A view into the nursery of sweet grapes

»Watching grapes grow is like watching your own children grow.« The one who says this certainly knows.

Our employee Manie is part of the Varieties Team at De Hoek Farm in South Africa. The team develops new varieties and, with love and even more expertise, they make sure that we get the most delicious and juicy fruit all year round. »We are the parents of our fruit and create the ideal conditions for its growth«. He also has a few helpers who actively support him raising his kids: they are called mild climate, many hours of sunshine and fertile soil. All of them together make the fruit become real gems of flavour.

But nothing works on its own. In the photo we see Manie checking the new grape variety Autumn Crisp, which needs four more weeks of sunbathing before they can be harvested.  During this time, the team goes out to the vines almost daily to check on the grapes. Branches have to be cut back, leaves removed and the sweetness of the grapes has to be checked.

»Even though nature itself does a lot of the work here, we, as guardians, have to intervene again and again to make sure that our grapes turn out perfect,« says Manie and devotes himself to his sweet »children«.