Klein Zalze office employees turn their hands to winemaking
Every wine vintage has its unique features, and at Kleine Zalze Wines, 2024 will be remembered as the year in which the winery’s team of office employees briefly exchanged their spreadsheets, sales reports and air-conditioned confines for the vineyard and the cellar. This staff of eleven wanted to experience winemaking firsthand!
“This is the first time we, who are normally ensconced in the winery’s admin offices, tried our hand at making a wine as a team,” says Liezl Augustyn, Kleine Zalze’s quality manager. “We all have our areas of expertise but very few of us know how wine is actually made.”
The decision was to make a Shiraz with the first step being the picking of the bunches using those traditional secateurs. “Picking the grapes was a two-levelled experience,” says logistics manager Renaye Joubert. “First you arrive in the vineyard where the ripe purple bunches of grapes are hanging in the cool morning air, dressed in casual clothes, and you think well, this is going to be fun. But after an hour or two you have sticky juice running all over the place, your back hurts and it is uncomfortably hot! All round respect for the vineyard workers who do this day-in and day-out during harvest.”
“Definitely a great work-out,” says accountant Elihano Kleinhans, “but it makes the gym look like kid’s play. I’ve had my share of grape-picking for the year!”
Back at the winery the grapes were destemmed, a percentage kept-back to join the fermentation process as a whole-bunch component for extra freshness and an added dimension. During fermentation careful monitoring of the fermenting wine as well as regular manual punch-downs to ensure the necessary degree of extraction from the skins followed.
“If you are keen on a clean set of hands, this is not to be recommended,” says financial manager Lindi Lucas. “But it is amazing to be practically involved at this stage where the wine is born, the fermentation process eating into the grape sugar where a sweet juice turns to young wine over a week. And the baby needs watching – every few hours certain members of our team had to leave their desks to do the manual punch-downs.”
Of course, the process of fermentation does not take week-end breaks either, and the team had to take turns to do the punch-downs and check on the ferment. “This was cool as we brought our families along so that they could also see what goes on in a working winery,” says Liezl Augustyn. “And watching mom and wife heaving away at the fermentation tank over a dense mass of dark grapes and juice, I think, earned us some real respect!”
The Kleine Zalze winemakers kept their distance, allowing their white-collared colleagues to immerse themselves in the winemaking experience. But they were called on, now and again, to ensure that no unwanted elements – such as volatile acidity and other potential spoilage – crept in.
The team stuck to the hand-made approach, pressing the fermented juice and skins in a traditional basket-press, after which the clear young wine was put to barrel. “Now the waiting begins,” says Kleine Zalze commercial manager for South Africa and Africa, Jono Ralph. “It is in the barrel where the magic occurs with the tannins softening and the Shiraz gaining complexity of flavour. We’ll have another look at how the wine is developing in six months, tasting occasionally to see how it is getting along.”
Prescient Minority Report 2024
We are exceptionally proud to be in the Top 8 of the Prescient Minority Report with the Kleine Zalze Project Z Grenache 2022! This year’s Minority Report, convened by
Winemag.co.za, attracted 101 entries (46 white wine and 55 red) and these were tasted blind (labels out of sight) by a three-person panel with scoring done according to the 100 point quality scale.
Kleine Zalze Project Z Grenache 2022
The Project Z Grenache 2022 is indeed a very special wine. In November 2023 the wine was awarded 5-stars in the annual Platter's Guide and was also named the best Grenache Noir for 2024. The wine spent time maturing in an amphora, which helped in giving it a unique personality exuding freshness, focus and texture. The wine has rose petals, lavender, and cherries on the nose, along with hints of crushed, dried herbs. On the palate the wine shows pure, juicy fruit and a velvety texture balanced by zippy acidity, and a spicy dry grip of tannins on the nice long finish. This is one to savour!
Upcoming events
Austrian Sauvignon Blanc Feast
With all eyes on Steiermark in Austria as host of the most prominent Sauvignon Blanc competition in the world,
Sauvignon Selection by CMB, join us on Friday the 26th of April for a unique opportunity to taste top international wines on local soil at the Austrian Sauvignon Blanc Feast at Kleine Zalze!
Taste a selection of Austrian Sauvignon Blanc from Südsteiermark and beyond, while exploring five Austrian food stalls with chef Nic van Wyk's Wiener schnitzel, käsespätzle, gröstl, brettljause, and apfelstrudel. Live music is provided by talented guitarist, violinist, and composer Wilken Calitz.
- Date: Friday 26 April
- Time: 17h00 - 19h30
- Venue: Kleine Zalze Restaurant
- Cost: R950 per person
- Book: Email us, or call us on 021 880 8167
Italian Sunday Lunch at Kleine Zalze
We start off the meal in true Italian fashion with bruschetta with burrata cheese, roasted tomato, basil olive oil and crispy prosciutto. For a second course, enjoy mushroom and zucchini cannelloni with black pepper and truffle cream, followed by a braised lamb shoulder risotto served with aubergine and kale.
Dessert is another classic: a stunning vanilla panna cotta with balsamic vinegar roasted figs to finish off your meal.
The Kleine Zalze Sunday Lunch is R425 per person for four courses. Please note that booking is essential, either via Dineplan or by calling us on 021 880 8167. We also offer the Kleine Zalze Sunday Lunch as a vegetarian option
The Kleine Zalze Restaurant is open for lunch from 12h00 - 16h00 Mondays to Sundays (last orders at 15h00). Platters and snacks available at the Tasting Room until 16h00. To book call us on 021 880 8167 or book via Dineplan.
Please call the restaurant on 021 880 8167 or email us for information on our functions packages as well as birthdays and special events.