Saxenburg wines directly to UK consumers
UK visitors flock to Saxenburg every year, eager to sample the wines. The only problem is that they are forced to go home virtually empty handed as they are restricted to a few bottles per person on the plane. The Saxenburg sales team has devised a clever new plan to side step this and bring wines to the door step of UK consumers - literally!
Visitors from the UK can order wine directly from Saxenburg's Tasting Room or South African residents can order wine to be delivered to friends, family and colleagues in the UK. Shipping wines overseas can prove very expensive but Saxenburg makes the experience efficient, fast and affordable.
The wine is already in our London warehouse ready for desptach. Deliveries to most destinations can be made within three working days. Our service offers the additional advantage of "home" deliveries saving the inconvenience of carrying heavy bottles. Corporate orders to your colleagues overseas or gifts delivered direct to your client's office are also available.
Our prices include UK Excise duty, packing, courier delivery and UK Value Added Tax. The bottle prices therefore differ from local R.S.A‘s retail prices however the price includes everything; there is absolutely nothing to pay in the UK. Prices start from R70 per bottle.
So if you want to say: "Happy Birthday, Congratulations on your Wedding Day, Merry Christmas", what better way to warm the heart of a loved one far away than to send them a piece of South African sunshine? Contact Giselle in the Tasting Room Tel: (021) 903 6113 or email tastingroom@saxenburg.com for more information and order forms.
"The year of concertration and high alcohol yields."
Harvest Report 2005
Each year we ask our winemaker, Nico van der Merwe, to give us an in-sight into the recent vintage.
Nico guides us through the 2005 vintage. Everyone is aware of the extreme climatic conditions that prevail worldwide - also in the Western Cape. For those unaware, the 2000 season was the hottest in Stellenbosch in more than a 100 years and the 2005 was the driest in more than a 100 years in the Cape.
On the positive side, most growers found the 2005 crop was smaller which will help to stabilize the surplus wine situation.
The indication was that the harvest season would start at least 14 days earlier than in 2004. So it was for some grapes, but the subsequent rain and continuous warm conditions produced a situation of slow sugar ripeness - with a ''go-slow" situation in the middle.
The Sauvignon Blanc picking went well with healthy grapes and enough cool mornings to finish harvesting during a period of 18 days on 5 different mornings. The Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay started to show some botrytis rot, but with handpicking we could select the quality we wanted. All the red grapes were picked very healthy and full ripe.
With the very low moisture in the soils and the temperature consistently above 30ºC the juice was very concentrated and the alcohol levels higher that normal. So the fermentation was slower at a lower temperature (± 27°C) and longer skin contact after fermentation was allowed to balance out the higher alcohol levels. I had to monitor the acid levels very closely to ensure a fruity and not warm finish.
Due to a vintage without much disease treatment, the fermentations went extremely well and all the wines are dry and very clean. Colour is extremely deep on the red wines. The average quality level of the 2005 vintage seems to me to be somewhat higher than that of the 2004 vintage. I believe all the wines, from Sauvignon Blanc to Shiraz, are very fine and I cannot express any specific preference. Being back for 12 months per annum gives me enough time to judge the entire growing season, which helps with the final selection. (Nico has been doing dual harvests for 8 years - at Saxenburg and sister estate, Château Capion, in France.) Our new Assistant Winemaker, since January, is Edwin Grace. Fresh from Elsenburg, he is very enthusiastic and a big help. The teamwork between vineyard and cellar is excellent and they keep me "young"!
Nico van der Merwe
Cellar Master |
