Sustainability in both economic and human terms was outlined as the key challenge facing Cape winemakers at the opening conference of Cape Wine 2018.

Speaking in Cape Town on Wednesday 12 September, keynote speakers, including Wines of South Africa’s (WOSA) chair Carina Gous, highlighted a backdrop of global uncertainty against structural issues in the Cape’s industry that need to be overcome to bring greater profitability to South Africa’s winemaking fraternity.

“In South Africa we have a lot of uncertainty,” said Gous. “Profitability remains a huge challenge – about a quarter of grape producers have left the industry in the past 10 years and the areas under vine have declined.”

Figures presented also revealed that while exports remain fairly healthy, bottled (premium) wine exports have failed to increase significantly as a percentage against bulk exports, with South African wine currently sitting in the lowest position on the global market in terms of the price per litre.

“There is a need to increase prices, we cannot really sustain our industry, cannot go forward, to look after our people and communities, unless we have the partners to do this,” added Gous.