SA’s wine industry is shifting gear

Don’t be fooled by her infectious smile and love for wine. Siwela Masoga is a 29-year-old female winemaker in a male-dominated industry.

Masoga, who was raised in a small Limpopo village, is the owner of Siwela Wines, which is produced in the famous Stellenbosch winelands and sold by order across the country.

After obtaining a National Diploma in Biotechnology, majoring in fermentation and microbiology, Masoga accepted a position as an intern at Waterstone Wines in Stellenbosch. This is where her desire to one day own her own vineyard was cultivated.

Masoga founded Siwela Wines in 2018 and is hopeful that the industry will turn around. “I am very optimistic about the wine industry – despite the drop in production due to various challenges.”

Creating new markets

She explains that as a small producer, Siwela Wines’s strategy has been to seek and penetrate previously neglected markets.

“This has allowed us to grow [our] own market share locally, while we establish relationships and market share in other African countries.

“Exploring the export market also presents opportunities for the South African wine industry. South Africa can take advantage of the proximity to neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Botswana and Mozambique.”

Read: Eight ways wine will change in 2020 

Siwela Wines sells about 7 000 units a year, and Masoga hopes to double this soon.

Her goal might not be too far off, as most wine farmers are expecting a larger harvest of South African wine grapes compared with last year, due to sufficient water and a moderate ripening period.

According to data tech resource SA Wine Industry Information and Systems (Sawis), wine grape producers realised a yield of 1.244 million tons in 2019. The average over the past five years was 1.360 million tons.

Harvest gets off to a good start

According to Conrad Schutte, manager of Vinpro’s viticultural consultation service, the 2020 harvest kicked off at least a week earlier than normal due to various climatic factors. He was speaking at the 15th Nedbank Vinpro Information Day, held in Cape Town on January 23.

“Flowering and set were good and an improvement on what we saw in the previous season. Sufficient water and heat-accelerated vineyard growth and the canopies can ripen a good harvest. Véraison [onset of ripening] was early, quick and even.”

Read: The top ten wines of 2019

Schutte added that the summer growing conditions have been cool and moderate in general up to now. Producers have had more water available this year than in the previous season, which means they can apply irrigation during the ripening stage if need be.

Vinpro chairman Anton Smuts said there was renewed energy in the South African wine industry in 2019, following a long downward cycle.

Schutte however pointed out that although things are looking up in most regions, the Northern Cape experienced widespread frost damage, the Olifants River region is still recovering from the recent drought, and parts of the Klein Karoo are still in the grip of a drought. These regions expect smaller than average crops.

“We see good tonnages and grapes with beautiful colour, high malic acid and low pH levels in the cellars that have already started taking in grapes,” he said, encouraging producers to spend a lot of time in the vineyard during harvest time, to take bunch samples and monitor soil water content for optimum water application.

Dip in production

The drought had a significant impact on wine production in recent years, as indicated in the graph below. The only time an increase was achieved was between mid-2016 and mid-2017.

Lower availability resulted in higher wine prices, which filtered down to more sustainable net farm income levels.

In 2015 only 15% of producers were profitable, compared with 28% in 2019. However, some regions will still take time to recover.

Source: Vinpro

Vinpro MD Rico Basson says that total production volumes decreased over the past ten years due to “financial pressure” so there was not as much reinvestment into the industry as there should have been. However, less availability meant the price of the raw material increased, which has ultimately led to reinvestment into the industry.

Shrinking vineyards

South Africa’s vineyards occupied some 100 000 hectares of land in 2009, but this dropped to 85 000 hectares in 2018 and could drop further should things continue the way they are. 

Basson and Smuts indicated that land reform concerns and policy uncertainty continue to be a contributor to the decrease.

Source: Vinpro

“Challenges will remain in 2020, including tough market conditions, policy uncertainty, threats of expropriation of land without compensation and unfavourable climatic conditions,” said Smuts.

“However, we can overcome it by continuously adjusting our strategic learning and working together.”

Read: Bankers-turned-winemakers are transforming England into wine country