Latest news with #vines
The Herald
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald
Names such as Conqueror, Tenacious, Fortitude and Longevity, say it all
How often are we told when we are struggling that tough times build character, that one needs to 'dig deep' to find the inner strength to conquer adversity? If the Perdeberg vineyard and cellar teams were the type to talk to plants, I'd bet that's what they'd be whispering daily to their dry land vineyards at the foot of the Paardeberg mountain in Paarl. Most of the winery's more than 3,000ha of vineyards in Paarl and over the mountain in the Swartland are dry land, or unirrigated, and the cream of the crop is found in the premium Dry Land Collection, showcasing the distinctive character that develops when vines overcome difficult growing conditions. Watered only by rainfall, in a fairly dry region, the vines must literally dig deep to establish themselves and find groundwater. The combination of the testing terroir and having survived decades of nature's cycles — some of the vines for the Dry Land Collection are more than 35 years old, with certified heritage status — delivers rewards in small berries with exceptional concentration of flavour and colour, producing wines of complexity and depth, balanced with freshness. No wonder then that wines in the Perdeberg Dry Land Collection have names like Conqueror (cabernet sauvignon), Resolve (pinotage), Tenacious (shiraz), and the chenin blanc dessert wines Fortitude and Longevity. Two of the Dry Land Collection wines recently topped the 2025 Winemag Prescient Chenin Blanc & Cape White Blend Report, with the 2024 Courageous Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc named best chenin blanc and Rossouw's Heritage 2023 the top-scoring Cape white blend. For its passion for conserving and working with its heritage vines in wines like these, Perdeberg won the Old Vine Producer trophy at the International Wine & Spirits Competition in 2024. Their highlighting of the potential of older vines and the character produced from dry land vineyards no doubt also contributed to Perdeberg being named 2024 Producer Cellar of the Year in UK Master of Wine Tim Atkin's respected annual SA Special Report. Perdeberg cellar master Albertus Louw explains that grapes for the Dry Land Collection wines are selected from individual vines in specific vineyards, and made in a new world style with ample fruit and structure. For those matured in oak, the focus is on seamless integration of fruit and wood so that oak influence is subtle and the wines pleasurably drinkable on their own on release, but also great with food, and ageable. This comes through clearly in two of the Dry Land Collection white wines tasted recently, both of which kept the free-run juice in contact with the skins for a couple of hours after pressing and were matured on the yeasty lees in barrel to varying extents — the winemaking techniques creating wines with texture and complexity finely balanced with clean fruit purity and fresh acidity. Courageous Barrel-Fermented Chenin Blanc 2024 (R200), aged in mostly older oak barrels for 11 months, shows how chenin's typical crunchy pineapple shifts when the wine is wooded to a mellower, deeper fruit, with caramelised edges to the sweetness, as if it's been grilled on a cast iron pan or braai with a sprinkling of brown sugar. (I've done this, it's delicious!) Opening with heady aromas of frangipani, citrus, pear and pineapple, the wine moves into flavours of citrus, lychee and vanilla, honey and nuts, the ripe golden yellow notes lifted by zesty citrus and the crunch of a granny smith apple, with clean acidity and crisp finish. Try it with a mild but aromatic chicken curry. Perdeberg Dry Land Collection Rossouw's Heritage 2023 (R200) makes one question why white blends are such a tough sell to SA consumers, because it delivers the qualities that we love in red blends — the balance and complexity, the interplay of flavours, structure and texture that comes from uniting the distinct qualities of different grapes in one happy marriage. This is a blend of chenin blanc (63%), with grenache blanc, verdelho and viognier in roughly equal shares, with half the blend matured in oak for 10 months followed by six months to mature and integrate in bottle. Lightly fragrant with citrus, lychee, pears and floral notes that move into the palate, rounded out with passion fruit and vanilla, the flavours unfurl in layers with each sip, with clean freshness and purity of flavour. The wine is crisp and lively, but with depth, body and texture; doesn't demand food but would be great with grilled fish, braaied chicken or a lightly creamy pasta dish. If struggle is character-building, long may it continue. The Herald
Forbes
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Today's NYT Strands Puzzle: Hints, Spangram And Answers For Monday, June 30th
Today's NYT Strands hints and answers Looking for Sunday's Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here: Yesterday's Strands puzzle was one of the most creative I've played since the inception of this game. If you missed it, please do go check it out because it's very clever. Today's, however, is much more difficult. I struggled with this one. Hopefully some hints will help you on your way. Strands is the newest game in the New York Times' stable of puzzle games. It's a fun twist on classic word search games. Every day we're given a new theme and then tasked with uncovering all the words on the grid that fit that theme, including a spangram that spans two sides of the board. One of these words is the spangram which crosses from one side of the grid to another and reveals even more about the day's theme. Spoilers ahead. Today's Strands Hints Read on for today's theme and some hints to help you uncover today's words. Instead of giving you the first two letters of each word, today I'm giving out three hints instead of two. Today's Theme: Trellis beauties FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Hint: Flowers Clue: The type with vines Here are the first two letters of each word: Remember, spoilers ahead! What Are Today's Strands Answers? Today's spangram is: CLIMBERS Here's the full list of words: Here's the completed Strands grid: Today's Strands Not many words today, but trickier ones than I've seen in awhile. I'm not a flower expert, and honestly didn't even know what CLEMATIS was until now. Embarrassingly, I didn't know JASMINE was a CLIMBER either. And MOONFLOWER sounds like something out of a fantasy book. These are all very evocative words. WISTERIA sounds like a place. SWEETPEA is as often used as a term of endearment. It reminds me of the Sweetpea Festival we used to go to as a kid growing up in Bozeman, MT. Fun times. How did you do on your Strands today? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage and much more. Thanks for stopping by!
