Most of the Overberg
\nwine farms could conclude their harvest before lockdown began on Friday 27
\nMarch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Josef Dreyer, winemaker at Raka Wines in the Stanford Valley,
\nsays his farm\u2019s worst fear was that an entire harvest would be spoiled by the
\nlockdown. \u201cFortunately we could complete the harvest in full.\u201d He added it was
\na good harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Creation Wines made sure an
\nentire year\u2019s harvest would not go to waste and the farm put everything into
\ncompleting the harvest. Co-owner Carolyn Martin explaineded one of her main
\nconcerns was that there may be a ban on winemaking. \u201cMy husband JC Martin
\ndecided he was not going to let a whole harvest go to waste, a whole year\u2019s
\nwork in the vineyards. That would have meant huge losses, impacting on our
\nability to trade if we had no product to trade.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Martin said the quality of the grapes this year had been
\nexceptional. She explained the work done in the vineyards and the picking of grapes
\nis part of a wine\u2019s success of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, she added, the impact of not being able to trade at all
\nfor five weeks is \u201cdramatic\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe government has been incompetent in the way it has dealt
\nwith wine exports \u2014 banning them, then lifting the ban, and then banning again.
\nMore than 280\u2009000 people\u2019s jobs are on the line, and exports are possible with
\nsocial distancing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dreyer shares this sentiment, and adds that his winery\u2019s second
\nconcern is generating income. \u201cWe have bills to pay, and we just procured all
\nthe yeast, barrels, fermentation and stabilisation products for harvest. We
\nalso have to pay wages, but we are not allowed to sell any liquor. Our
\ncustomers are also not allowed to trade, and this will have dire economic
\neffects on our business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Braam Gericke, viticulturist and winemaker at Wildekrans in
\nBot River, says his farm managed to complete its harvest. \u201cThere was so much
\nred tape around export, though,\u201d he said, \u201cand we didn\u2019t make it in time.\u201d
\nGericke said Wildekrans had wine orders, but couldn\u2019t get it to clients due to
\nlockdown regulations. He said: \u201cThere is a huge demand for wine, so we are
\ntrying to get orders via Facebook, and once lockdown is over we will deliver. We
\nare also relatively small in terms of wine sales compared to other wine farms
\nin the industry.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gericke describes the lockdown period as a terrible and
\ndifficult time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most of the Overberg wine farms could conclude their harvest before lockdown began on Friday 27 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