Halfway through Harvest

The harvest certainly started with a bang this year!  It is the earliest we have ever experienced with the whites.  At this stage we are almost finished with the whites with just a little Chardonnay to come in from Elgin next week.  The pace of the harvest has been great, it has had a nice rhythm to it;  with the grapes coming in a steady flow. A few late nights but not too many! The quality so far has been fantastic, very healthy grapes, with beautiful balance, flavour and concentration.  We are happy to have ...

Baboon Selfies

It has been a perfect growing season so far.  A whole lot of sunshine, mixed with just the right amount of rain for the soil, and enough wind to keep the disease at bay means the vineyards are looking fantastic. At this stage there is also a decent crop out there so we are holding thumbs it continues We have been loosing a few sheep lately to a caracal that is roaming around in broad daylight (normally they are nocturnal). We decided to put a trap camera up to see when he comes down from the mountain so we can manage ...

Bottling and Worsing

The 2013 Jackal Bird and 2012  Reds are finally in bottle!  After a few weeks of beautiful weather we had the heaviest rains (and snow) of the year, just over the three days we were bottling. We constructed a makeshift shelter to keep the staff and wines dry and just went for it . Luckily the bottle delivery truck did not get stuck in all the mud like last year,  although we had to tow him back out of the farm with our tractor like a tugboat. This is the normally quite stream by the guest house, raging down after all ...

Winter and Walking Wires

It has been a very cold, but not so wet winter so far.  The Fable Mountain has had more than a bit of snow on top. It even snowed up on the high lying vineyards, albeit briefly. We have never seen this before and I think the vines definitely have all their cold units already.  The new 2014 reds are also enjoying the cold, after finishing malolactic they are now settling down for their 2 year stay in barrel. In the vineyards pruning is well under way, we have finished the old vines and are  halfway through the new ...

Autumn, wildlife and weddings

After a month of spectacular post harvest weather, autumn has finally decided to arrive. The mornings are now very cold, the clouds have settled in over the mountain and the vine leaves are turning a golden yellow. On the farm we have been working on getting our paddocks fenced up, so we can organize our grazing better. We are installing a post and rail fence around the winery paddock  which is starting to take shape.  Hopefully there will be a Zebra in here soon. We are also putting in the trellis system for ...

2014 Harvest

Picking is done! The last grapes were taken off last week, just before the rain started rolling in. The harvest has been really good, all the grapes coming in at a nice steady pace. We had the customary heat wave which happened towards the end of February, but because the vines had enough water reserves they handled it well. The heat then gave way to very mild conditions, pretty cool nights with warm days. Perfect weather to ripen the reds. The ripening period was slightly longer than usual and we are looking forward to ...

Late rains mean a good January

The year has started off well, the vines have benefitted from the late rains in December and are now enjoying a good january ripening period. The baboon patrols are out, and so far we are keeping them at bay. But as it goes a few flocks of birds have decided to make Fable their new home and have started sampling the grapes!   We have also started renovating the old farmhouse. New kitchens, bathrooms and a less see through outdoor shower are on the agenda. We had a visit from Andy in late January ...

2013 Wrapped up

We managed to get the last vines in the ground this week and just in time as this year is rapidly coming to a close! It is a great feeling to have the plantings done, and when you stand up at the highest blocks and overlook the farm, you can start to really see the vision coming together. The vines that we planted first are doing great they have all budded and are starting to grow well. But things are never go too smooth out here, a few weeks ago we had a 20 minute hailstorm. It was fast and furious. The old ...

The growing season begins

The start to the growing season has been very good. Warm with not much wind and just enough intermittent rain. It has been pretty humid, but we are keeping any disease at bay so far. The growth in the old vineyard is already better than last year so we are on track here. ........and the young vines are powering along. What is helping our vigour a lot is getting a handle on the undervine weeds. After many years of struggling and not finding any implements that could work on the weeds, we decided just to build ...

Record Rainfall for August and September

At last we have our new labels on a bottle! Well the mock ups at least. We are scheduled to do the first mass labeling run around mid october. We are very pleased with the way these have turned out, and can't wait to get them out onto the market.   On the vineyard front it has just been rain, rain and rain. It has been one of the wettest August and September months on record. We have had over 250mm in the last month alone. The waterfalls and rivers were the biggest we have seen. Very good news for the water ...

New vintages, new labels, new vineyards

We have finally bottled the 2011 Syrah and 2012 Jackal Bird. It is a great feeling having these in bottle and we can't wait to get these out onto the market. The new labels debuted last weekend at the Big Bottle Festival. In the new vineyards everything is going well. The irrigation is now almost in, we are just rolling out the last of the dripper lines. We were scheduled to start planting next week, however we have had a lot of rain, and there is lots more on the way. This has delayed things and we may only get to ...