Forbes
15-06-2025
- Forbes
The Luxury Champagne Wine That Expresses Intense Sense Of Place
Grape vines in Champagne during a sunrise Champagne vineyards with dormant vines during the winter The cold air brought a serene silence that washed out all the angst-filled thoughts that constantly plagued her mind. Among the snow-covered landscape, there seemed to be little, bare bonsai trees without their foliage that whimsically curved to the side with such grace, adding to the otherworldliness of this place. These plants are dormant during their winter rest, yet it is a perfect opportunity to truly view their diminutive stature without their canopies giving the false impression of heft. Although this place, happily, didn't resemble anything in the daily grind of the woman experiencing this much-needed escape, it was indeed very real; so real that the expression of this land in a glass of Champagne was so distinctive that the drinker was taken aback of how much the sense of chalk within the soil dominated every nuance of this libation. These were the exceptional vineyards of Champagne Cristal, where the nutrient-poor, chalk dominant soils caused the grape vines to struggle so much that they seemed more like tiny bonsai than the typical big, broad vines that are more prevalent worldwide. That is why the chef de caves of Cristal, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, nicknamed these particular vines "bonsai" because they were rare, even compared to the other vines in his beloved wine region of Champagne, France. Champagne Cristal Louis Roederer Tombstone In a world where many of the top luxury wines are being bought out by corporate entities, the Louis Roederer Champagne house has remained an independent, family-owned company with seventh-generation Frédéric Rouzaud currently leading the way. In 1876, they selected their best vineyards to craft one of the most distinguished Champagnes ever, Champagne Cristal, and part of their success has been rooted in the family's knowing from very early on that the greatness of Champagne laid in the vineyards that would express the depth of terroir a.k.a. sense of place. In 1816, a man named André Jullien published a seminal book called Topography of All Known Vineyards (Topographie de tous les vignobles connus) that included a classification of vineyards in the Champagne region. Louis Roederer inherited the Champagne House in 1833 and just a little over a decade later, followed André Jullien's classification and started to make a significant investment in buying stellar vineyards. Louis Roederer vineyards Today, many of the best vineyards in Champagne are the ones that Jullien chose over a century ago, and the easiest way to take a tour of some of Jullien's noted top sites is to visit the vineyards that go into making Champagne Cristal. Whether it is the Basses Coutures vineyard in the Champagne village of Verzenay, where there is silt and chalk in the soil, or the biodynamic Bonnotte-Pierre-Robert vineyard with its limestone bedrock in the Aÿ village, all of the plots blended into Cristal express a multifaceted picture of the most outstanding aspects of the Champagne region. Even the various chalky soils that differ in form will make different qualities within the wines - as chef de caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon says, the Verzernay vineyard is like the Burgundy Grand Cru vineyard of Chambertin, with its "power and strength," and the Aÿ vineyard is like the Grand Cru Musigny in Burgundy so it has a lovely "perfume and softness." But Louis Roederer is not resting on their laurels as they have implemented many programs to explore ways to find an ideal balance within the vines and protecting their longevity to encourage long life. They also use modern scientific disciplines to identify the broad diversity of clones within their vineyards that have thrived through massal selection (using the cuttings of exceptional, old vines to propagate new ones). Champagne Louis Roederer uses horses to plow the vineyards so the roots aren't damaged by tractors In 2002, they started a project called In Vinifera Aeternitas, gathering experts such as Lilian Bérillon, a nursery owner specializing in massal selection of the best estates all over the world, and Professor Jean-Michel Boursiquot, one of the most talented ampelographers (a person who identifies and classifies grapevines) to help accomplish their goals. One of the things they have achieved is employing pruning techniques of the vines that "respect the sap flow" to ensure a longer life while also implementing a permaculture philosophy that centers around creating sustainable and resilient systems that mimic natural ecosystems, which goes hand in hand with their organic and biodynamic practices. When it comes to their organic and biodynamic practices, Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon said that he has noticed that the pH of their wines is lower than before they converted to organic, increasing their acidity. Finding Terroir In Champagne Vineyards in the Champagne region during