I have seen it before and I’ve heard it before, but I have not experienced it like this before. Bottling our wine on our farm. Not all of us have our own bottling plants. We hire F..Off big trucks with huffing ‘goeters’ and puffing things to come to us to bottle our wine. It reminds […]
After some glorious winter rainfall on Gabrielskloof, sinking into the soil profiles to quench the thirsty deeper roots. We’re through the sensitive flowering cycle for most of the white cultivars, but the reds are lagging due to this cool period. Some pressure to get through the last few blocks for suckering, and to keep a […]
BOT RIVER WINES WENT ROAD TRIPPIN’ The Bot River Wineries embarked on an epic adventure and the wonderfully eclectic bunch of winemakers dusted off their gumboots in exchange for their city savvy attire. Hitting the road for a trip to Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Maseru (Lesotho) to promote the beautiful Bot River Wine Route was […]
What an exciting time of the year all flushed, bright and green. Training and shaping young vines to form the backbone and arms to bear fruit for the future, now that we have had some meaningful rain these young vines will grow at a rapid rate and hopefully fill the cordon wire by the end […]
Following the driest August in our 45yr history, we received this beautiful deep wetting rain over the last weekend. Very happy farmer now. Young plantings of Chenin, Pinotage, Grenache and Mourvedre are especially loving it. This will carry the vines a long way trough the season. Looking forward to harvest 2020!
Cabernet Franc has taken beautifully to the local Bot Valley landscape and there are plans afoot at Gabrielskloof to get a few more hectares into our beloved soils. As part of the carefully calculated decision as to when, where and how, we have done extensive profile pitting (love the phrase!) to determine what we have […]
Wildeveld ertjies (amongst other things) formed part of the Gabrielskloof landscape for the first time during cover cropping over the last few weeks. Bring on the rain!
Sometimes you need little angels to show you the way. And if you are lucky enough you’ll recognise them. There was this person sitting next to me at my brother-in-law’s birthday party seven or eight years ago. I told her that we ha some grapes and we hoped to make some half decent wine from […]
After many years of successfully hosting wedding ceremony after memorable wedding ceremony (often with the south-easter howling in the rafters) the beautiful, purpose built chapel up on the ‘koppie’ has had it’s wooden ‘bankies’ replaced with wooden barrels. The Landscape Series is a range of 5 wines reflecting the top vineyards on our property and […]
We are very proud of Samantha, cellar assistant at Gabrielskloof since 2009, on having been chosen to spend 6 weeks doing harvest at a chateau in Burgundy. Full name: Samantha Griselle Adams Age: 32 Birthplace: Botrivier Weekend activities: Music, friends and visiting mom Favourite music: Hip hop and R&B Gabrielskloof experience? I joined as part of the building team in 2005 […]
On a quiet Sunday morning the winemakers of our little valley got together at our local hangout – the revered Botrivier Hotel – where, as one does in the Botriviera, they all shaved in anticipation of the 2015 Harvest (the assumption is that they get so very busy during this time that their wives are […]
Bot River Barrels & Beards 2015 – a harvest celebration with a difference Where Big beards, Bountiful tables and Beautiful wines set the tone 17 & 18 April 2015 Delight in a weekend filled with bold wines, raging beards and genuine hospitality when the wine community of Bot River in the Overberg celebrates their harvest […]
