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Drought hit grape crop 6.7% smaller than in 2015
The total wine grape crop for this year is expected to be 6.7% smaller than in 2015, wine producers' body VinPro said on Tuesday. However, despite the worst drought in decades in many parts of the country, including the Western Cape, the grapes are healthy and the concentrated flavours promise good wines.
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SA is the seventh biggest wine producer world-wide and produces about 4% of the world's wine from nearly 100,000ha of vineyards.
The 2016 wine grape crop is estimated at 1,378,596 tonnes, according to the latest estimate of the South African Wine Industry Information and Systems. "Although the crop is smaller, the industry still managed to reach higher productions than initially expected following a season characterised by abnormal heat and water shortages," said Francois Viljoen, manager of VinPro's viticulture consultation service.
"The grapes ripened at lower sugar levels in general, which is positive with regard to wines with lower alcohol. The acidity levels were low, which necessitated adaptations in the cellar itself," Viljoen said.
"The smaller berries that were produced will lead to good colour and intense flavour in this year's red wines. The white wines also appear surprisingly good, with great structure and good flavours," he said.
Most wine grape growing regions experienced low rainfall with the exception of Robertson and the Klein Karoo, said Viljoen. The dam and soil water levels were, therefore, not sufficiently filled up to prepare the vineyards for the warmer part of the season. "Water supplies had a great impact on the harvest this year, especially in instances where vineyards were not buffered against the heat.
"Regions such as Robertson and the Klein Karoo, which received sufficient winter rainfall, had higher productions while Worcester also obtained a bigger harvest," said Viljoen.
Most other regions produced smaller crops, but yields in Stellenbosch and the two dry land regions, Paarl and Swartland, were much lower than in 2015 "The weather was very warm, especially from the end of October towards the end of January, which restricted the growth and constituted lower bunch masses and smaller berries," said Viljoen. "However, the dry conditions led to the vineyards and grapes being very healthy overall. Smaller berries led to more concentrated colour and flavour on the positive side and good wines are expected from the 2016 harvest."
One advantage of the dry season, said Viljoen, was that diseases and pests were kept to a minimum. He said the areas that received sufficient rain were also followed up by ideal dry, warm weather which constituted healthy vineyards and grapes.
"Adaptability was the keyword ", winemakers produced the best product from a challenging 2016 crop by means of good decision-making and state-of-the-art technology," he said.
Source: BDpro
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