SA's vineyards need climate-proofing

To combat the effects of climate change, South African wine farmers will have to plan the establishment of new vineyards more carefully, especially if they want them to achieve heritage status. Glenneis Kriel reports.

- Glenneis Kriel

FAST FACTS

For vines to be classified as heritage, plant material should be selected for climate-change and disease resilience.

Vineyard design should take water-use efficiency and drainage into consideration.

A healthy ecosystem should be created both in and above the soil.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that climate change could wipe out more than half of the world’s vineyards by 2050. At an Old Vine Project (OVP) workshop held recently near Stellenbosch, OVP co-founder Rosa Kruger said wine farmers had to be far more strategic and take many more variables into account when planting new vineyards. This was all the more pertinent if they wanted their vineyards to last longer than 35 years in order to be classified as heritage vines.

According to Kruger, the selection of rootstocks and varieties should be based on their ability to withstand climatic shocks, such as floods and droughts, as well as their resilience to disease. One of her suggestions was to choose varieties that ripened earlier in the season, before heatwaves could affect the acidity in the wines.

VINEYARD DESIGN

In addition, far more attention needed to be paid to the design of vineyards to improve their water-use efficiency and drainage.

For example, planting vineyard rows in a north-west/south-east orientation could prevent sunburn caused by direct sunlight. If the slope dictated a north-south row orientation, a sprawl system would allow for dappled rather than direct sunlight.