WINE Smaller, but healthy wine grape crop forecast

South Africa’s wine industry is showing signs of bouncing back from the effects of the COVID- 19-related trade restrictions, but new challenges are looming.  

- Glenneis Kriel

South African wine grape producers expect a somewhat smaller wine grape harvest than that of 2022, following a “healthy, yet dry season”, according to the first of four crop estimates issued by viticulturists and producer cellars.

Conrad Schutte, manager of Vinpro’s viticulture and soil science service, said the company would not provide a final crop estimate until May, once the harvest was completed, and while the season looked to be promising, “a lot could change leading up to the harvest”.

The 2022 harvest, at just over 1,37 million tons, was 5,5% smaller than the 2021 crop, but was still larger than the five-year average of just over 1,34 million tons, according to the South African Wine Industry Information and Systems’ figures published in May 2022.

Schutte attributed the expected decrease in the 2023 crop to a drier season experienced in all the growing regions, except the Northern Cape. This had resulted in good to outstanding flowering as well as fewer disease and pest problems, but meant smaller berry sizes, particularly in dryland regions.