The wine industry says it predicts an exceptional vintage of wine for 2017. Despite the drought, the South African wine grape harvest is slightly larger compared to last year.
Wine industry body Vinpro confirmed this year’s harvest yielded 1 425 283 tons, even though a smaller harvest was expected.
Vinpro’s Viticulture consultation services manager Francois Viljoen said this year’s harvest was 1.4% larger than in 2016.
“A decrease was expected due to the second consecutive very dry, hot season. However, cooler nights throughout the growing season and the absence of significant heatwaves during harvest time buffered the effect of the drought to some extent,” said Viljoen.
Dry conditions resulted in very healthy vineyards and smaller berries, with the ideal cool weather during harvest time making the perfect combination for a better quality wine grape harvest.
In 2016 Vinpro reported that the overall crop had decreased compared to the record harvests received for 2014 and 2015, and calculated a loss of about R500 million due to the smaller harvest.
“The Swartland and Paarl regions obtained much larger crops following sharp declines in 2016.”
Robertson's production was close to the 2016 record harvest, while Olifants River and Breedekloof increased somewhat.
But slightly smaller yields were noted in the Northern Cape, Stellenbosch and Worcester and a much smaller harvest in the Klein Karoo,” said Viljoen.
South Africa is the eighth largest wine producer worldwide and produces about 4.1% of the world’s wine.
“We are grateful that the weather played along during the 2017 harvest, but looking towards the 2018 wine grape season that is around the corner, we are really hoping for rain during the upcoming post-harvest and winter period,” said Viljoen.
Wines of South Africa chief executive Siobhan Thompson said wine producers in general were positive and, in terms of quality, had considered the 2017 harvest one of the best seen in several years.
“The cooler than normal weather experienced in February saw to more even ripening periods and winemakers from various regions have commented positively on the outcome, despite the challenging weather conditions experienced.
“We are looking forward to seeing what this somewhat exceptional vintage does for South African wines as a whole in international markets,” said Thompson.