Willie and Tania De Waal are the fifth generation of the De Waal Family on the farm, Schoone Oord, which Willie’s great-great grandfather bought in 1877 with a 45 carat diamond he discovered at Kimberley in the Northern Cape. He grew up in a vigneron family and continued this tradition on Schoone Oord, where it was passed on to the generations that followed him. We also decided to make some wine from the grapes we so passionately nurture. Through our name, we wanted to express the close interaction between our family, our farm’s name “Schoone Oord” and the vine and soil that gives life to everything around us. We married part of the name “Schoone Oord” to part of the name of our dominant soil type, Shale (“Skalie” in Afrikaans) and it gave birth to SCALI. Low yields and fenolic ripeness on a balanced vine are the key elements we work for in the vineyard. From pruning of the vines in winter, desuckering in spring, green harvesting at veraison which includes removing of any green berries on remaining bunches, to removing of any raisins or damaged berries just before harvest, meticulous attention are given to fruit quality and vine balance. After this vineyard triage, the final quality control is done by Tania and Willie before destemming. The grapes are hand harvested early in the morning into well vented crates, destemming takes place on top of open fermentation vats in which the grapes ferment through natural fermentation, with skin contact and pigeage. Fermentation of our red wines are followed by a maceration for another 14 days after which the wine is pressed in a 220 litre basket press and transferred into french barriques where malolactic fermentation completes, then bottled unfined, unfiltered and may deposit sediment. OUR PHILOSOPHY, we work closely with nature and we do this with a whole hearted passion, while striving towards creating the ultimate wine.
