Innovation
Viticulture
Bottelary Winery grapes are sourced from 2076.7 ha of vineyards covering the areas of Paarl, Malmesbury, Durbanville and Stellenbosch. Of these 2076.7 ha, 1620.93 ha (78%) are un-irrigated and 1085.01 (52%) un-trellised explaining the very low yields of vineyards from the winery. The average yield for our vineyards are 7.5 ton/ha, 7 ton/ha for whites and 8 ton/ha for reds.
Our most planted varieties are Chenin Blanc (639 ha), Shiraz (302 ha), Cabernet Sauvignon (295 ha) and Pinotage (219 ha), but we are also producing large quantities of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cinsaut, Merlot as well as small quantities of many other varieties. Chenin Blanc is our signature grape and also the most planted variety which is about 30% of our plantings. Of these, 52% (332 ha) are older than 15 years, mostly un-irrigated bush vines with yields below 5.6 t/ha and thus explaining the high quality of fruit.
Pinotage are mostly un-trellised (77%) giving lower yields with better wine quality. Cabernet on the other hand gives better quality when trellised and therefore most of the Cabernet vineyards are planted with a vertical trellised system.
Every vine and vineyard block have a different micro climate due to the soil, gradient & location, in other words, terroir. This creates variation in grape character, which follows through to the final product.
Our two soil types are: Granite – which is a lighter soil type and our early season cultivars like Chenin Blanc are cultivated on this type of soil. Granite gives a character of minerality to the grapes/wines.
Shale – this is a more condensed soil type with the major component being clay. Clay has good water retention and is most suitable for late season cultivars, being the red cultivars.
The shale soils have high levels of salinity enhancing the flavour profiles of our wines.
Our vineyards are mostly planted on Malmesbury shales and decomposed granite soils.
Background
Bottelary grapes are processed at the Perdeberg cellar. Our cellar capacity is 24 million litres. Our tank capacities range from 5000 to 350 000 litres per tank. We harvest up to 800 tons per day during peak times. Our cold stabilization unit handles 600 000 litres per week. All our wines are filtered with Crossflow.
All of our producers are Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) registered showing their commitment towards safe and ethic practices and long-term sustainability and proudly applies the Integrity & Sustainability certification on all our bottled products. Throughout the years the winery has established a payout system that enhances quality and make sure growers get paid according to their quality.
Perdeberg Winery also became the second Cooperative Winery in South Africa to achieve the Biodiversity Wine Initiative (BWI) membership and can proudly say that we now have 1 ha conservation land for every 3 ha of vineyards.
One of our producers together with Cape nature and other conservation institutions established the first tortoise reserve in 1972 and a few of our producer farms are now for many years part of the Perdeberg Conservation area showing the commitment of our producers towards conservation. Most producers actively remove alien plants like Port Jackson from their farms.
The co-operative and its members are WIETA registered (Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association) and therefore contribute to ethical trade, being freedom of speech, prohibition of child labour and ensuring safe & healthy working conditions.
The winery implemented and maintains the food safety standard – HACCP ( Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points), to guarantee a safe product for consumption by our clients.
On the technology side Perdeberg can proudly say that it was one of the first wineries in South Africa to use Remote Sensing (Arial Infrared Photography) to identify variability in vineyards and managing it accordingly and successfully for better wine quality.