Practical in the cellar Archives

Learning – an important skill for leaders

John F. Kennedy, former president of the United States, wrote in 1963 that leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. This is a crucial statement as it means one cannot lead without knowledge and the desire to learn, and that it is vital to continue learning to maintain a position of leadership. Being a leader entails much more than being popular or having charisma, as it is more important that leaders should be well informed. Therefore, one cannot be in a leadership position without continuously acquiring knowledge.

Santi Basson | Apr 1, 2022

Saxenburg – teamwork ensures success

According to Dirk van Zyl, cellarmaster of Saxenburg, the cellar team is responsible for all tasks in the cellar, including bottling, labelling and storage of wine.

Santi Basson | Mar 1, 2022

Winetech 2021 study groups cellar assistants perform

Cellar assistants participating in the Winetech 2021 study groups learned more about post-fermentation processes, which included lees contact, clarification of young wines and filtration. The maturation of wine; stabilisation and blending of wines, including bottling and packaging were of great interest to participants. In the third and final study group, participants learned more about wine faults and microbiological spoilage, unacceptable quality characteristics of wine and the sensory identification of wine. Three faulty wines were compared to a control wine to practically illustrate common wine faults.

Santi Basson | Jan 1, 2022

Winetech cellar assistant programmes: why evaluate?

One of the most important reasons for the annual evaluation of the Winetech programmes is to ensure that the study groups and senior cellar assistant workshops are meeting the goals and achieve the objectives as confirmed in the approved business plans. Winetech has a responsibility towards participating cellars to ensure that a quality service is delivered and that knowledge transfer takes place in a satisfactory manner. Participating cellars, as well as cellar assistants, are requested to give feedback regarding administrative arrangements, presentations and content, and to identify possible challenges. Regular interviews with winemakers and cellar assistants provide feedback regarding the value of the programmes and identify the challenges cellars experience in general.

Santi Basson | Jan 1, 2022

Effective microbiological monitoring in wine cellars

The making of wine is a microbiological process with yeasts and bacteria playing a decisive role. All yeasts and bacteria are however not necessarily beneficial for wine, but can spoil it. It is consequently important that cellars monitor the microflora during winemaking.

Charl Theron | Jan 1, 2022

Winetech 2021 senior cellar assistant workshops

The Winetech 2021 workshops for senior cellar assistants were facilitated by qualified winemakers in the participating districts Stellenbosch, Worcester/Robertson, Wellington, Vredendal and Upington. Participation in the workshops is free, but cellar assistants must be bilingual and in possession of the Wine Training SA SKOP 3 certificate. Participating cellars received notes, attendance registers, confirmation of attendance letters (instead of certificates) and a letter confirming the financial value of the workshops. The names of the cellar assistants were placed on the industry's LMS data base.

Santi Basson | Dec 1, 2021

The advantages and disadvantages of spontaneous fermentation

Irrespective of origin, cultivar, style or prize winners, all wines share one common factor, namely alcoholic fermentation. The sugar present in the grapes must be converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide, which requires yeast. The yeast can be received with the grapes or it can be added as pure culture yeast.

Charl Theron | Dec 1, 2021

The cold stabilisation tests of wine

The colour, flavour and taste stability of wine is a basic requirement of most wine consumers. Different wine making procedures are applied to obtain it. In order to determine the efficiency of the stabilisation procedures certain tests are applied.

Charl Theron | Nov 1, 2021

The use of chitosan during winemaking

The permissibility and legal restrictions of additives during winemaking are controlled globally. Import countries however have different prescriptions and wine cellars must be aware thereof it to export their wines successfully. Most additives also have a...

Charl Theron | Oct 1, 2021

Rickety Bridge – opportunities for individual development

Rickety Bridge, located against the Dassenberg near Franschhoek, used to be part of La Provence, a 17th century Huguenot farm. La Provence was subdivided and the portion currently known as Rickety Bridge, was awarded on 13 May 1797 to Paulina de Villiers. Paulina...

Santi Basson | Oct 1, 2021

Namaqua Wines – a holistic approach to leadership and development

When one hears the word Namaqua, one involuntarily thinks of the region’s impressive wildflower display in spring, but also of the well-known cellar, Namaqua Wines in Vredendal. This cellar, approximately 20 kilometres from the cold Atlantic Ocean, is situated at...

Santi Basson | Sep 1, 2021

The advantages and disadvantages of ozone as sanitation agent

The cleaning and sequential sanitation of cellars and equipment are essential to maintain the required cellar hygiene. Cellar hygiene is indispensable to ensure that the spoilage of wine is prevented. Ozone (O3) has already long been used as sanitiser in wine...

Charl Theron | Sep 1, 2021