Greetings Vondelingers,
It’s getting cold and wet here which is absolutely excellent and the dams are starting to refill. We have been planting our cover crops between the rows of our vineyards. Wines have been put into barrels and we have just bottled the 2023 Rose and 2023 unwooded Chenin Blanc (Petit Blanc). Both will be available from the end of June. We also completed a new run of 250ml cans of Rose 2023, Sauvignon Blanc 2023, and Merlot/Cab 2021.
Winemaker Matthew was recently out on a training run and came across a little bokkie in distress. Our neighbor has been cleaning out their dam and the poor creature had gotten stuck in the mud. Matt was a complete hero and rescued it. We had no idea how long it had been stuck for.
Last week we had a visit from some students at the Red & Yellow Creative School of Business. They are post-graduate students and are doing their Brand Challenge on Vondeling. They were a wonderful bunch! They are conducting a brand audit as well as some in-depth market research on Vondeling and the wine industry as a whole. We are incredibly excited to see what they present to us and the ideas they come up with! Below is Matt giving them an in-depth explanation of our processes and cellar tour.
The load-shedding continues to be a complete nightmare and we recently took delivery of another generator at vast expense so we can irrigate our orchards and vineyards in summer.
Lastly, my daughter Shura will be leaving us at the end of June. She did a degree in Biochemistry and Genetics at UCT followed by a post-grad in Marketing and Advertising Communications . She has been with us for 2 and half years doing Vondeling’s Sales & Marketing and it’s been so wonderful having her work here. She is working and traveling her way around Europe, India, and the far east. We will miss her.
Until next month take care,
Julian
