Although abnormal heat and water shortages have impacted on the wine grape crop for this year, viticultural consultants VinPro still expect good wines from the 2016 harvest.
VinPro, which represents some 3 500 South African wine producers and cellars, on Tuesday revealed that the wine grape crop for this year, at 1.38-million tons, would likely be 6.7% smaller than in 2015.
“Although the crop is smaller, the industry still managed to reach higher production than initially expected following a season characterised by abnormal heat and water shortages,” said VinPro viticulture consultation service manager Francois Viljoen.
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 production, while Worcester also obtained a bigger harvest.
Most other regions produced smaller crops, but yields in Stellenbosch and the two dryland regions Paarl and Swartland were much lower than in 2015.
VinPro further pointed out that the weather had also been very warm, especially from the end of October to the end of January, which restricted growth and led to lower bunch masses and smaller berries.
“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,” it added.
The 2016 wine harvest, including juice and concentrate for nonalcoholic purposes, wine for brandy and distilling wine, was expected to amount to 1.07-billion litres, calculated at an average recovery of 777 ℓ/t of grapes.