The Harvest and Industry in South Africa Right Now

By Jenny Ratcliffe-Wright, CWM

Many industries have been hit hard by the pandemic, but fewer have been worse affected than the South African wine industry.

Nick Pentz from Groote Post winery in Darling describes the situation: “South Africa followed a hard lockdown at the end of March until the end of May. Alcohol sales were totally prohibited in this period, moving to online sales only, and then onto very restricted trading hours in the following months. South Africa has been one of the few wine producing countries to have followed the prohibition route, which has had devastating consequences for many wineries.” Richard Kershaw of Kershaw Wines in Elgin says that although exports were later allowed, the disruption to shipping availability left many producers with shipments that were ready to go, but were delayed for weeks, if not months.

Mike Ratcliffe, managing partner at Vilafonté winery is thankful that prohibition is long behind them and is pleased to see many top brands having a significant bounce-back to levels even higher than before Covid. Kershaw commented that the alcohol ban hit wine lovers hard and many people ended up drinking wines from their cellars. The upside is that he has seen an increase in consumers buying wines by the case rather than single bottles, and all consumers are trading up to higher quality wines. Christiane von Arnim from Warwick Wines in Stellenbosch added positively that these challenging circumstances really highlighted the innovative spirit of producers who quickly adapted to the changing environment through new routes to market.

Perhaps nature was on their side delivering an excellent, if not regionally varied, vintage for 2020; one that is highly likely to be collectable as a memory of an unprecedented time.

The Wine Harvest Report 2020 documented the excellent vintage, which will deliver exceptional wines this year due to favourable conditions throughout the season. The summer had moderate temperatures during the ripening period, with the absence of characteristic heat peaks. These conditions boded well for the flavour retention in the grapes.

Mike Ratcliffe reports on the vintage in Stellenbosch saying it has the potential to be one of the greatest in South African history. A convergence of significant volume, low berry variability, high concentration and generally exceptional quality is a rare area of bright sunlight for the industry.

Warwick, also in Stellenbosch, has a similar outlook, describing 2020 was one of the best vintages in recent history from a quality point of view. The vintage at Groote Post is one that will be remembered as the drought breaker with better rains in 2019 following a 3-year drought in the Cape.

Richard Kershaw, a Master of Wine, experienced the harvest as an average year albeit very different from the previous few years of drought. “From what I am seeing as the wines mature in my cellar, is an exceptional year for Chardonnay and very good for Pinot and Syrah, where the wines are showing excellent fruit expression similar to 2016 but with a linear chiseled edge reminiscent of 2017.”

The 2020 harvest was challenging in so many ways but the top wineries used their expertise, strength and pure grit to create memorable, collectable, world-class wines.

Riesling

$ 22.00 $ 132.00

A fabulous Riesling, it will be fascinating to try this against Gerd Stepp’s wines from the Pfalz in Germany (coming in June with C286) . It is honeyed, steely with green apple, jasmine and marzipan aromas. Riesling was field-grafted onto a block of Cabernet Sauvignon vines 13 years ago. Fermented in-tank, the fermentation was stopped to leave some residual sugar giving an off-dry wine. It is medium bodied with a firm acidity creating a perfect harmony.

Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon

$ 26.00 $ 156.00

You can smell the sea air in this wine – it seems the vineyards overlook the icy Atlantic. Fresh seaweed and iodine combine with elderflower and grapefruit aromas. Produced from a specific Sauvignon plot within the estate, the pungency of the Sauvignon Blanc is tempered by 12% Semillon giving a smooth supple palate, elegant with lingering elderflower and tropical fruit flavours. Part of the wine was fermented in French oak barrels and left on lees for four months, adding extra complexity and length of flavour.

Elderflower, grapefruit, sea air 6°C

Elderflower, [D] 14%

Sole with tropical fruit salsa