Choc wine selling out on the block
Lower harvests after drought
The drought that has hit the Cape winelands in the past three years, adversely affecting grape harvests, might just cause scarcity of some household brands.
VinPro, an organisation representing wine industry employers, is bracing itself for what might be the “smallest harvest in more than a decade”, while wineries themselves have also predicted lesser yields this year.
Speaking to BusinessLive recently, Roland Peens, director of winecellar.co.za, said he expected most of the industry to take a serious hit – especially the beverage sector which produced cheaper wines, including box wines.
However, he said, the good news was that the smaller crop should result in higherquality wines, as drought conditions tended to produce smaller grapes with more intense colour and flavour.
One prime winery, Boekenhoutskloof, has already reported the availability of lesser volumes than usual of the latest release of its popular wine brand, Chocolate Block 2016 (R200).
Cellarmaster Marc Kent said the harvest of grapes to make the 2016 vintage was much smaller due to the drought conditions.
However, good news is that it resulted in “higher berry concentration and healthier grapes”
– which meant a full-bodied wine.
Released two months ago, Chocolate Block
2016 is a blend of syrah (79%), grenache noir (11%), cabernet sauvignon (6%), cinsault (3%) and viognier (1%).
As in previous vintages, syrah (shiraz) remains the backbone of the wine, while Kent says the increased volume of grenache noir in the blend has enhanced the flavour profile significantly with “its fruity aromas and vibrancy”. Before bottling, the wine was matured in French-oak barrels for 16 months. A total of 1 979 barrels were used for the 2016 vintage. Boekenhoutskloof, in the picturesque Franschhoek valley, also produces The Wolftrap, Porcupine Ridge and a premium range sharing the winery’s name. Drought-related bad news, though, is that Chocolate Block is fast running out on liquor shop and supermarket shelves. Boekenhoutskloof brand ambassador Olivia-Jay Pretorius says Gauteng lovers have already consumed half of their allocation of Chocolate Block – three months earlier than usual. She broke the news of the impending shortage last Wednesday at the monthly tasting by Café Cru at Montecasino. Miguel Chan, Tsogo Sun’s group sommelier, conducts tasting of the featured wines, as well as food pairings with the canapés served.