A successful harvest at Dry Creek Vineyard would not be possible without the efforts and talent of our harvest interns. Each year, we bring in two or three interns to help with the monumental effort of crushing grapes, conducting pumpovers, shoveling tanks and any other task to make harvest successful.
This year, we were fortunate to have three capable young men who all studied winemaking at Western Cape Agricultural Institute Elsenberg: Pierre, Nelis (Cornelis), and Izak. Here’s a bit of background on them.
Pierre Wiese came to us having worked a harvest packing table grapes as well working harvest this year at Spier Winery in Stellenbosch. Pierre has many interests including hunting, fishing, rugby, cricket and squash. His home is in Garies, north of Cape Town.
Cornelis Uys (Nelis) hails from the small town of Aurora, also north of Cape Town. He also enjoys rugby and cricket, with drumming being another one of his skills. Prior to coming to Dry Creek, he worked harvest at Muratie Wine Estate in Cape Town.
Izak Mouton (Sakkie) is from Vredendal, South-Africa, a small farming community in the Western Cape of Southern Africa. He gained his interest in winemaking and viticulture from his family’s 60 hectares of grapes outside of Vredendal. He has worked two vintages at Uniwines in Rawsonville, and Muratie Wine Estate with Nelis.
The “guys” will be here for about another month as they help us put the finishing touches on the 2015 vintage. We thank them for their hard work and commitment to producing outstanding Dry Creek Vineyard wines.