sunset The wine region of Champagne is a worldwide marketing success story as many houses have created brands that dominate the luxury wine market with incredible packaging, lavish events and placement in some of the top high-end clubs around the world, yet many of those luxury brands are owned by big corporations. Although that success has hurt the family-owned houses that avoid such marketing blitzes as they don't want such a frenzy to overshadow the soul of their Champagnes, expressing some of the best vineyards. There has been a backlash against these famous brands with a revolution of grower Champagnes, where growers make tiny quantities of Champagne wines, many who used to sell their grapes to large brands, and many times their bottlings are single vineyard wines. Despite many of these Champagnes being excellent examples of an expression of a particular plot, it is wrong to think these bottlings are the only true expression of place coming out of the region. Historically, Champagne is a blended wine, and yes, in many cases, it is for this reason that it can develop a consistency of style, even to a certain degree with the vintage bottlings. Yet the vintage Champagne Cristal wines take it to another level when creating an intricately layered experience of those soils that initially made this region legendary. That is part of the reason why Cristal can shock the first-time drinker who is used to drinking a wide variety of top Champagnes, as it can come across as not being big enough or bold enough to knock one's socks off at the first sip. But it is intense and concentrated in ways like no other Champagne on this level, as its power is not in the fruit but in the intensity of terroir expression. Once a drinker surrenders to the unknown, a type of depth they have not experienced, they understand why some connoisseurs consider this Champagne to be in its own category. When it comes to a multidimensional expression of the sense of place from those extraordinary vineyards classified over 100 years ago, there is a strong argument that no other luxury Champagne can live up to Cristal. Bottles of Cristal Vertical of Champagne Cristal 2002 Champagne Cristal, Champagne, France: 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon became the chef de cave in 1999, so he considers 2002 his 'Welcome to the Roederer family gift' as the vintage had almost perfect growing conditions. A gorgeous evolution that happened to this beauty over two decades with peach cobbler and lemon meringue flavors with a broad body and a creamy texture with crisp acidity highlighted by mineral aromas and a long finish with notes of hazelnut. 2012 Champagne Cristal, Champagne, France: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. This is from a warmer vintage, yet one could not tell at this stage as Jean-Baptiste said that he thought that, through time, it would become bigger and richer, as that is what tends to happen with Cristal. Still, this vintage is returning to the heart of their vineyards with oyster shells and wet stones dominating with a touch of honeysuckle in the background and a mouthwatering acidity with a weighty yet linear-driven palate. 2008 Champagne Cristal, Champagne, France: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. Jean-Baptiste compared 2008 to the iconic 1996 vintage. However, '96 is a controversial vintage - some note it is one of Champagne's best in modern history while others feel the wines were too austere with sky-rocketing acidity. But learning from the '96s, Jean-Baptiste decided to wait a week longer than 1996 to harvest this 2008. An addictive, fierce acidity with that Cristal minerality that intertwines itself in every aspect of the wine with a very lifted floral note and plenty of nectarine fleshy fruit to balance out the acidity that gives thrilling electricity to this vintage. 2016 Champagne Cristal, Champagne, France: 58% Pinot Noir and 42% Chardonnay. This vintage was challenging and broke many growers' backs as they battled a wet spring with mildew. Surprisingly, especially considering that all of the vineyards used for this vintage were farmed organically, it is an outstanding showing. There is a breathtaking purity; I would have never guessed this was from a vintage that battled mildew. The 2015 vintage received more fanfare as it was a riper vintage with few problems. Jean-Baptiste said that some challenging vintages, such as this 2016, get unfairly judged with a sweeping statement that all the Champagnes are lesser quality, but for those who dare, who are extremely vigilant with their practices in the vineyards, like Roederer, something special can be produced. And the results are indeed impressive. A nose of lemon blossom, white peaches and crumbled chalk with a marked acidity laced with a saline quality and a salivating finish. 