As the autumn leaves begin to fall and the cellar quietens down, we sat with our winemaker Matthew Day and farm manager Craig Harris to reflect on the harvest season for 2023.
2023 marks the longest harvest we have had here at Klein Constantia – starting on the 18th of January and finishing on the 18th of April. It was also one of the earliest with grapes coming in almost 2 weeks prior to normal. The season was divided into 2, before and post the rain. Fortunately, the majority of the fruit ripens quickly and we could harvest most of the white cultivars before the rain came. With high acid levels, with lower pHs and alcohol than normal – the quality of the grapes was fantastic, allowing us to be more liberal with our approach to winemaking and move more away from traditional winemaking methods. The first crop of Muscat de Frontignan for Vin de Constance came in ahead of time due to the favourable conditions of the bush vines. We had a very wet March which delayed harvest drastically. Thankfully after some patience, the remaining grapes achieved their sugars and were harvested in great conditions.
This was our highest crop in 6 years and our second highest Muscat crop ever! The total tonnage harvested by our team was 501t, which equates to 30,408 crates hand harvested by an average team of 28 pickers!
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