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This year’s harvest yield - an estimated 1.1m tons - is the smallest in 22 years, with climate change a major reason. But thankfully it is also expected to be a vintage of excellence. In this issue we look at how the industry is getting to grips with an altering climate scenario.
When the going gets tough, the tough get smarter.
There’s no denying how resourceful South Africans can be. A case in point is Dr Tara Southey. In a newsletter of almost two years ago, I highlighted her extraordinary climate intelligence work at Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Geographic Analysis. Since then, she’s been on quite a roll, taking the wine industry with her (while at the same time expanding her work into the wider agricultural sector).
After many years of integrating data derived from geographic information systems, including climate analysis, remote sensing, and grapevine profiling to develop the TerraClim climate database, she has expanded the scope of this formidable tool, working closely with Stellenbosch University, the research, development and innovation division of industry body South Africa Wine and other organisations.
Thanks to their collaboration, TerraClim’s user-friendly online platform is helping South Africans make even better wine and even more sustainably in the face of mounting climate extremes. The tool provides detailed climate and terrain data at farm and even at vineyard level, with year-round figures for temperature, rainfall, solar radiation, aspect, elevation, curvature and much more, all helping growers to optimise planting, harvesting and resource management.
As part of its role in helping the local industry to continually premiumise Brand South Africa, TerraClim is identifying site- and climate-appropriate varieties for the future and proposing potential new growing areas. The team is also researching relationships between specific growing environments (e.g. individual vineyards) and the chemical composition of their grapes to better understand the impact on flavour profile.
A world first?
To the best of our knowledge, TerraClim is a first. There is no such comprehensive, layered and nuanced climate database available to wine growers anywhere else in the world. No less than the OIV (International Organisation for Vine &Wine) has been “astonished”, says Tara, by TerraClim’s ability to facilitate future-focused decision-making not just in local vineyards but for the entire industry.
Tailoring TerraClim
Not to leave it there, Tara and her team are now also investigating key steps and new features to customise TerraClim for specific client needs, from small-scale to larger agricultural entities. In developing bespoke products, they are drilling their research down to understand even more specifically what it is that users need to know and what has not yet been captured. To that end wine growers are amongst a beta-testing group of 200 South African farmers across the agricultural spectrum. Farmer feedback will be used to update TerraClim’s features in a new web app scheduled for launch towards the end of the year.
She is very encouraged by the huge interest amongst farmers in testing the app and in using TerraClim as a decision tool. There are now almost a thousand farmers on the list waiting to become TerraClim members.
Another very exciting development is that Tara and the team hope in time to replicate their wine sector modelling for application in other wine-producing countries.
You heard it here first.
Learning a new alphabet
The pressures of harvesting can be so intense, there’s seldom enough mental space for other things. Such as the news in March about the release of a new international paper, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations of Wine Production. It attracted a lot of global attention in the wine media. Here’s one example. (https://www.inrae.fr/en/news/global-map-how-climate-change-changing-winegrowing-regions)
These reports may be sobering but they also give reason for optimism, knowing the priority attention our own industry is giving to climate change. Not just recently but for almost the past two decades.
TerraClim is one element in this ongoing process. There has also been a significant drive to plant southern Mediterranean varieties known to withstand heat and drought.
From Agiorgitiko to Xinomavro
Ever heard of Ekiga?na? Me neither. It’s a Basque word for “month of sunshine” and it refers to a cross between Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon. Caladoc (Grenache Noir/Malbec)? I thought so.
As far back as 2007, Vititec (a developer, producer and supplier of clonal material for local wine growers) began importing a range of varieties, as well as different clones of each to assess their viability for sites where rainfall can amount to no more than 350mm a year.
Apart from Ekiga?na and Caladoc, Vititec is developing plant material, and in many cases already supplying growers with slightly less obscure vines. From Agiorgitiko all the way to Xinomavro (both Greek).
I could go on. There is another Tannat/Cabernet Sauvignon variety called Arinarnoa (recently approved for cultivation in Bordeaux). And Spanish-origin Lledoner Pelut (aka hairy Grenache), also known for its resistance to rot. In fact, Kloovenburg already sells wine made from Lledoner Pelut.