Winter earth tremors

It has been a good winter so far with consistence rain and cold, interspersed with some magnificent Cape winter days. All the vines have lost there leaves now and are dormant. The scenery has greened up beautifully and the cover crops are growing well. The new vineyard area is progressing very nicely and everything is on track. We have almost finished the pole frameworks and are now working on the irrigation installation. We are clearing some new areas at the bottom of the farm too, mainly for grazing, but we ...

Winter arrives

After 6 weeks of mostly golden sunshine, the illusion of spring was broken by some much needed rain, reminding us that it is indeed winter! The rain has been falling most of the week, making the farm come alive with the smells of fresh pine and the roaring of the waterfalls.   The rain has been great for the cover crops, now they can finally germinate and the baboons can stop eating them. They have been driving us crazy, although we do love them. There is easily over a hundred in the troop ...

Farming on Fable

It has been a strange two weeks. After a huge cloud burst of rain, about 50mm in 30minutes, we have had nothing but beautiful sunshine. The rain was great to settle the dust, start greening all the pastures up and get our rivers and waterfalls going. The river was flowing so strongly it almost washed away our bridge! All the animals, and John, got trapped on the wrong side of the river. The animals slept on the other side, but as John wasn't too keen to spend the night with them, we rescued him! Currently it ...

Harvest 2013 behind us

The harvest season is now finally over and we are happy the difficult growing season is behind us... The volume of the 2013 reds is down this year, due to the 5 days of gale force winds in December, but although it is still early days the quality looks exceptional. Most of the reds are still undergoing a long maceration and will be pressed off over the next month or so. The white ferments are coming to an end and the quality is some of the best we have seen yet. This year we widened our net in the never ...

March 2013 – The view from 1600m

Matt, one of our harvest interns, decided he had spent enough time looking at the Fable Mountain from the sorting table, now he wanted to climb it. The mountain rises up behind our farm, reaching about 1600m or 5300ft at the top. It is not an easy climb with thick vegetation most of the way, which leads into sheer rock faces. He set off one morning at 4am to start his climb before the heat of the day set in. After about 6 hours he made it to the top. He had packed enough supplies and a sleeping bag so he could spend two ...

January 2013 – Andy Erikson visit

Andy Erikson arrived today to help out with the blending of the 2011 reds,         The individual components were varied and diverse with lots of great options available, we were very happy with the results... It was not all work however, and after some intense tasting it was time to cool off and relax in the dam. Then up to the tree on horseback for a good dose of champagne, and a beautiful senset!! Thanks Andy, looking forward to seeing you again ...

November 2012

It's a gorgeous day here today, birds are singing, butterflies in the air and lovely warm sunny skies. It wasn't as nice last week though when we had gale force winds for more than 10 days straight. The force of the winds literally snapped trees in half, and tore doors off their hinges. and look at the swell in the dam! There were a couple of wild ones who ventured out to see what was going on, one taking refuge in the cellar... The vines didn't like it much either but they are fairing well ...

September 2012

Our first born calf Delilah is starting to get horns! A lost sheep doing some mowing in the vineyards. And here are the rest of the flock and a couple of cows, fertilising and mowing naturally! Cheers Rebecca

Tomorrow’s Stars – Cape Wine 2012

Cape Wine 2012, the busiest week in the wine industry, has just passed. Here's what Harry Haddon thinks about it and the video he took of Fable as part of the "Tomorrow's Stars" seminar: "Cape Wine was recently held in Cape Town. It is a biennial trade show. Basically a chance for WOSA to bring a bunch of journalists, influencers and buyers into the country to show off our wines, food, and vineyards. I think they did a very good job and the feedback from those I spoke to was wholeheartedly positive. I filmed some 40-50sec ...

August 2012

The winter here has continued to be very cold and wet.... but in between the rain, we are having some absolutely stunning days to thaw out and enjoy the farm. The big news is we had our first calf born here last week ! (Followed by number 2,3, and 4 in quick succession!). They are very cute indeed. The sheep also just finished their lambing season (although there always seems to be one or two late lambs!). The animals are now in the old vineyard blocks converting our lush cover crop to fertilizer. The ...

May 2012

We are experiencing beautiful autumn weather here at the moment. Lovely warm sunshine, no wind and very little rain. Although about a week ago, this wasn't the case. We had a huge hail storm. It wasn't very long, only about 10 minutes but it was intense. Things don't seem to be done in half measures at Fable! We have also started ripping the vineyard. The section we are planting underneath the lone tree is finished, and the ripper is now busy on the other side of the river. The soil is looking and smelling ...

February 2012

Harvest is on the go! It has been a strange one so far. After an initial heat wave, which ripened up the Chenin and Chardonnay nicely, we had very cool weather for about a week which completely put the brakes on the harvest. However, it warmed up again and now we are in full swing: we have brought in Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne and Syrah this week. It has been great working in the new winery and luckily there haven't been too many teething problems. The Fable vineyard is slowly ripening, and despite one or ...