2013 Champagne Cristal Rosé, Champagne, France: 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay. This makes my list for one of the greatest Champagnes I have ever had… not just the greatest rosé but one of the greatest, period. I was not expecting such an experience since the 2013s were typically noted to be lovely in their youth yet subtle and not worth blockbuster status. But this 2013 evolved into such an exquisite example of what makes Cristal in a class of its own as the terroir is so defined and powerful with the right amount of fruit and acidity. Jean-Baptiste noted that making rosé for them is about adding another layer of terroir expression to the wine. Starting in 2008, with their new experimental winery, they began experimenting with a gentle "infusion" technique for the Pinot Noir grapes before the fermentation, allowing for more sense of place extraction from the skins without the astringency. Alluring bouquet of a labyrinth of aromas with cherry blossoms, wild strawberries, saline minerality and hint of marzipan dance and prance along the enthralling maze of flavors and textures that are lifted by an exhilarating acidity, which gives the wine a fierce tension and a very fine structure with bubbles that are so tiny that they caress like satin while still tantalizing with their hundreds of micro bursts along an extremely prolonged finish that keeps those delightful aromatics in one's head for several minutes. 2014 Champagne Cristal Rosé, Champagne, France: 55% Pinot Noir and 45% Chardonnay. A gorgeous nose with pear drop, peach tart and singed orange peel, and is open in its relative youth according to Cristal standards, yet the minerality of crushed rocks and pulverized chalk still dominates despite having a generous fruit flavor with a round body that has a long, flavorful finish, but the minerality is what stays with the taster the longest.
ABC News
06-06-2025
- Automotive
- ABC News
Grape growers trial disease-fighting robots as wine industry struggles with rising costs
Wine grape growers grappling with declining sales and rising expenses hope advancements in autonomous technology can help to safeguard the industry. Global wine consumption has dropped considerably over the last two decades and the increasing cost of chemicals and a labour shortage have put vineyards under pressure. But it is hoped technological breakthroughs will provide economic and environmental solutions. Agri Automation is collaborating with Wine Australia to trial a device that uses a form of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, rather than chemicals, to treat vineyard diseases. The method involves a self-driving vehicle travelling between the vines and exposing them to UV-C with an electronic device. Agri Automation managing director Cam Clifford said UV-C was most effective when applied at night. "It works by destroying the DNA of the [diseased] cell, so it will damage it to a point that it can't rebuild itself," he said. "Once those cells are broken down … they can't rebuild themselves, which essentially controls the disease, as opposed to applying agrochemicals. Traditionally, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides are applied to crops to protect plants and grapes, which requires a number of workers and can take multiple days. Reducing the use of chemicals has been linked with improved outcomes for biodiversity, as well as improved water, soil and food quality. Similar technology is being trialled in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The technology has been put on display at the Department of Primary Industries Regional Development research station in Orange, New South Wales. Tamburlaine Organic Wines vineyard manager Boris Ostini says it could have an extremely positive impact for vignerons. "It is getting harder to find decent vineyard workers," he said. "This makes the management of what you are trying to control easier … you can do it when you need to get it done, sometimes in the rain, hail or shine. "It will definitely help out with the profitability and the impact of disease." Tamburlaine is certified as an organic winery that does not use fungicides, pesticides and herbicides. Mr Ostini said reducing chemical use created an opportunity to attract new buyers. "It will help with the marketing side of things," he said. Growers are also using technology to Identify whether vines are diseased and need to be sprayed. Australian start-up BioScout has created a device that scans the air in a vineyard for pathogens every 12 hours. The data collected is automatically scanned and artificial intelligence is used to identify whether diseases are present in the crop. BioScout's Charles Simons said the system removed the "guess work" for growers deciding when to apply chemicals. "It gives them the amount of spores and also tells them the severity of the infection, so they can make time decisions on spray applications," he said. "You look at the environment and you look at the crop and you make the decision on gut-feel … yet you don't know what the pathogens are, which is the missing link." Mr Simons said the technology would help to reduce the use of chemicals over time. "Vineyards are blanket-spraying applications for powder and downy mildew … that is not very good for the environment," he said.
