The Cape’s expected bumper wine crop will not materialise according to the latest estimates for the harvest, which have been lowered by more than 45 000 tons.
According to viticulturists from around the winelands, on 14 February they expected 1,138,192 tons to be delivered to more than 427 cellars.
This represented a 5.5% increase over the 2002 crop compared with the initial December estimate they had of 1,183,323 tons or a 9.7% increase.
It was expected that the 2003 wine harvest, including juice and concentrate for non-alcoholic purposes, rebate and distilling wine, would amount to 874.1m litres at an average recovery rate of 768 litres per ton of grapes.
The reason for the decrease was generally attributed to lighter bunch weights and short periods of heat in January and the first half of February.
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By GlobalDataThe biggest decrease is expected in the Orange River. The main reasons for this were the extremely favourable temperature for the production of raisins and a lower than expected sultana harvest. This area predominantly produces grapes for grape juice concentrate and distillation.
