Johannesburg - South Africa’s wine-grape crop will probably be 6.7 percent smaller this year than in 2015 after the El Nino weather phenomenon caused excess heat and dry weather in producing areas, industry body VinPro said.
The nation will probably produce 1.38 million metric tons of the grapes in 2016, the Paarl, Western Cape province-based organisation said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
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The wine harvest - which includes juice and concentrate for non-alcoholic purposes, wine for brandy and distilling wine - is seen at 1.07 million litres, it said.
“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,” Francois Viljoen, manager of VinPro’s viticulture consultation service, said in the statement.
The country, which is a net exporter of agricultural products, last year had the least rainfall since records started in 1904, damaging crops such as corn, citrus and peanuts. It is the world’s seventh-largest producer of wine and has almost 100 000 hectares of vineyards, mostly in the Western Cape.
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The nation’s first wine was produced in 1659, according to industry group Wines of South Africa, and the industry now employs about 300 000 people directly and indirectly.
The smaller berries produced will lead to good colour and intense flavour in this year’s red wines, VinPro said. “The white wines also appear surprisingly good, with great structure and good flavours,” it said.
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