Uncategorized

You didn’t think we would leave you high and dry for Christmas, did you?

Whole Berry has been sold out for a little over a month and during that time we have been through the full  5 stages of grief.

At first, there was shock and denial – how could we be sold out? How did this happen? Surely there was a pallet or two tucked away somewhere?! But alas – the Whole Berry was sold out, earlier than it had been for years.

Then, the second stage – anger. We were threatened with losing listings, losing business. We were angry with our guy in the warehouse – could he not have counted better!? We were angry with our exports manager for selling a pallet to our British agent 6 months earlier. Worst of all, we were angry with ourselves for drinking too much Whole Berry at a braai the previous weekend – those three bottles could have kept a restaurant going for one more night.

Then we started bargaining. It wasn’t pretty. The few cases we had left in our warehouses were hotly contested. Everyone had a customer who desperately needed just one more case. We were inundated with requests from our reps for bigger allocations. Big orders were dangled like carrots, ready to be confirmed IF ONLY we could add a case or two of Whole Berry to the invoice.

The fourth stage – depression – hit us hard. All of a sudden, Whole Berry was the perfect wine that every customer was looking for, yet we had nothing to offer. Tastings in our tasting room felt too short, our red wine offering felt too sparse. Life without Whole Berry was just not worth living.

Finally, the depression turned to acceptance. We learned to live without Whole Berry in our lives. We found alternatives – Work of Time, Thunderchild, the 1997 Methode Ancienne in a pinch. We accepted that the Whole Berry would be back again someday – and we are so happy to share that that someday, is today.

Officially launching on the 1st of December, orders for Whole Berry are now open and will be supplied as of Monday 3 December. It will be available in our tasting room tomorrow, the 1st – we will be open from 9am-3pm.

The 2017 vintage is full of juicy fruit – red plums, cherries and black berries, with notes of earth, cedar and tobacco to round it off. Tannins are velvety smooth and leave you with a mouthwatering finish. Fermented with natural yeasts, and uncrushed, unpressed grapes, this vintage of Whole Berry is one of our favourite ones yet. 

If there are any questions, please let us know – we hope that this brightens your day as much as it brightened ours!

All good things come to an end, the saying goes, and sadly this is also the case when it comes to our wines. Springfield is an Estate, which means that all wines we release must be grown, made, bottled and labeled on our farm. This means we cannot buy in any grapes, and that the vineyards we have on the farm determine the size of our production.

Whole Berry is our most popular red, and for good reason – fermented with only natural yeasts, using uncrushed, unpressed grapes, and bottled unfiltered and unfined – resulting in a juicy, classical Cabernet with velvety soft tannins, loads of black and red fruit, and a restrained, structured elegance. Despite planting more Cabernet vineyards over the years, the Whole Berry Cabernet Sauvignon still is a limited release, and so we have sadly sold out of the 2016 vintage.

The 2017 vintage will only be release end 2018/beginning of 2019 – as we are sure you know by now, we will never release a wine before it is ready. In the meantime, our 2012 vintage of the Work of Time Bordeaux blend is drinking beautifully, and might help bridge the gap while our Whole Berry is doing hard time in the bottle.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused, and can’t wait to share the new vintage with you in a couple of months time!

After what felt like the most gloriously warm weekend, driving around the farm this week it was indisputable that summer has officially arrived here on the farm. One can practically SEE the vineyard growing, with our vines positively bursting with new life.  While last week we were fighting the threat of black frost on the farm, this week it truly feels like the seasons have changed and that we can start gearing up for our 2019 vintage.

This time of year is our favourite time at the tasting room as well – the December holiday crowds and Karoo heat haven’t yet arrived, but the warm days and laid back feeling of summer is palpable. It’s the kind of weather that makes you itch to be outside, not so hot as to be uncomfortable, but warm enough to feel your bones relax in the sun.

While we do not have a restaurant on the farm, this is the perfect time of year to pack a picnic when you come for a visit – buy a cold bottle of your favourite Springfield white, and kick back and relax on our lush lawn for the afternoon. Over the years, we have seen the most interesting picnics being packed, ranging from a packet of Sour Cream & Onion crisps, to sushi, to a full Instagram-worthy spread including two huge wooden cheese boards and real cutlery. Whatever you fancy, you are more than welcome to bring a picnic basket along to relax on our lawns provided you don’t bring any other alcohol on the premises.

