• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle
SATI estimates an intake volume range of between 70,6 million and 77,7 million cartons for 2021/22. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Will the wine industry’s Pastor Lukau please stand up?

20th Mar 2019
What to look for when formulating dairy cow rations

What to look for when formulating dairy cow rations

1st Jul 2022
Leave your comfort zone and make money, says foodie

Leave your comfort zone and start hustling, says foodie

1st Jul 2022
Recipe: Make Makile’s crispy chicken wings

Recipe: Make Makile’s crispy chicken wings

1st Jul 2022
Experts have warned farmers to prepare for another steep fuel price increase this month. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Caught in a price spiral: Farmers brace for major losses

1st Jul 2022
Parts of the Western Cape, such as the Central Karoo, are still experiencing drought. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

1st Jul 2022
Through his company, Iboyana agri farming, Mhlengi Ngcobo is changing the lives of youth and women in his community. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

30th Jun 2022
Research has revealed that less than three in 10 farmers in the upper parts of Africa use technology. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Technology not a priority for Africa’s smallholder farmers

30th Jun 2022
The Mamahlola Communal Property Association was among the first to be established in 2000, but due to underinvestment, their land soon turned into a symbol of government’s land restoration failure. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The poverty-fighting tool that’s not fighting poverty

30th Jun 2022
Langeberg & Ashton Foods provides employment for around 250 permanent and 4 300 seasonal staff. Photo: Supplied

ICYMI: Search for fruit factory buyer continues

30th Jun 2022
Michele Carelse, founder, and CEO of Feelgood Health, Aquaponics horticulturalist, PJ Phiri Gwengo, Dr Didi Claassen, Afrivets executive for technical and marketing support, and Sibusiso Xaba, co-founder and CEO of Africa Cannabis Advisory Group. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: Learn the basics of growing microgreens

29th Jun 2022
John Deere Launches Africa’s Largest Capacity Combine. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Get inside Africa’s largest combine harvester

30th Jun 2022
Food scraps and yard waste together currently make up more than 30% of what we throw away, and could be composted instead. Babalwa Mpayipheli uses the technique of bokashi composting. Photo: Supplird/Health For Mzansi

How to make compost with kitchen scraps

29th Jun 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Sat, Jul 2, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    Through his company, Iboyana agri farming, Mhlengi Ngcobo is changing the lives of youth and women in his community. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

    Reggie Kambule from Villiers in the Free State runs a 185 hectare farm where he breeds livestock and cultivates maize. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Engineer-turned farmer takes pride in good results

    Agripreneur 101: Sweet success for jam producer

    Agripreneur 101: Sweet success for jam producer

    Real Housewife turns passion for wine into a business

    Real Housewife turns passion for wine into a business

    David Mthombeni is building an agriculture empire for his family.Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farmer gets his hands dirty while building family empire

    Gauteng farmers give youth a leg-up in agriculture

    Women in farming give youth a leg up in agriculture

    Watch out, these young farmers are on fire!

    Watch out, these young farmers are on fire!

    Unati Speirs has vast experience in agri-business strategy and business funding and was recently appointed as a new board director for Hortgro. Photos: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Youngest Hortgro hotshot takes transformation to heart

    Prof Kennedy Mnisi a dedicated young man who wants to help livestock farmers with animal health education to prevent diseases. Picture. Supplied/ Food For Mzansi.

    Animal scientist works hard to earn top dog status

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi

Will the wine industry’s Pastor Lukau please stand up?

by Heinrich Bothman
20th Mar 2019
in Columns
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
SATI estimates an intake volume range of between 70,6 million and 77,7 million cartons for 2021/22. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

SATI estimates an intake volume range of between 70,6 million and 77,7 million cartons for 2021/22. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Funny, isn’t it, how one of my all-time favourite films, Pulp Fiction, has so much in common with wine. Gen Z might never have heard about this 1994 American crime thriller drama film, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, but to me it will always be a delirious, post-modern mix of neo-noir thrills – which sounds a lot like Pinot Noir, one of my fave red wine grape varieties.

Of course, 1994 is also of great significance to South Africans as the year that our democracy got freshly pressed. (See what I did there?) There’s a lot of pressing happening everywhere in the winelands at the moment. The harvest of wine grapes remain one of the most crucial steps in the process of wine-making, and this is the season where loads of TLC is being taken before pressing wine grapes to pulp.

Not many people know that wine-making is a volatile exercise.

Also, there seems to be rather mixed emotions about the outlook of the volume vs. the quality of wine currently produced. And, without a doubt, this will impact the consumer. It is already clear that this year’s harvest is considerably lower than previous years. Some wineries are claiming as much as a 50% decrease in volume.

ADVERTISEMENT

If you’re a wine lover, like me, you should be having a slight panic attack right about now. Is the implication that we’ll suffer a wine-drought? Heaven forbid. How will we survive? More importantly, what is the impact on the employees on the various wine farms?

The severe drought has negatively impacted the wine industry since 2015.
The severe drought has negatively impacted the wine industry since 2015.

The severe drought has already negatively impacted the wine industry since 2015. VinPro’s chairman, Anton Smuts, reckons that if at least R13 billion is not invested to replace old vines within the next decade, the industry will suffer a tremendous blow.

