{"id":49962,"date":"2013-10-22T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T22:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=49962"},"modified":"2013-10-22T10:51:44","modified_gmt":"2013-10-22T08:51:44","slug":"solms-delta-launches-gemeenskap-wine-club-for-its-gemeenskap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/franschhoek\/solms-delta-launches-gemeenskap-wine-club-for-its-gemeenskap\/","title":{"rendered":"Solms-Delta launches Gemeenskap wine club for its gemeenskap!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Solms<\/a>I have not previously experienced Solms-Delta owner Professor Mark Solms as such a \u2018grapjas\u2019 (could this be a new name for a future wine?), bringing the house down with his honesty and \u2018loskop professor\u2019 talk about his wines and its Gemeenskap, losing the thread of what he wanted to say on a few occasions.<\/p>\n

Mark is a passionate wine estate owner, whose mind races ahead faster than he can say the words, and is internationally renowned as a neuropsychologist, lecturing in London and at the University of Cape Town. His students must have a ball in his lectures. On Sunday he hosted members of the wine estate’s gemeenskap, to introduce to them the latest vintages of his wines, to introduce the new winemaker \"Solms<\/a>Hagen Viljoen, and to introduce the Gemeenskap community club.\u00a0 He came to the farm in 2001, and explained that the building in which we were tasting the wine was already called Fyndraai, and therefore they kept the name.\u00a0 They now have consolidated three neighbouring farms, \u2018because we are so good at what he do\u2019<\/i>, he said.\u00a0 Music is an important passion on the farm, and Mark said that they \u2018farm with music\u2019<\/i> as much as they \u2018farm with wine\u2019<\/i>!\u00a0 Next year a Music Centre will be established on the wine estate.<\/p>\n

Mark traced the history of winemaking on the farm back to 323 years ago, but somewhere along the line all the vines were removed and fruit trees were planted.\u00a0 When he arrived 13 years ago, they went back to vine planting.\u00a0 He had no knowledge of wine making, and got viticulturists and soil scientists to analyse their terroir, as well as their weather records, which had been kept since 1935.\u00a0 The Rhone style wines were felt to be most suitable, given the similarity in climate.\u00a0 Mark said that the ethos of winemaking on the farm is to make the best wine in the world that one can make at Solms-Delta.\u00a0 They are unique in what they do, and will not copy anyone.\u00a0 They \u2018don\u2019t want to be a little piece of Europe\u2019<\/i>, Mark said, despite his European origin.\u00a0 As they were renovating after Mark\u2019s arrival, they found evidence of a Bushmen settlement of 6000 years ago, with 1300 implements per cubic meter, some of which are displayed in the Museum.<\/p>\n

\"Solms<\/a>The first Solms-Delta wines were made in 2005 by winemaker Hilko Hegewisch, and there were \u2018disasters and discoveries\u2019<\/i> along the way, with a lot of thinking out of the box, Mark said.\u00a0 The true researcher, Mark wanted to go back to the historical way of making wines by the Ancient Greeks and Romans, but their techniques proved to be impractical. Some of their creations were not allowed to be called wine by the South African Wine Industry and Information Systems (SAWIS).\u00a0 In their first year they produced 4000 cases of wine, and now the total is 50000 per year. \u00a0Next year they plan to produce 70000 cases.\u00a0 The new development phase did not suit Hilko, and through mutual agreement he has moved on, with Hagen joining late last year, and blending the 2012 vintage wines, which he did not harvest or process himself.\u00a0 Now they are in a period of consolidation, with Hagen evaluating each wine, and making each of them better and keeping them consistent.\u00a0 They will be changing the wines in \u2018little steps, only to make them better\u2019<\/i>, Mark said.\u00a0 In true market research fashion, they will use feedback from the tasting room to evaluate the changes. PR consultant Paula Wilson told me after the tasting that renowned viticulturist Rosa Kruger is on board.\u00a0 A Perry pear fermented cider is on the cards, following their !Karri mead made from fermented honey.<\/p>\n

The Gemeenskap is a wine community club with a difference (this signifies what Solms-Delta stands for, in doing everything differently), focusing on creating a community of loyal customers. Rewards for the loyalty will be receiving information about events at and news of Solms-Delta, as well as of specials, competitions, and opportunities not available to the general public. There is no membership fee, and there are no obligations. Specific benefits include a 10% discount on eShop purchases and at the cellar door; special reduced prices for events; \u00a0early notification about events; special information from the winemaker and viticulturist; free wine delivery in South Africa, the USA, and European Union; a monthly newsletter; and free tasting vouchers. \u00a0Personal contact with members of their Gemeenskap will be their focus, with feedback from Gemeenskap members requested and used to improve things at the wine estate. \u00a0An opening Gemeenskap offer is two bottles each of Amalie 2012, Lekkerwijn 2012, and Hiervandaan 2011 at R476.\u00a0\"Solms<\/a>Mark\u2019s cousin Kyle Solms is in charge of Gemeenskap.<\/p>\n

Hagen previously worked at Zevenwacht, and at Vergelegen before that. He did a number of harvests as an intern at Mendocino in the USA, the Barossa in Australia, and in Marlborough in New Zealand.\u00a0 He recently spent two weeks in Verona in Italy, to experience the Amarone style of wine making, and in the Rhone valley in France, given that their red wines are made in the Rhone style.<\/p>\n

The wines we tasted were the following:<\/p>\n