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A Technical Guide for Wine Producers
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Most Important Wine Grape Varieties In South Africa*
*Statistics of Vines as on 30 November 2002. (More information obtainable from SAWIS, Paarl).
PLANTING AND UPROOTING OF VINES (1998 - 2002)
In 2002 there was a nett decrease of 707 hectares of vineyards as opposed to the 1 465 hectares' decrease in 2001. As can be seen in Table 1, the biggest decrease was in the Orange River district with a decrease of 749 hectares. The Malmesbury district showed the biggest increase namely 85 hectares.
1 MOST IMPORTANT WINE GRAPE VARIETIES ACCORDING TO VINES (TOTAL NUMBER)
Chenin blanc with 19,4 per cent (20,9 % in 2001) of total planted vines, is still the most important variety in the South African wine industry with regard to plantings. Table 2 indicates the ten most important wine grape cultivars according to vines (total number). The shifts in position since 2000 are also indicated.
The six so-called "noble" varieties ("Big six"), namely Cabernet Sauvignon (second with 11,3 %), Shiraz (fourth with 7,2 %), Pinotage (fifth with 6,5 %), Chardonnay (sixth with 6,4 %), Sauvignon blanc and Merlot (joint seventh position with 6,2 %) still appear among the top ten varieties.
2 MOST IMPORTANT WINE GRAPE VARIETIES PLANTED ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF VINES - 1 DECEMBER 2001 TO 30 NOVEMBER 2002
Cabernet Sauvignon was the most planted and Shiraz the second most planted variety in 2002. The position of Chenin blanc strengthened from seventh in 2001 to fifth in 2002. The position of Colombar also strenghtened from ninth in 2001 to sixth in 2002. Table 3 indicates the ten most important wine grape varieties in 2002, according to number of vines planted.
For the first time Viognier moved into the top ten most planted varieties, while all the "noble" varieties, namely Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and Sauvignon blanc, with the exception of Pinotage, finished among the ten most planted varieties in 2002.
Figure 1 indicates the total number of vines per area in hectares for the eight wine regions, expressed as a percentage of the total number of grape vines in South Africa, from 2000 to 2002.
Figure 2 indicates the total plantings of white and red varieties in hectares, expressed as a percentage of the total plantings for the period 1995 to 2002. It is clearly noticeable that the percentage of plantings of red varieties as a percentage of total plantings increased annually from 28 % in 1995 to 84 % in 2000, showing a slight decrease to 82 % in 2001. In 2002, however, we see a bigger decrease to 65 % in the plantings of red varieties. On the other hand, it is clearly noticeable that there was an annual decrease in the percentage of plantings of white varieties from 72 % in 1995 to 18 % in 2001. In 2002 we see an increase to 35% in the plantings of white varieties.
As in 2001, white varieties represented the five most uprooted varieties in 2002; the most uprooted being Chenin blanc, with a percentage of 30,2% (2001 - 28,3%) of all uprooted vines.
3 AGE DISTRIBUTION OF ALL RED AND WHITE VARIETIES - 1 DECEMBER 2001 TO 30 NOVEMBER 2002
Figure 3 clearly indicates that 35,5% of all white varieties are 10 years and younger, while 37,9% are older than 10 years, but not older than 20 years, and 26,6% are older than 20 years. The picture for red varieties looks entirely different to that of white varieties, with 75,4% of red varieties being 10 years and younger, while 14,9% are older than 10 years, but not yet older than 20 years, with only 9,7% being older than 20 years. This clearly reflects the fact that more red varieties than white varieties were planted in recent years.
4 ANALYSIS OF WINE GRAPE VARIETIES PLANTED IN THE VARIOUS DISTRICTS - 1 DECEMBER 2001 TO 30 NOVEMBER 2002
Table 4 gives an analysis of wine grape varieties planted according to number of vines in the various districts from 1 December 2001 to 30 November 2002. Only the five most important varieties' rank and percentage of total plantings within a specific district are indicated.
Table 4 reveals the following:
Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted variety in Malmesbury (34,6 %), Stellenbosch (29,1 %), Paarl (28,4 %), Robertson (21,2 %) and Worcester (14,3 %), and the second most in the Klein Karoo (20,2 %) and Olifants River (19,5 %).
After a sharp decrease to 5 615 ha in 1998, the total number of Cabernet Sauvignon vines increased sharply to 6 963 ha in 1999, 8 824 ha in 2000, 10 390 ha in 2001 and 11 902 ha in 2002 (Figure 4).
