Aasvoël 2018

In 2014 I received a phone call from a fellow winemaker. “Do you need some Verdelho?” he asked. I am always on the lookout for something interesting and Stellenbosch Verdelho fits the bill.

The Story:

He is the buyer for this little vineyard but the 2014 crop was huge and his tanks were full. I bought what grapes he had left and the wine turned out to be fantastic! So obviously I would love to buy some every year, but the production of a normal year is not high enough to accommodate another buyer. So I became an Aasvoel  - an Afrikaans word for a ”vulture” - sitting on a pole, watching the vineyard. If something falls off the truck, I pick it up (figuratively speaking of course!). In other words, if it is a high production year, I get some grapes. In 2015 I got nothing, 2016 and 2017 came and went and I was still sitting on the pole - eagerly watching. And then in harvest 2018 it came: the call “do you want to make another Aasvoel?” Total production 500 bottles - 100% Stellenbosch Verdelho. 

And here I am again, on the pole - waiting…