Get in on the ground floor...great winemaker, cracking estate, about to take off
Hi Matthew, we held a South African wine tasting for our local village wine club on 20th Jan and I must say your Petit Blanc with it's unusual blend went down a storm, it even got a mention in our local village newsletter !! We hold our tastings once a month so I'm sure we'll get to try many more of your wines throughout the year.
Best Regards Francesca
by Francesca 31/01/2010 12:30
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I believe we have an emerging favourite! Baldrick is certainly putting a smile on everyone's face. Wine needn't be serious and I wanted people to be able to laugh a little and have some fun. Thanks to everyone who likes the wine. There's no better compliment than you enjoying my wine!
Summer is finally here with Vondeling escaping the bad weather disease free. I'm hoping that the cold spring and temperate start to summer will have a positive effect on the grapes. If these temperaturse continue they will extend the grape's hang time and allow for more intense flavour development. However I'm only hoping at this point and will only be able to tell in early January.
This week I start the final evaluation of my wines so that I can allocate them to the various blends. The wines are scheduled for bottling in Jan next year.
by Matthew 01/12/2009 08:31
ReplyMatthew's Story
"I was born in Paarl, smack bang in the centre of the South African Winelands and as such I was literally surrounded by wine as a kid. After finishing school I had fun working with wine bottling and marketing, but I was always drawn to the art of winemaking and knew it was the career for me
Wine, woman and song lead me to follow an apprenticeship in biological winemaking and farming in Geneva, Switzerland. I worked in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere, I made big Shiraz Blends in the South of France and some lovely Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Sonoma, California. I also spent some time in the Barossa Valley and South Australia.
These endless summer travels were great times and a massive learning curve for me but my practical knowledge seriously outweighed my academic knowledge so I duly completed a winemaking degree.
Trying in vain to cure the travelling bug in my system I went to New Zealand to observe their Sauvignon production before returning to South Africa. Here I was appointed senior winemaker to Welbedacht, my practical knowledge certainly came in handy as my first job was to design and build the cellar myself!
I have been with Vondeling for the last two and half years and I am searching for the almost perfect wine. A tiny flaw in a wine serves as the window through which we view all the other salient features of the wine. Alternatively, to quote Leonard Cohen: 'It’s the cracks that let the light through'
Let the wine be your master. Scientifically I prefer to be minimalistic. I prefer to judge and interpret the flow of the wine. Chemical analyses are momentary and often confuse your decisions. You should have a relationship with the wine so that you can interpret its needs and desires. I love the fact that winemaking is a complete process. It begins with the earth, flows through the seasons and enters the lives and thoughts of people. It links me to the earth and to it's people at the same time."
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Hello Winter People! Yesterday we had a wopping hot summer day. It was in fact 45 degress celcius in the shade. Can you believe it?! It was rather a shock to the system as we've enjoyed a very temperate summer thus far. Fortunately yesterday was a bit of a freak occurance and today is only going to be in the mid twenties.
After a brief holiday by the see, it's been all hands on deck for the last two weeks. We are of course preparing ourselves for the harvest. All the equipment needs to be serviced, all my dry goods need to be ordered and I need to get my Babiana, Chardonnay, Erica and Cab/Merlot in the bottle.
Once that's done it's head down and flat out for the next couple of months. The grapes look good although I will have to be careful of blocks that have irregular ripening. This is a result of our cool and wet spring. Right now I'm of to the vineyards with our MD, Julian Johnsen, to do our final block analysis. I will keep you posted.
Enjoy the wine and all the best for 2010. Take care. Matthew Copeland
by Matthew 14/01/2010 05:35
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