Snips and Snippets
Vintage Blog:
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Follow us in vineyard and cellar and see, how the Bein Merlot grows
Aug./Sept. 2011: Young owls in the box!
A pair of barn owls are breeding in the nest box under the roof
of Bein Wine Cellar, and we can follow their activities via the
previously installed nest cam. Have a look at the example below, or watch
more video clips on our OwlBlog!
Winter 2011 - cold, but not too cold ...
July 2011: Winter is flowering time. Everywhere flowers in the most wonderful colours. Also the birds get ready for the season with a beautiful new plumage. And at last, our barn owls started breeding. On July 21, they laid their first egg! (to be followed on our video-Owl Blog! )
New Release: Pink 2011 and Little 2010 now available
June 2011: June brought not only the much-needed rain and cold, but also lots of work with bottling and packaging. This means that the new wines are now available, with the Pink Merlot 2011 and the Little Merlot 2010 as heralds of these excellent vintages!
Harvest 2011 - another great Merlot vintage!
21.3.2011: This year again, our cool, south facing slope allowed our
grapes extra hang time for optimal fruit development. But eventually,
the crop was in by the day of equinox, just in time before the announced first autumn rains.
And the quality of the grapes was superb. I know, I know we said this
already the last three vintages! But it really seems that our
vineyard wants to get better and better every year, trying to outperform
any already excellent previous vintages. read here
more about it --> Vintage Blog!
Bein Merlot amongst the top 100 wines of South Africa
March 2011: It was a great surprise to be selected amongst the top 100 wines of South Africa by the exclusive panel of wine journalist of the South African online magazine GRAPE (not to be confused with the commercial top-100-SA-wine-competition). GRAPE is actually the only independent SA wine publication and since more than 10 years an invaluable source of wine-wisdom - can only recommend it! Here more about it --> GRAPE-top-100
...and other good marks for the Bein Merlot
20.Nov.2010: Our Merlots were well received by the judges for PLATTER'S
2011edition, South Africa's most influential wine guide: 4 1/2
Stars each for the Bein Merlot 2008 and 2009 as well as for the
Merlot Reserve 2008,
4 Stars for the Little Merlot 2009, and 3 Stars for our Pink Merlot 2010,
particularly recommended as best value rosé!
14.Nov. 2010: Silver medal for Bein Merlot 2008 at the
prestigious MONDIAL DU
MERLOT 2010 in Lugano (Switzerland), an international wine competiton
exclusively for Merlots from all over the world.
16.Oct.2010: EMOZIONI DAL MONDO:MERLOT E CABERNET INSIEME,
an international wine competiton in Brescia (Italy) specialised on
Merlot/Cabernet wines, has rewarded our Little Merlot 2009
with a gold medal and the Press Prize for the best South African wine
of the show.
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Our Barn Owls on YouTube There are currently barn owls and rock kestrels competing for our nest box at the winery as breeding place, so we simply put up a second box - with a camcorder! Check out the sample with the owls, I could watch it for hours! |
New disease strikes Stellenbosch vineyards
June
2010: A new disease struck Stellenbosch’s vineyards, the plastic
blight! It started secretely at some inconspicuous places, but
strikes now with full power even in the most valuable areas. Point at
the picture to the right to see how it has changed our landscape, and read
more about it on the
Polkadraai Hills website.
London/Sunday Times: Who said wine tours were only for buffs?
May 2010: They’re fun for all in South Africa’s Cape Winelands, says a tipsy Amanda Hyde. Read more about her experience on our Donkey Walk through the Polkadraai Hills on our sister webpage www.polkadraaihills.co.za
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Bein
Wine in Swiss TV 11.4.2010: In the context of the Soccer World Cup, a serie of South African reports have been screened in European TV, amongst others this little review about Bein Wine (in German) |
DIE OES IS AF" : Harvest Report Bein Merlot 2010
April 2010: The Bein Merlot 2010 is a worthy successor of the previous two vintages. It might look gimmicky, but we are very excited about this fantastic triad of great vintages we had at Bein Wine - 2008, 2009 and now 2010! Quantity, however, was significantly down, with a yield of not even half a bottle per square meter...(read full vintage report)
DIAM helped us saying Good-By to corky wines....
May 2007 saw us for the first time using the brand-new DIAM-cork for all our bottles, and we'll stick to it - perhaps a small step for humanity, but a big step for us! This absolutely innovative stopper is ...(read more about DIAM)
4 ½ Platter Stars for the Bein Merlot
Jan 2010: in the 2010 edition of the South African wine guide, our Bein Merlot 2008 as well our Merlot Reserve 2008 was rewarded with 4 ½ stars while our Little Merlot got a generous 3½ stars and the comment "little in name, not ambition!"
The South African Wine Industry celebrates 350 years of winemaking!
2009: Although South Africa is counted amongst the New World’s wine producers, the first grapes were pressed for wine at the Cape, 350 years ago,in 1659 under Jan van Riebeeck.... read more about our interesting wine history
Precision Viticulture in Bein's Vinyard, a new concept of terroir
4.2009: Read more about it on our
vineyard page, or download our interesting info-poster
"Precision Viticulture in Bein's
Vineyard" (PDF/256 KB)