If you are one of the lucky souls who works flexibly or is able to plan a mid week escape, we are also now offering cellar tours during the week at 10am and 3pm. Our tours are free of charge and informal, taking about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how many questions you have! Let us know if you are planning to visit for a cellar tour by dropping us a mail at tastingroom@springfieldestate.com

Please note that our cellar tours are on weekdays only, and will not take place between the 20th of December and the 2nd of January as the cellar will be closed for the December break.  The tasting room is open weekdays from 9am-5pm and Saturdays & public holidays from 9am-3pm. We are closed on Sundays, Christmas day, and New Years day.

Photo credit: Xand Venturas

Felix is an Anatolian Shepherd that guards the Springboks on Springfield Estate. He is a celebrity of sorts as he was the first Anatolian puppy – as part of the Cheetah Outreach Programme – to be placed with game as a guard dog. Since 2005, Anatolian guard dogs have been placed on farms in cheetah range in various South African provinces, with reduction in livestock losses of almost 100%.

Felix came to Springfield Estate as a 6 week old puppy and was raised in a camp with goats before he was introduced to the Springboks as a one-year-old.

After breaking out of the springbok camp one day, Felix fell in love with the friendly, ‘love-to-pet-folks’ walking towards the oases called the tasting room (read air conditioning) and has since made a habit of spending his days lounging around in the vicinity. Felix has noticeably developed a particular liking for blondes, and will lie at a pretty lady’s feet whenever one arrives on the estate. You will notice that his tail curls up like a corkscrew when he is particularly smitten.

Felix is also best friend’s with Bongi, an orphaned Springbok that was raised with the dogs on the farm but has since been reintroduced back in to the herd (more on Bongi later!)

After a busy day of belly rubs and lounging in the shade, Felix goes back to his herd of springboks every evening, guarding them with his life.

The dawn of the 20^th century was a momentous time for South Africa, and for the tiny town of Robertson as well, with lots of changes taking place in our little village. Most agriculture was concentrated on the mountain slopes, an area with a higher rainfall than the valley basin. At the time, the Breede River dried up every summer, making farming in the valley, reliant on its water for flood irrigation, very difficult.
[br]
With South Africa now a British Colony, and export opportunities beckoning on the horizon, our forefathers decided to change their fates. Together with a group of like-minded farmers in the area, they undertook the huge operation of building a dam further up-river, in order to supply the valley with water year round.
[br]
Knowing they would have a steady water supply in the near future, these famers moved from their farms in the hills, and bought up the land on the banks of the Breede River. Our forefather, J.S Bruwer, was one of these pioneers, and bought the farm now known as Springfield, in 1902. In 1908, the Brandvlei dam was completed, and with the help of a regular water source, viticulture boomed. Legend has it that one year there was so much wine; it had to be drained into the river to make room for the new vintages in the cellar.
[br]

The Brandvlei dam was a community project, undertaken by the farmers using their own personal resources. The amount of money invested by each farmer translated into their water allocation – the more money you invested, the wider your sluice gates were opened. Many generations on, this is still the case – although the government now owns the dam, it is still run by the farmers.
[br]
Thanks to the pioneering spirit of our forefathers, things are a lot easier now than a hundred years ago, although not so easy that we find ourselves draining wine into the river! We more often than not find ourselves with too little – one of the complications that comes with being an Estate, and only using grapes that grow on the farm to make our Springfield wine. Unfortunately our farm is only so big, and the Whole Berry fan club still grows every year. The new vintage of Whole Berry is set to be a great one, and will be ready for release in December – so not too long to wait still.
[br]
Springtime is a busy time of year on the farm – new growth is everywhere, not only with vines that are budding and flowering, but also with weeds and grasses pushing up between the vines, and fresh crops of snails emerging after every morning dew. These all need to be managed, in order to give the new vintage that is taking shape in the vineyards, the best possible chance of success.
[br]
With our typically windy Spring weather signaling growth and new life, we hope a glass of Springfield will revive and revitalize you, wherever you are, whatever the season, and give you that final push towards the end of the year.