Wine grape harvest set to improve

The jury is still out on the 2019 wine grape harvest but expectations are for a slightly larger crop than last year. With the harvest currently in full swing, Maryna Calow, communications manager for Wines of South Africa, said indications from farmers were that it was not as bad as last year, but also not as good  as expected. “The volumes for this year’s
harvest are looking better than what we had in 2018 when volumes were down by 14% due to the drought,” she said. “There is no doubt that there will be an improvement in the harvest, but it is not going to be as much as we hoped for.” The 2018 harvest amounted to 1 238 000 ton tonnes, 14% smaller than the previous year. This was mainly due to the drought in the Western Cape.
Addressing the Exporters Club Western Cape in Cape Town last week, Calow said good volumes had been seen in some regions but others were struggling. “One of the major challenges this season has been the uneven ripening of grapes. This has led to the overall bunches of grapes being smaller and from that less juice will be pressed.”