2009 South African Wine Harvest

The wine grape harvest is expected to reach a total of 1,300,202 tons. This estimate was made as of 16 February 2009 by producers and viticulture consultants (those dealing with the science behind the sequence of events within the vineyard). The January 2009 estimate was 21 675 tons, or 1.6%, higher than this number and 8.5% less than the 2008 estimate. When the expected wine crop is being assessed, it includes the juice and concentrate for fruit juices, wines, brandy and distilling wines. This crop is expected to yield 773 litres per ton of grapes picked. So, a total of 1, 005, 4 million litres is expected from this year's crop. This volume is 16, 6 times less than the January 2009 forecast and 120, 4 million litres less than the harvest in 2008.

All areas within South Africa (except the Klein Karoo) are expected to have lower yields in the 2009 wine harvest. Bunches of grapes are forecast to be smaller, with a looser formation. This is not to say that these wines will be inferior in quality. In fact, they will be rich in taste and aroma as the grapes are generally very healthy and the quality superb. South Africa's Western Cape in particular experienced a heat wave early in February. This caused the grapes to ripen faster, and several wine farms and estates are experiencing somewhat of a space problem in their cellars as a result. International wine buyers are urged to take advantage of this surplus and order wines online from those estates that deliver internationally as soon as possible.

The Orange River area may expect a decrease in yield of 36%, the largest difference in South Africa. This is owing to the particularly low production of the Sultana vineyards. Sultana grapes are usually used for the production of white wines, such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc.

South Africa exports large volumes of the quality wines that we produce. In 2008, bulk exports increased by 54, 8%, a most impressive figure. Brandy exports decreased by 3, 6% in 2008. Domestic sales, on the other hand, remained at 312 million litres during the 2008 harvest.

Another factor that is considered in the 2009 South African wine harvest forecast is that of stock levels at the producer or private cellar. This is taken as at 31 December of the relevant year. On 31 December 2009, these stock levels had decrease to 282, 5 million litres, which is 82, 9 million litres less than the 2008 reading.

South Africa takes the utmost pride in our production of top notch wines, not only available locally, but globally for export too. We look forward to a productive and successful year and, as usual, pride ourselves not only in the volume of wine production, but also in maintaining the exceptionally high standards to which the world has become accustomed.

2009 South African Wine Harvest by Fiona C Phillips
Fiona Phillips has an M.B.A. from the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business and completed several Cape Wine Academy courses, culminating in Diploma II. Her passion for wine and her fascination for the limitless possibilities of the Internet motivated the start-up http://www.cybercellar.com 

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