In 2002 Chardonnay was the second most planted variety in Robertson only (16,4 %). In 1999, 2000 and 2001 it was not among the five most planted varieties in any district.
From 1986 (379 ha) to 2000 (6 067 ha) there was an annual increase in the total number of Chardonnay vines due to few or no uprootings. The planting of 213 hectares in 2002 represent the first increase in plantings since four consecutive decreases in the planting trend of Chardonnay, the total plantings of Chardonnay amounting to 6 129 hectares in 2002 (Figure 5).
Chenin blanc is the most planted variety in the Klein Karoo (22,6%), the third most in Orange River (26,7%), Paarl (14,6 %), Olifants River (12,7 %) and Worcester (11,3 %). It is also the fifth most planted in Malmesbury (7,3 %).
From 1990 (29 355 ha) to 2002 (19 865 ha) there was an annual decrease in the total plantings of Chenin blanc. From 1990, except for 1994 (581 ha) and 1997 (524 ha), once the annual plantings stabilised at between 340 and 500 hectares, there was a sharp decrease to 191 ha in 2000. In 2002 plantings started to show an increase to 385 ha (Figure 6).
Colombar is the most planted variety in the Orange River (39,7 %) and Olifants River (39, 2%), and the fourth most in the Klein Karoo (11,4 %).
Following constant growth since 1990, Colombar shows a negative trend with regard to total number of vines planted in 2000, 2001 and 2002, total vines decreasing from 11 673 ha in 1999 to 11 013 ha in 2002. This represents a decrease of 5,7%. Plantings of Colombar decreased from 624 ha in 1997, to 113 ha in 2001, and more than doubled to 257 ha in 2002 (Figure 7).
With regard to plantings Merlot occupies the third position in Stellenbosch (14,1 %), Klein Karoo (12,1 %) and Malmesbury (10,4 %), the fourth position in Worcester (10,1 %) and Paarl (8,0 %), and the fifth position in Robertson (6,9 %). For the first time since 1995 the plantings again show a decreasing trend (Figure 8).
Pinotage was not among the top five varietal plantings in any of the districts.
The decreasing trend in the total number of Pinotage vines since 1986 was reversed in 1993 with increasing plantings since 1993. However, since 1999 Pinotage plantings have again shown a decreasing trend, with a sharp decrease to only 50 ha being planted in 2002 (Figure 9).
Viognier is the fifth most planted variety in Paarl (5,3 %).
Ruby Cabernet is the fifth most planted variety in the Olifants River (4,4 %).
Sauvignon blanc is the second most planted variety in Worcester (13,3 %), third most in Robertson (16,1 %), fourth most in Stellenbosch (14,1 %), Malmesbury (7,6 %), Olifants River (5,5 %) and fifth most in Orange River (0,9 %).
From 1986 (2 618 ha) to 2002 (6 450 ha) there was an annual increase in the total number of Sauvignon blanc vines. This represents a 146 per cent increase over this period (Figure 10).
In 2002 Shiraz was the second most planted in Malmesbury (20,8 %), Stellenbosch (18,2 %) and Paarl (16,7 %). It is the fourth most planted variety in Robertson (9,9 %), and Orange River (2,0 %). It is also the fifth most planted variety in Worcester (9,5 %) and Klein Karoo (8,9 %).
It is only in the Olifants River district that Shiraz did not count among the five most planted varieties. Annual plantings since 1997 (282 ha) show a definite increasing trend, with plantings peaking in 2000 (1 536 ha), and decreasing to just 597 ha in 2002. Total plantings show an annual increase since 1991, with a sharp decrease from 1997 (1 329 ha) to 2002 (8 092 ha) (Figure 11).
Sultana is among the five most planted varieties in one district only, namely Orange River, where it occupied the second position (30,6 %).
The planting patterns show that more white varieties such as Sauvignon blanc, Chenin blanc and Chardonnay were planted in 2002 compared to the trend since 1999, but that the premium red varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot are still the most planted varieties.
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Figure 1: Total Wine Grape Vines per Wine Region - Hectares
Figure 2: Total plantings of white and red cultivars as % of total plantings
Figure 3: Age distribution of all red and white cultivars - 1 December 2001 to 30 November 2002
Figure 4: Total vines and plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon
Figure 5: Totale vines and plantings of Chardonnay
Figure 6: Total viens and plantings of Chenin blanc
Figure 7: Total vines and plantings of Colombar
Figure 8: Total vines and plantings of Merlot
Figure 9: Total vines and plantings of Pinotage
Figure 10: Total vines and plantings of Sauvignon blanc
Figure 11: Total vines and plantings of Shiraz
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