Category: Articles

South African viticulturists predict a smaller 2023 harvest

South African viticulturists and producers are predicting a smaller 2023 wine grape crop following a “healthy, yet dry season.”

This is the second consecutive year the grape crop is expected to be lower than the previous year, after 2022’s challenging harvest due to the uprooting of vineyards causing a decline in the overall vineyard area.

“At this very early stage the net decrease in the estimate is mainly attributed to all our growing regions that have experienced a drier season, except for the Northern Cape which has had its own difficult environmental conditions during and after the harvest,” said Conrad Schutte, manager of Vinpro’s team of viticulturists who issue the crop estimates with the industry body SAWIS.

“Poor flowering and set in various areas, together with the uprooting of vineyards, also contributed to the decrease in our estimate for the 2023 harvest.”

In the Northern Cape, where unseasonably wet and rainy conditions are said to have characterized the season, vines budded on a minimal reserve status and from the beginning, fewer bunches were formed. Foliage also grew poorly and even stopped temporarily in some instances.

In the rest of the regions, flowering conditions were reportedly good to outstanding. Few diseases and pests occurred, but the general average rainfall was lower in most regions compared to the previous year, which will impact berry sizes, especially in the dryland regions, thus influencing the total grape production.

“The season looks promising, but a lot could change leading up to the harvest,” Schutte added.

The next crop estimate by viticulturists and producer cellars will be released in the third week of January 2023.

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OIV Report: Average Volumes for Vintage 2022

World wine production in 2022 is again expected to be slightly below average, with differences between the individual winegrowing zones and countries. The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) forecasts global production of between 257.5 and 262.3m. hl of wine and must in 2022. There will be regional differences in harvest volumes, but the market surplus will remain.

The average value of 259.9 mill. hl is about 1% below the previous year’s quantity. However, the OIV points out that no information is yet available from China and Russia.

Europe is the heart of global viticulture. The EU alone accounts for 60% of world wine production and production volume is expected to be average, with Italy, France, Romania and Germany, among others, reporting higher harvest volumes than last year. In contrast, Spain, Greece and Portugal have harvested rather low volumes.

In the USA, a slightly lower harvest volume than in 2021 has been reported; 23.1 mill. hl are expected. This would be 4% below the previous year and 6% below the 5-year average, the second lowest volume in the last five years.

After the record year of 2021, the wine-growing countries in the southern hemisphere produced average quantities overall this time, with almost all countries producing less than in the previous year – except for New Zealand, where after a poor harvest in the previous year, this time the largest production quantity ever (3.8 mill. hl, 44% above the previous year) came onto the market. Overall, the southern hemisphere is responsible for about 21% of world wine production in 2022.

#wine #winenews #winegrowing #vineyards #wineharvest #wineproduction #redwine #whitewine #winelover #winemaker #winetasting #oiv #viticulture #vino #vin #winetrade #wineeconomics

 

 

Source:  OIV

The Liv-ex “Power 100” 2022 – All About Burgundy

The Liv-ex Power 100, produced in conjunction with The Drinks Business Magazine, their annual list of the most powerful brands in the fine wine market.

The Power 100 is a snapshot of the ever-changing landscape of the secondary market and this year’s list caught Burgundy at the very height of its latest upswing.

For the first time ever, no Bordeaux wines feature in the top 10. Not a single First Growth from either bank. This year they have been totally usurped by Burgundy and Champagne.

Rupert Millar, Liv-ex’s Managing Editor states:
“Already the direction of the market in 2022 suggests change is on the way. Just as we saw in 2019, Burgundy’s latest surge may be dizzying but could be swiftly stymied by a lack of supply and an increasing reluctance to pay such steep prices for handfuls of bottles. The higher it flies, the thinner the air, and the fewer buyers there are.”

Key findings:   https://www.liv-ex.com/.

#wineinvestment #winelovers #winecollectors #burgundy #bordeaux #wine #power100 #livex #champagne #finewine #finewinecollectors

US Joins EU in Nutritional Labelling for Alcohol

European legislators have moved to require ingredient and nutritional information on wine labels (vis QR code), US consumer groups have also fought to achieve the same objective. After 20 years the groups have one their fight.

Starting December 8, 2023, labels of alcohol sold in the EU will have to reveal nutritional and ingredient information directly, or through a QR code. Until now, wine producers with no interest in exporting to Europe have imagined themselves to be immune from this kind of legal requirement, but a recent court ruling shows that American consumers will soon see the same information on bottles on sale in the US.

As the Center for Science in the Public Interest – CSPI – reported “the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has agreed to issue proposed rules requiring standardized alcohol content, calorie, and allergen labeling on all beer, wine and distilled spirits products [and to] begin preliminary rulemaking on mandatory ingredient labelling.”

The US move has been a very long time coming and results from a legal action by consumer groups and the CSPI against the TTB for failing to act on a 2003 petition submitted by 69 organizations and individual citizens including four deans of schools of public health, and calling for alcoholic beverages to be treated in the same way as other beverages and food products.

Opponents of the move who hope that implementation of labeling legislation may still be delayed will be dismayed to learn that the House and Senate Appropriations Committee’s 2023 budget treats the issue as ‘critical’ and calls for urgent action.

#winenews #wine #alcohol #beer #spirits #winelabels #wineeducation #wineinmoderation #winetechnology #winetrends

Porto Wins “Best City Destination in World 2022” Travel Awards

The City of Porto was voted the “Best City Destination in the World 2022” at the ‘World Travel Awards’ ceremony a few weeks ago.

In a statement, the local municipality said that Porto was given the title of the Best City Destination in the World for 2022, ahead of cities such as Acapulco, Cancún and Mazatlán (Mexico), Bogotá (Colombia), Quito (Ecuador), Cape Town ( South Africa), Nairobi (Kenya), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Las Vegas, Miami and New York (United States of America), Hanoi (Vietnam), Hong Kong (China), Melbourne and Sydney (Australia), Queenstown (New Zealand), London (England), Lyon (France), Marrakech (Morocco) and Lisbon.

The ceremony of the ‘World Travel Awards’, also known as the ‘Oscars’ of tourism, brought together the main decision-makers and prominent figures in the sector.

The councillor responsible for Tourism and Internationalization of the Porto Chamber, Catarina Santos Cunha, received the award on behalf of the municipality, and the president of the Porto Tourism Association, Luís Pedro Martins, was also present at the ceremony.

“The distinctions in over thirty categories in the European edition of the World Travel Awards 2022 is of particular significance after the difficult pandemic years. It is with pride that we see our tourism companies and professionals being acknowledged by their international peers,” said Rita Marques, the Secretary of State for Tourism, Trade and Services.

“All the agents of the sector are to be congratulated for meeting the challenge of consolidating Portugal as a tourist destination of excellence, in whatever circumstances.”

#portugal #travel #travelawards #porto #visitportugal #travelgram #tourism #winetourism #winelovers #wine #VisitPorto #turismoportoenorte #visitportugal #visitaportugal #worldtravelawards #europesleadingcitydestination #worldsleadingcitydestination