Well this wind may be driving you mad if you are in Cape Town and sure, it does make sundowners on the beach, or any other outdoor activity that doesn’t involve a sail unbearable, but it helps keep the temperatures in the vineyard down, which is a good thing.

Thankfully the vines are finished flowering as wind then leads to poor fruit set and reduced crops.

The vineyards are now at what is called ‘pea size’ stage for obvious reasons…

This is actually a photo of one of our Cabernet vines, the berries will darken and soften later in the season.

4 Seasons in an hour

So this is what we are talking about when we say ‘cool climate’, when I left Cape Town at 6:30 this morning it was summer, shorts, T-shirts and sunglasses weather, not a cloud in the sky, but as I approached Sir Lowry’s Pass I could see that it was going to be a long cold day for me….

From the top of the pass I said goodbye to summer......

And in just an hour it was back to winter for me, thankfully this is not the first time and I always keep a warm jacket with me, just in case.

Pinks and Greens for GO!

This year it is green, for GO! The Platter guide for 2011 has been released and Michael Fridjhon reviewed our wine very favourably.

It is always gratifying when well respected critics back up what I feel and say about my wines. I still maintain that seeing people enjoying my wine is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job but getting positive feedback in such a widely distributed publication is also fantastic.

Unfortunately most consumers (and an amazing number of retailers and restaurateurs) rely on the experts to tell them what to drink, and trawl through Platters searching for the pink patches (wines that get 4 or more stars). Hopefully the 4,5 stars we got for the Cabernet Sauvignon and 4 stars for the Sauvignon Blanc will introduce South Hill to a whole bunch of future South Hill devotees!

To all of you for whom this has not come as any surprise, give yourself a pat on the back secure in knowledge that you discovered us first!

Cheers

Sean

South Hill's First Trade Luncheon

South Hill hosted its first trade day on Sunday and a good time was certainly had! Sean cracked open the Malbec 2007 and we mastered the art of opening an MCC on the lees. Gordon and Emma served up superb fare (more of that Coconut Seafood Soup, please) and we recommend that you don’t go up on a quiz-off with Rick and Debbie Bennetts of Wine on Time. The last stragglers were seen playing boule into the twilight hours and there were several exhausted children by the end of the day.

Thanks to everyone who could join us, and for those who couldn’t ... see you next time!

Here are a few memoirs from our day:-

 Gordon and Emma do what they do best

 Guest Paula helps plate starters in the kitchen

Bill and Janet of The Wild Fig

Mazuba and Edwin, Gold Restaurant

Kobie and Izette from Carolines, and Chris from Nobu at the One & Only

Opening MCC on the lees is a messy business

 The ladies of Wine Concepts enjoying Sean's Malbec 2007

Kevin King and Rick Bennetts on the boule court

We Really Love Wine!

We really love wine. When we began farming wine all those years ago in 2001 the world was a different place. Apple announced iTunes and launched the iPod, the London Stock Exchange went public and, sadly, it was also the year of the 9/11 attacks, but here on a gentle hill in Elgin, a disused apple and pear farm was about to be transformed. It’s been hard work requiring enormous dedication and lots of committed people but here we are in 2010 (on the verge of 2011) and we are blogging! Our love has been made real in this project. I am very proud to be the co-owner of South Hill.

On Sunday, we are welcoming some of our most loyal, valued restaurant and retail partners to a day on the farm, a leisurely lunch and….some good wine! I think I might even have convinced Sean to bottle some of the barrelled 2007 Malbec – it’s taken some arm-twisting to release it - so hopefully our wine gurus will agree it was all worthwhile when they enjoy it on Sunday!

How Gordon, Emma and a restaurant ended up at South Hill, which seemed to be the middle of nowhere …

They say you must never burn a bridge and this couldn’t be more true than in the hospitality industry.  It is due to our non bridge burning ways that we have ended up at South Hill, running our own restaurant and function venue and living the country life!  (Which for our Joburg friends is hilarious!)

To cut a long story short, Gordon and I, Emma, were working away in Cape Town - I was a Sales Manager at the CTICC and Gordon an Executive Chef at a boutique hotel - when I received a call from an old colleague from the Arabella, Joep.  We had had a conversation two years back about running our own restaurant and doing weddings.  Joep remembered the conversation and had an offer for us.  If you have ever worked with Dutch people you will know that they do not go away easily, so instead of avoiding his calls we agreed to meet him to see the farm – South Hill.  Firstly, we nearly died when we had to go over Sir Lowry’s Pass as we were under the impression that Cape Town stopped at the pass!  But to our amazement, and pleasure, a truly beautiful part of the Western Cape lay in front of us and we were instantly mesmerized by the Elgin area and the South Hill farm.  The next few months were busy for us - we signed the deal with the farm to take over operations of the venue and to open a restaurant, resigned from our jobs, moved house and had our fist baby girl, Luci – all in a three month period!  When we look back, we can’t believe we managed to get it all off the ground.  We opened in August 2008 and are now heading into our third season, loving living in the country and expecting our second little girl.  

So the morale of my little introduction to our lives on the South Hill farm is to never burn a bridge, because our bridge has bought us to a very special place and we invite everybody to come out, have a great meal and enjoy this little bit of Eden!

Emma

This is what I arrive to every morning, I'm sure there must be uglier places to work!

Look and Listen

So I’ve just braved big bad Joburg for WINEX 2010.

I partook in the annual migration that sees us country bumpkins take over Sandton for 3 days.

I’ve always felt that one of the biggest problems with the wine industry is that we are so out of touch with our customers. Most products that rely heavily on their brand’s cache in a highly competitive market spend small fortunes on market research. From soft drinks to spirits, washing powder to hand creams, these businesses know exactly what they need to do to win more custom, or at least they should if you consider the resources channelled into analysing consumer behaviour.

The wine industry is different, apart from a handful of really big players, most of us wander around, clueless as to what we should be doing. We rely on instinct and ‘gut feel’ to varying degrees of success.

You see, as glamorous and wealthy as the wine industry may seem from the outside, if you want to make real money, stick to selling hand soap or deodorant, there just isn’t the budget for putting together focus groups or large scale quantitative research if it’s the wine business you are in.

We in the industry love to moan about the drunken hordes, but for most of us this is one of the few opportunities to actually connect with a massive cross section of the wine drinking public and conduct some market research.

It can be somewhat frustrating at times, giving away something, that we put so much effort into creating. It is easy to become despondent as most people are either in no condition to appreciate it, or are only there to work on becoming so.

This is however missing the point. In amongst this mayhem which needn’t frustrate, if you observe the often hysterical antics that only alcohol can facilitate, is an opportunity to listen, learn and hopefully narrow that rift between industry insiders and our market.

I don’t after all only make wine for my personal consumption.


Cheers
Sean

WISH YOU WERE HERE?

So this is us. We decided to start this little blog as a fun journey; both for ourselves (sometimes recording small details is a form of meditation) and for our friends; those people who drink our wine, eat our food, play here, marry here and who remain always a part of our reason for being. If you are not one of these people yet, we have room for more…join us at least on our digital meander, pause a moment and breathe in our fresh air.

We hope it will convince you to experience the real thing…