Speaking of my favourite films. Remember Sideways, the influential 2004 black comedy drama film? It explored the wine industry and people still giggle at its famous anti-Merlot quip. Let’s recap that little moment for Gen Z’s sake. In the film, the Pinot Noir-crazed Miles heads into a restaurant to meet two women for dinner. Miles warns his friend Jack that “if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any *bleep* Merlot.” The side effect of this Sideways quip was quite severe. In the early 2000’s it caused a rapid decline in Merlot demand, but caused a boom in other wine varietals.

This begs the question. Who will revive Mzansi’s wine industry? Is it too soon to joke that we should call on Pastor Alph Lukau who’s recent “resurrection” of a man made international news? VinPro’s Smuts reminded us recently that the state earns a whopping R6,8 billion from the local wine industry, compared to the total income for producers of R5,8 billion. Yet, further inflation increases will impact the wine industry even further – even leading to job losses.

Stefaans May picking grapes on De Wetshof Farm in Robertson in the Western Cape.
Stefaans May picking wine grapes on De Wetshof Farm in Robertson in the Western Cape.

I know what it’s like working in the wine industry’s hospitality sector, and the drought has certainly caused foreign visitors to stay away over the festive season.

If you consider that the Western Cape, as a tourism hub, is heavily reliant on tourism, you don’t even need to do the math that this is a severe blow for the wine industry too. Also very depressing is our very high Gini coefficient. It measures income inequality and the fact of the matter is that we are now a perfectly unequal society.

Perhaps it’s not such a crazy idea to call on Pastor Lukau to resurrect the wine industry.

If he’s not able to resurrect the wine industry, we should call on another “cowboy” that can bring some innovative thinking to the table. The glass of wine has been raised since the days of sacrament. Every year labourers and winemakers alike work tirelessly to resurrect the pulped grapes to wine that has the potential to age, and be worth more than it started out to be.

We now have to stand for something.

Because, heaven knows, if we don’t, the industry might just end up in Pastor Lukau’s coffin.

ADVERTISEMENT
Tags: AmericanAnton SmutsPastor Alph LukauPinot NoirPulp FictionQuentin TarantinoSidewaysSouth AfricansVinproWestern Cape
Previous Post

Mzansi’s food trucks – not just boeries and slap chips

Next Post

How is innovation impacting SA’s coffee industry?

Heinrich Bothman

Heinrich Bothman

Heinrich Bothman is a certified Cape Sommelier, wine evaluator and judge. He has a decade’s experience in the wine industry. Heinrich studied Business of Wine at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Cape Town and also obtained his international judging qualification from Stellenbosch University.

Related Posts

Parts of the Western Cape, such as the Central Karoo, are still experiencing drought. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

by Staff Reporter
1st Jul 2022
0

In case you missed it: Parts of the Western Cape are experiencing ongoing drought conditions. The provincial government stepped in...

Langeberg & Ashton Foods provides employment for around 250 permanent and 4 300 seasonal staff. Photo: Supplied

ICYMI: Search for fruit factory buyer continues

by Staff Reporter
30th Jun 2022
0

“We will regularly communicate updates on the processes to find possible investors to save jobs,” Western Cape agri MEC Ivan...

Agripreneur 101: Sweet success for jam producer

Agripreneur 101: Sweet success for jam producer

by Nicole Ludolph
27th Jun 2022
0

AGRIPRENEUR 101: The Jacobs couple from Ceres always knew they were entrepreneurs at heart and spurred on by the desire...

Langeberg & Ashton Foods buildings and yards line a significant stretch of Ashton’s main road. Jacobus de Koker isn’t permanently employed but says he has been working at the factory for years. Photo: Elana van der Watt/Food For Mzansi

‘Our town will be a dead town’

by Elana van der Watt
25th Jun 2022
0

Special report: The residents of Ashton instinctively know that agriculture is keeping their town alive - for now. They tell...

Next Post
Siki's Koffie Kafe in Khayelitsha, Cape Town has been attracting a lot of attention since its launch in 2016.

How is innovation impacting SA's coffee industry?

Experts have warned farmers to prepare for another steep fuel price increase this month. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
News

Caught in a price spiral: Farmers brace for major losses

by Tiisetso Manoko
1st Jul 2022
0

Farmers are bracing themselves for yet another steep fuel price increase in July, with data showing that consumers could face...

Read more
Parts of the Western Cape, such as the Central Karoo, are still experiencing drought. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

1st Jul 2022
Through his company, Iboyana agri farming, Mhlengi Ngcobo is changing the lives of youth and women in his community. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

30th Jun 2022
Research has revealed that less than three in 10 farmers in the upper parts of Africa use technology. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Technology not a priority for Africa’s smallholder farmers

30th Jun 2022
The Mamahlola Communal Property Association was among the first to be established in 2000, but due to underinvestment, their land soon turned into a symbol of government’s land restoration failure. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The poverty-fighting tool that’s not fighting poverty

30th Jun 2022

Fresh produce markets ‘at tipping point’

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

Recipe: Make Makile’s crispy chicken wings

Real Housewife turns passion for wine into a business

Safety summit: Will it be a turning point?

ICYMI: Career boost ahead for KZN agri graduates

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 11 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

What to look for when formulating dairy cow rations

Leave your comfort zone and start hustling, says foodie

Recipe: Make Makile’s crispy chicken wings

Caught in a price spiral: Farmers brace for major losses

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
WhatsApp line: +27 81 889 9032
Marketing: +27 71 147 0388
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version