Rainbow's End

Saturday evening we received the good news that Rainbow’s End won two gold medals at this years Michelangelo awards judged by a international panel of judges from around the world.

Our Cabernet Sauvignon ’2007 and Cabernet Franc ’2007 both were awarded gold medals. We are all happy seeing that these wines is still 2007 vintages. Our Cabernet Franc was the top achiever for this varietal on the show.

Keep well

The Rainbow’s End Team

Hi Friends, Drinkers and fellow bloggers,
 
Some exciting news: Our Rainbow’s End Cabernet Franc 2007 has won the category ‘ Unusual Red ‘ in the ‘ Wine of the Month Club’. We are also excited about our 1st exports to the U.S.A. !
 
Anton, our winemaker, has returned from a successful marketing trip to Johannesburg ( Gauteng, S.A. ) where he , among other things, had some fun drinking, tasting and getting feedback from the enthusiastic and knowledgeable consumers, buyers and winewriters up north.
 
On Rainbow’s End our wines have gone through malolactic fermentation and racking, and are now ageing peacefully in the vats.
 
We have had a very wet and cold winter which bodes well for the vineyards. Francois, our viticulturist, has completed the pruning and all indications are that the ripening process will commence with no delayed budbreak.
 
Work on the rehabilitation of the fynbos will continue in the coming week with careful and controlled burning of more land infested with alien vegetation. In the garden various fruit trees have been planted to ensure fresh fruit all year round for the whole family and friends. Never a dull moment on Rainbow’s End !
Happy drinking and eating, from all the Malans on Rainbow’s End.

Dear Readers,
There has been a long silence from us as everyone on Rainbow’s End has simply been too busy to write.
Our season went off well with no freaky weather patterns to cause any disasters. We did have a very late cool season because of more rain than usual during January, February and March, and only harvested our last Cabernet Sauvignon on the 14th April. The cool, slow, ripening conditions ensured very good phenolic ripeness. The wine is now in the barrels and busy with malolactic fermentation. So far so good!
Besides exporting to Sweden, we are now also exporting to the Netherlands and Germany, and this season have pushed up production to 15 500 bottles. All our ‘ 06 wines are sold out except for a few remaining cases of ‘ 06 Shiraz and ‘ 04 Complexite. The ‘ 07 wines show great promise and we are all waiting excitedly for their release in June.
In the vineyards, because of the relatively high rainfall through the summer season, Francois had a difficult but successful time keeping them healthy and free from disease and rot. Thorough canopy management and opening of the grape bunches, (the latter particularly important to keep the Shiraz with it’s thinner skin free from rot), did the trick!
At the end of April the sowing of the cover crop was completed. (It keeps most of the weeds out of the vineyards and minimizes the spraying of anti-weed killers. It also helps to prevent erosion on our steep slopes, and replaces organic material in the soil. ) We are proud of the fact that our soils have remained so healthy and fertile, and thanks to these sustainable farming practises, it has not been necessary to add any artificial fertilizer !
 
During the past year we discovered a new, cheap, environment friendly way of keeping the birds away from the grapes: hanging empty CD cassettes in the vineyards! They flash different coloured lights in the breeze and the sunlight. The baboons we have here in the surrounding mountains were however not frightened away and still have fun sampling our Merlot! We have sighted the lone leopard living in this mountainous area and for the first time saw leopard spoor near our highest vineyards. (Perhaps the leopard will take care of the baboons for us!) The name Banghoek, ‘scary corner’, remains descriptive of this area!
At present the labour are enjoying their well earned three weeks leave, the winter rains have begun and soon the early pruning will start.
That’s all for now, happy drinking, the Malan Team.