POWER CUTS HITS SOUTH AFRICA’S VINEYARDS

South Africans have been struggling with crippling power cuts on a daily basis, which have been posing huge costs on business especially the country’s grape harvest gets under way, there are fears about the impact on the wine industry.

The rumble of tractors, the churning of the wine press and occasional bouts of laughter from the farm workers provide the soundtrack to the busiest time of the year for the Groote Post vineyard. Everyone is active as the picking and processing of the grapes begin at this winery in the picturesque town of Darling, less than 80km (50 miles) from Cape Town, in the west of the country.

Bunches of dark pinot noir grapes lie in wooden pallets stacked next to the wine press. A fork-lift truck tips a pallet into the press, releasing a sweet odour into the air. I taste a grape, which is smaller than the supermarket varieties, and much sweeter and full of robust flavour.

The difficulty for every firm in the industry is that this crucial time of year coincides with the worst rolling power blackouts the country has ever experienced. Not a day has gone by in 2023 without the electricity from the state-run power company Eskom going down. The interrupted power supply is having a big effect on those hoping to make wine.

“As soon as the power cuts, it means that none of the operation can continue within the cellar,” Mr Peter Pentz, Groote Post communications manager.

Eskom is expected to impose load shedding on a continuous basis for the next two years while it works on a plan to extricate the country from the crisis and the wine industry is not being passive in its criticism of load shedding. Representatives are talking with the government and have put proposals on the table.

Load shedding during the harvest season will exacerbate the situation for battered winemakers which have been lurching from one crisis to another.