The popular CapeWine trade show has become the latest event to be postponed until next year due to the covid-19 pandemic’s severe blow to the wine industry, says Wines of South Africa (WoSA).
CapeWine is rescheduled for 5 to 7 October 2022 with organisers citing the earlier five-week export ban due to the controversial covid-19 lockdown regulations as one of the reasons. Also, the ban on alcohol sales was a blow to wineries across the country.
In a news release, WoSA says exports are still slower than expected due to the port in Cape Town struggling to cope with demand. This has had a huge impact on WoSA’s income, which is directly linked to exports, and also on the financial worries of many producers. These factors, plus being unable to secure a main sponsor for the event, has driven the decision to move the show back by a year.
Commenting on the move, Siobhan Thompson, CEO of Wines of South Africa, said, “With so much uncertainty over the future currently, we have taken the difficult decision to move the CapeWine show to 2022. Financial pressure and the lack of certainty over international travel in the longer term have made it impossible to plan for the event at this time.”
Thompson hopes that by next year the wine industry will “have a clearer insight into wine trade events and a more settled picture regarding resources. We cannot wait to welcome the international wine trade back to our beautiful Winelands.”