While all this is happening, the Bosman Adama nursery in Wellington is also working assiduously to develop commercially viable varieties that show resistance to a range of diseases.
Dealing with different scenarios
Heat, drought and climate extremes - their impact and how we can respond - have long been research priorities for local wine industry bodies and vine plant improvement nurseries. Collectively, they have been propagating more climate- and disease-resilient plant material for local growers, investigating which varieties on which sites can develop the best root systems, focusing on rootstock strategies and developing appropriate viticultural management protocols.
There is the extensive work of the research, development and innovation division of South African Wine, beyond but also closely linked to its TerraClim involvement. Investigating newer varieties under a range of growing conditions is a key focus, including trialling various scion/rootstock combinations to cope with less water.
Amongst its many projects, the division is studying drought-tolerance across a spectrum of varieties and rootstocks in sandy soil in the Swartland to assess how dryland vines respond in what it calls “an almost worst-case scenario”. Study findings soon to be released involve Assyrtiko (Greek), Marselan (a French cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache), Macabeo/Viura and Tempranillo (both Spanish), Touriga Naçional and Verdelho (both Portuguese), Vermentino (Italian) and several others.
Jordan Wines in Stellenbosch has been cultivating Assyrtiko, having planted the first mother block in 2019. More recently, it has turned its attention to Mencia (Spanish). Elsewhere, growers have already established other heat and drought tolerant varieties. Look on the shelves for Albarino/Alvarinho (Spanish and Portuguese), Carignan (Spanish) Carménère (French), Mourvèdre/Mataro (Spanish/French), Nero d’Avola (Sicilian), Vermentino and Verdelho.
Interestingly, there are now over 550ha planted to Grenache Noir (Spanish) as growers grapple with heat and drought. That’s a doubling of plantings between 2012 and 2022.
Meanwhile, many growers, as a crucial step, have been addressing soil health by going the regenerative route to enhance biodiversity and climate- and disease-resilience while reducing reliance on water and other inputs. Apart from introducing newer varieties, they are finding ways to slow down grape maturity. They are exploring different trellising systems and adapting canopy architecture. They’re pruning for longevity. And increasingly, they are investing in AI capabilities to better understand and respond to the real-time needs of their vines.
That’s a very roundabout way of telling you how imaginative, resilient and forward-thinking South Africans can be. This is not to say we’re abandoning very popular Cabernets, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinotage. We’re just becoming more future fit.
Great Wine Capitals (GWC)
After an interval of several years, Cape Town/Cape Winelands rejoined the Great Wine Capitals in 2019. Currently, the global network has 12 members who share best-practice, industry insights and research and innovation in wine tourism. Apart from ourselves, other members are Adelaide (Australia), Bilbao (Spain), Bordeaux (France), Hawke’s Bay (New Zealand), Lausanne (Switzerland), Mainz (Germany), Mendoza (Argentina), Porto (Portugal), San Francisco/Napa Valley (US), Valparaiso/Casablanca Valley (Chile) and Verona (Italy).
The value of wine tourism is growing in South Africa and represents an increasing contribution to industry revenue. Its direct, indirect and induced impact/contribution to national GDP reached R9.3 billion in 2022. This is according to an industry report released earlier this year.
Our communications manager, Maryna Calow has just returned from the GWC mid-term conference in Porto, where the opening of the 2025 Best Of Wine Tourism Awards was announced. We really do urge producers to enter our region’s Best Of Wine Tourism Awards across 7 categories. Please keep an eye out for communication in this regard in the coming weeks.
After chatting amongst representatives from other member-regions, Maryna came back positive and confident about the extent of innovation, range and appeal of our local offerings. As she stressed, international benchmarking can provide important context for us as we deal with changing trends in visitor interests, expectations and standards. In addition, South African wineries are leaders in the field of wine tourism. We’ve been doing it for several years now and we do it better than most. It is something that we can be proud of and, as leaders in the field, South African wine tourism really does set a very high bar for others to aspire to.
Till next time,
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