I agree that one shouldn’t change a winning recipe, but the 2024 wine grape harvest once again proved that when it comes to making a new vintage of wine, there really isn’t a recipe. The basics of viti- and viniculture might apply, but getting the most from what the growing season offers, can’t depend on the same recipe as the year before.
You get different types of cooks. Those who follow a recipe religiously and those who cook from the heart, only using the recipe for inspiration or guidance. But as close as food and wine are to each other, neither of these kitchen approaches really applies to winemaking.
There are broad guidelines of course: the selection of terroir, the sequence of events, the ripeness at picking, the fermentation temperatures, using lease contact or oak maturation to create a style, etc. The difference between just fermenting grapes into wine and actually making a beautiful wine, however, lies in the details. Picking at optimum ripeness for the style you want to create, what strain of yeast you select, the time allowed on the leas or in the barrel, what type of oak used and a myriad of different factors all contribute to the ultimate product. But even when you found a recipe that works and that resulted in award-winning wines, environmental factors, weather and natural conditions impact each growing season differently and will require you to produce a new recipe for every vintage. Sometimes, one vintage might remind you of a previous one and you can apply lessons learned – the invaluable value of experience – but other years, you face a whole new landscape.
For me, this is the allure and the charm of wine. While consistency in style and quality might be important, the reason why we have wine writers, critics, pairings, and competitions, is that wine is not the same as even acclaimed brands of soda, chocolate or beer. The current vintage is supposed to be different from the previous one if the wine is authentic and reflects its growing season. Of course, not all wine consumers are wine aficionados. Often, you don’t want your bottle of wine to be a point of discussion, you just want it to be a lovely glassful to enjoy and you would prefer to know what to expect when you put it in your trolley. Winemakers therefore often work with a style guide in mind – they know at what time to pick the grapes, for instance, they know more or less how much lees contact or oak to use and they have a good idea of the blend that will result in the recognisable wine that consumers enjoy. But even these guidelines change depending on what nature brings.
And Mother Nature made sure that we didn’t forget who was in charge when it came to the 2024 vintage! It started early – at La Motte, we harvested our first red on the first of February – the earliest ever! We were convinced of a quick season, challenges with cellar capacity and cellar workers working long hours, but we were mistaken. Suddenly sugars weren’t picking up and ripening was slow. A red like Mourvèdre destined for our Vin de Joie Rosé that one would expect to come in early, was only at the optimum ripeness by 11 March! Eventually this unexpected vineyard events resulted in less cellar stress and made it an unpredictable, but manageable vintage. The same uncertainty applied to volumes. We have the highest yield on Sauvignon Blanc we’ve ever had, but probably the smallest Chardonnay harvest in history.
2024 was a vintage with little logic, says La Motte Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche, but he delights in the challenge. When we shared initial harvest expectations I remarked on the energy of harvest time in the vineyards, but on reflection, I know that it is more than energy and the hustle and bustle of the season. Winemaking is about chemistry and science, and it is about the beautiful artistry of the winemaker and skill in blending, but it is also about imagination and recognising the potential of berries on a bunch while they still hang in the vineyard. What is not to love about that!