“Pinotage and Chenin, in particular, are looking fantastic and will rate highly,” he remarked about several single-vineyard bottlings, explaining that the team reacted
quickly to the early signs of a challenging vintage and contracted more grapes from the cooler areas at the start of the season to ensure enough quantity. Moreover, the Chenin vines relied on for the premium Bellingham labels are older and capable of better water retention, while Pinotage is an early ripener, with tannin and colour formation occuring in a timely manner (in December already) relative to Cabernet and Shiraz, which were a bit more challenging.
Most of the grapes bought in for the various wines in the Bellingham range are from the Coastal region - especially Stellenbosch, Durbanville, Paarl, the Swartland (less so in 2016), and Darling (the cooler part of the district, closer to the Atlantic). As grapes arrived at the Wellington winery, Groenewald noted standout features of the harvest in several areas: the Swartland's low yields, small berries and thick skins; Stellenbosch's relatively good yield and good phenolic ripeness; and Durbanville's lower yields, thickish skins, great flavours.
“We are sourcing more Viognier from cooler sites in Somerset West and Elgin to make for a fresher, more focused style of wine,” says Groenewald, a big fan of Rhône varieties. “More Shiraz and Pinotage are coming from Stellenbosch for the same reason."
Currently, at the top of Bellingham’s quality pyramid, The Bernard Series from 2016 might even be an improvement on previous years due to “understanding the vineyards better, excellent barrel management, and the sorting, sorting and more sorting of the grapes."
For Bellingham, the harvest started on 18 January with Verdelho brought in from Paarl, and by the end of it, four weeks later - Groenewald is especially excited about these - the excellent Malbec from Somerset West and some exquisite Petit Syrah from the Swartland.
“We are continually experimenting, considering varietal options but more often than not looking at different combinations,” he says. “Our experience with blending plays a major role in challenging vintages. We thought we might also have some smoke taint to deal with regarding fruit from a block in Klapmuts, Stellenbosch, after the Simonsberg fires in January. However, lab tests showed we had nothing to worry about.”