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by Karin Theron
On the banks of the Eerste River, under centuries-old oak trees, a derelict old cellar has been restored to become a centre for training, research, developmental work and cutting edge technology in the SA wine industry.
A healthy partnership between Winetech and the University of Stellenbosch Department of Viticulture and Oenology has resulted in a modern training and research wine cellar being equipped on Welgevallen, the US experimental farm at Coetzenburg, in the original cellar building where the father of Pinotage, Dr A I Perold, used to work.
In the department’s current experimental cellar, situated on the campus, second year students in Viticulture and Oenology get brief exposure to practical vinification. In their third year they make a wide variety of wine styles - from white, rosé, blanc de noir and red to cap classique, brandy and dessert wines.
This cellar is equipped to press 12 tons of grapes and with the number of Oenology students having increased dramatically over the years to 56 third year students this year, the classes are split into groups when they work in the cellar.
According to the technical official in charge of the cellar, Paul Engelbrecht, teamwork is not ideal, but the dedicated students who have a true passion for winemaking ensure that they take the lead in their groups and so manage to get the necessary exposure.
In accordance with the status of the cellar, the students work on a small scale. Each student receives one crate of grapes which is used to make 5 litres of a certain kind of wine. The students make altogether 84 different kinds of wine per year. The vinification process is taken all the way through to bottling. The cellar is also at the disposal of the postgraduate students of the Institute for Wine Biotechnology, which ressorts under the Department of Viticulture and Oenology.
A large scale training wine cellar for Oenology students at the University had become an urgent priority, since they had not been getting sufficient opportunity to perfect their skills in large scale vinification and practical teaching in commercial winemaking procedures.
The current system of final year students doing compulsory vacation work at external cellars to gain practical experience has the disadvantage that they are not always exposed to the latest available technology. A demand was thus created for a facility where new vinification techniques and means might be evaluated and demonstrated.
With regard to research, a facility had to be created where new vinification technology and equipment could be evaluated and postgraduate students could have the opportunity to test their research results in practice.
The new cellar at Welgevallen will therefore be invaluable not only to the fourth year Viticulture and Oenology students, but also to the Institute where cutting edge technology may be tested.
The new cellar features modern equipment and the latest technology and can press 150 tons of grapes. The old cellar building was renovated and turned into a functional wine cellar with facilities to handle mainly leading cultivars, pressing, fermentation and wood maturation. The cellar also has its own laboratory and a small lecture hall.
The new cellar will give future winemakers the opportunity to make wine on a large scale and postgraduate students will be able to evaluate new technology on a large scale.
The department was fortunate to appoint a seasoned winemaker, Kosie Möller, who has won numerous awards both locally and abroad for KWV’s wines, on a contract basis to inaugurate the cellar and be the cellarmaster for its maiden vintage at least.
Kosie is very excited about his involvement with the cellar. "It is my privilege to be involved in the project and put back something into the future of the university and the industry and support them in their effort to train top winemakers. I also get exposure to cutting edge technology since I share the objective to produce top quality per price class in all instances."
Leonard O’Ryan, a Patrick Grubb bursary holder who gained experience in America for three months last year, has been appointed cellar technologist. Leonard has been in the wine industry for 13 years, first at L’Ormarins and then at Eikendal.
Various producers and bodies were approached to deliver grapes to the cellar so that top quality wines could be made in accordance with the producers’ requirements. The final year students are now involved in most of the vinification processes. The producers get their wine back to sell and market themselves and only pay for the production costs involved in making the wine.
Both the experimental cellar and the new training and research cellar may be used on a contract basis by outside bodies to evaluate different grapes, vinification processes or equipment.
According to Kosie the new cellar is an enormous gain for the entire wine industry and proves that training and the development of future winemakers are being taken seriously. "It provides the opportunity to reconcile practice and theory, which used to be a big shortcoming in the training of previous winemaking graduates. It also creates a facility which can be used to the benefit of the industry for the evaluation of techniques and products."
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Right: A lovely new cellar was constructed on the premises of the old cellar building on the Welgevallen experimental farm.
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