2009 Harvest Report
Read all about harvest 2009 in this comprehensive report compiled by Angela Lloyd for Wines of South Africa.

2009 Harvest Report (continues)


Klein Constantia Harvest 2009
The BIG one...

Harvest and Sales Estimate - March 2009
Access SAWIS' harvest and sales estimate for 2009 here.

Another grape year for Boschendal
The feature of Boschendal Harvest 2009 was the realisation - once again! - that the wine industry cannot risk accurate predictions on any harvest. Not on grape quality, nor grape volume. However, the excellent results the early grape analyses was showing this year, gave us an indication that something special was on its way.

Lammershoek 2009 harvest report
We had a very wet start to vintage 2009 with a longer and later than usual winter. A grand total of 680mm of rain fell in 2009, the wettest year in 10 years at Lammershoek.

Harvest at Bouchard Finlayson
Excellent winter and excellent summer!

One for the books
By all accounts Harvest 2009 will go down in history as one of South Africa's best. Producers throughout the winelands are ecstatic with the results. De Wetshof is no exception - the estate was indeed blessed with superb conditions and a healthy, bountiful harvest.

Perdeberg is positive
They're celebrating at Perdeberg after another successful harvest and one of the winery's biggest yields in its 68-year history.

Difficult harvest but superb vintage, says Distell
The quality of this year's wine grape harvest is outstanding, according to Erhard Wolf, who heads Distell's grape and wine buying team. This is despite a picking season that was shorter than average by more than a month, placing enormous pressure on harvesters and cellar resources.

2009 an excellent year for South African Sauvignon Blanc
South Africans can look forward to superlative Sauvignon Blanc when the first of vintage 2009 is released towards the end of the year. This, despite heat waves that led to predictions of gloom in certain producing areas around the Western Cape.

Smaller makes for better as grapes take their time
Good news all round in Bellingham's 2009 Harvest Report.

Bot River Harvest Report 2009
Later ripening and good quality were the hallmarks of Bot River Harvest 2009.

Bot River harvest begins on Van Riebeeck's harvest day - 350 years later
The biggest challenge to the Bot River harvest is usually the birds that swoop in to feast on the flavoursome grapes. We don't mind the odd feast, if only they wouldn't messily pick here and there and damage so many grapes! This invasion aside, Bot River's harvest in 2009 was a superb one, and began on an auspicious date - Feiteiras winery brought their first grapes, the interesting Verdelho variety, to the cellar on the 2nd February, the exact date of South Africa's first wine harvest an incredible 350 years ago!

Harvest time at Grande Provence
Harvest Day in the Cape Winelands grew even more popular this year at the 5-star Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate, Franschhoek. The Estate's annual Harvest Festival not only provided a fun family day out but also educated guests about the delicate art of wine making.

Here's to harvest!
De Wetshof Estate gets into the spirit at the inaugural Robertson Hands-on Harvest Festival.

Waterkloof Estate unveils new gravitational cellar with maiden harvest
The 2009 harvest of lower yields and intensely concentrated flavours bodes well for an exceptional maiden vintage for the new state-of-the-art gravitational cellar just completed at Waterkloof Estate on the slopes of the Schapenberg overlooking False Bay.

Crowds converge to bless the grape at first Spier Harvest Festival
A capacity crowd converged at Stellenbosch wine farm Spier on Saturday, 21 February, for the inaugural blessing of the grape at the first Spier Harvest Festival.

Further decrease in 2009 wine grape harvest
The 2009 wine grape harvest should amount to 1,300,202 tons, according to industry estimates (producer cellars and viticultural consultants) on 16 February 2009.

Harvest kicking into gear
Last weekend, we did a serious sampling tour of the winelands. Getting up at 6am on the Saturday morning, my dad, Guillaume (our winemaker), my better half and I, set out to a vineyard close to Darling, where we are sourcing some Sauvignon Blanc.

Oranjerivier Wine Cellars sees new varietals bearing fruit - early harvest
Oranjerivier Wine Cellars, which annually harvests some 160 000 tons of grapes at five cellars in the Northern Cape region of Upington, is this year reaping the benefits of a strategy it began five years ago to dramatically increase wine quality so as to become known as a fine wine producing region.

Eclipse heralds start of harvest at Overgaauw
Early on the morning of 26 January, while the sun was hiding behind the moon, we saw a group of pickers meticulously making their way through the Pinotage bush vine vineyards at Overgaauw, harvesting the first grapes of the 2009 season.

2009 wine grape harvest - smaller than in 2008
The 2009 wine grape harvest should amount to 1 322 490 tons, according to industry estimates (producer cellars and viticultural consultants) on 28 November 2008.