January 2012

Things are going nicely over here. The cool weather we experienced in December gave way to a three week long heat wave for most of January. This resulted in some of the weaker vines struggling, but most of them tolerated it. The berries at this stage look quite small and concentrated, We are busy going through veraison at the moment with the reds, which is progressing nicely. The young vines are growing well although there was an antelope that decided to graze on the new vines at the top block. We managed to spray hot ...

November 2011

The growing season is well underway. The weather has been mixed, with very hot and dry spells as well as cold and wet weather. The disease pressure is high but so far so good. Overall the growth of the vineyard is not too bad at this stage. There are weaker sections which we are working on and hopefully they'll come up to speed soon. The growing season is well underway. The weather has been mixed, with very hot and dry spells as well as cold and wet weather. The disease pressure is high but so far so good. Overall ...

October 2011

We have at had a very warm and dry start to the spring. Everything seems to be growing super fast. The bank which was landscaped by the winery is looking really good at the moment. This is also the last week for the builders being on site. They are just finishing up the road linking the winery with the crush-pad. The bridge and crush pad roof is now one and it is looking great. In the vineyard, we have finished ripping the areas for planting this year, so we should hopefully be able to start planting poles, ...

September 2011

Spring has arrived! The vineyards are starting to bud and the pastures are covered in the beautiful yellow and orange of the wild tulips. At the moment we are pulling out the virused vines. We have also labelled the 2009 reds and 2010 white, and they look fantastic! They will be loaded onto the container next week and will hopefully land in the U.S. early November. The builders are still building! The waste water system house is almost up. They are also getting the floor done in the new white wine area, ...

August 2011

The beautiful weather we have been having continued right the way through July. In fact it is the driest July we've had in about 40 years. The only day it has rained was when we bottled the Jackal Bird! With no concrete slab to bottle on and the rain turning the winery surrounds into a mud bath, the bottling was very interesting. We had to have a human chain extending from the winery to service the bottling line. The wine, however, is safely in bottle and it is looking good. The builders are continuing to make good ...

July 2011

We have been having some really stunning weather over the last two weeks. Beautiful warm sunshine with no wind. It is very bizarre but we are not complaining. The building is progressing nicely, they are almost finished the barrel cave! The roof is on, the scaffolding inside is pretty much down, and the electricians are busy installing the lights. They are just finishing the waterproofing of the roof and then they can put the soil back on top. The bridge into the winery is coming on too, they have the reinforcing in ...

June 2011

The rain has been bucketing down lately. We had over 120mm just last week, so the farm is one big mud bath!. The rain has delayed the building somewhat; they are around 2 weeks behind schedule at the moment. They are almost ready to throw the vaulted slab of the barrel cave. You can see by the picture that they sure have enough reinforcing (Gerard says it is the safest place to be if there is another earthquake in Tulbagh!). They also have started work inside the winery, they have taken up some of the floor; are busy ...

2010 Lion’s Whisker

Two sisters, who had always been very close, found out one day that they would be marrying men from different villages. Distraught that they would be separated by some distance and nervous that they would grow apart, the sisters went to the village healer and asked if he had any potions to help cement their bond for life. He told them that yes, he did, but he would need a lion’s whisker to make it. The two sisters spent many weeks lingering near where the lion drank from the lake so that he would eventually trust that ...

2011 Jackal Bird

One day, two men, who had been best friends since they were very young boys, were walking into town when a beautiful bird with one black wing and one white wing flew in between them and glided along next to them as they walked. Later, one of the men said to the other, "Wasn't that a beautiful white bird we saw earlier?" The other replied, "The bird wasn't white, it was black!" A long, bitter argument ensued because they were each certain they were right. The bird flew back to them later as they were arguing and said, "Look, ...

2010 Bobbejaan

The clever bobbejaan (baboons) of the Western Cape sometimes find their way on to cultivated vineyards. Wild with excitement at the sight of their favorite snack, they make their way down the rows, eagerly snatching bunch after bunch of grapes and tucking them under their arms. When they get to the end of the row, they smugly believe they have tucked away dozens of bunches, only to find that as they lifted their arm to tuck away the next bunch, they lost, of course, the bunch that had been tucked there before. And ...

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History Page

Philosophy Vineyard Team Ownership Winemaking and Sustainability Philosophy Wine is about storytelling. Friends and families open a bottle of wine together to sit around the dinner table or gather around a fire to share stories—funny stories, adventures, tales from their past—and in the process they are creating new stories— stories of how their friendship developed over intimate dinner parties and rowdy bonfires and lazy Sunday afternoons in the shade.   At Fable, we love that wine is about ...