatively.
Once the grapes are harvested they are transported to a central winery at Collisheen Estate on the outskirts of Ballito.
Maerkl, a graduate of Elsenburg agricultural college in Stellenbosch, is the resident viticulturalist, project manager and wine maker. He is working with local communities to pass on skills. “We are creating jobs and economic opportunity, we are trying to diversify Natal’s agricultural sector away from sugar, and we are doing something we believe will promote tourism to these areas.”
The job, he says, has been simultaneously rewarding and challenging, with a few hurdles and mistakes along the way.
One challenge was over-coming climatic challenges – notably Natal’s dry winters and hot, humid summers. The Villard Blanc varietal was planted because it is resistant to downy mildew and appears to have responded well to the environment. The harvest yielded 28 tons of grapes which have been pressed and fermented into roughly 9000 bottles of wine which will be eminently quaffable, he says…..
MoneyWeb.co.za: Read the full article
The story of a Midlands Meander wine farm
Abingdon Estate has emerged as something of a pioneer, surviving against the odds to produce KZN’s first certified estate wines, and more recently becoming a fixture for corporate and social events, al fresco lunches and wine tastings on the Midlands Meander.
Unlike the romanticised history of the Cape winelands, the Abingdon story is barely oaked, with the vines only planted in 2004 and the first wines produced in 2007. To date 37 estate wines have been produced from grapes grown solely on the farm.
What makes the story quite remarkable is that the owners of the farm, Ian and Jane Smorthwaite, are not winemakers by trade. In fact Ian is a petroleum engineer and Jane is a former ballerina. They met in the Far East where he was working on oil rigs and she was dancing with a touring dance company…..