Key themes emerging from this report include innovation, addressing climate change, precision farming, wine styles emanating from new grape varieties, demonstration plots, knowledge transfer, cutting-edge technology, and ploughing back into training by creating and expanding infrastructure at academic institutions.
Since 2017, this project has established a total of 63 demo sites all over the greater Cape Winelands – 22 cultivar demo sites, 22 clone demo sites, 15 rootstock demo sites, three trellis-system demo sites, and one pruning demonstration block. Year-on-year harvest comparisons from the sites saw the team start a week earlier this season and subsequently finish a week sooner. The number of samples collected tipped the scale at 480 versus 332 in 2022.
This year the team, consisting of Francois Viljoen, Emma Carkeek, Zahn Haasbroek, and Logan Jooste, established cover crop demo sites at Welgevallen and Goudini Wines.
“Five planned demonstration sites will also be established during the 2023 vine-planting season,” says GEN-Z Vineyard Project founder and leader, Francois Viljoen. “These are all aligned with the future vision of the GEN-Z Project, to follow the demonstrations from the soil to the cellar.”
The planned demonstrations, with support from Vititec, which has sponsored vines, include four new interplanting demos with the ultimate goal of establishing fewer demonstration sites with more vines per site. The four new demo sites include 300 vines of Egiodola and Vermentino planted at Cederberg Wines in the Cederberg region, 250 vines of six different clones of Shiraz each at Saronsberg in Tulbagh, 400 vines of Arinarnoa on Ramsey in Vredendal planted with the aim to see if this relatively new cultivar will be suitable for this area, and lastly 10 vines of eight hybrid cultivars each at Welgevallen, sponsored by Bosman Adama Nursery, which will be planted within the cultivar collection block.
An experimental demonstration site for the Vine Academy in Kakamas is also planned for 2024. “This site will serve to educate producers and students on known cultivars but also provide a platform to plant lesser-known cultivars such as Malbec that could have the potential to increase wine complexity,” says Viljoen. “The site at Boland Agricultural School is also doing well with all vines on the wire. The foliage wires will be installed in the new year after the demo has been pruned for winter.”
Vine training and development at the Welgevallen site in Stellenbosch, which was developed with the chief aim of training the next generation of winemakers and viticulturists, is ongoing. In 2023 a total of 11,4 tonnes of Chenin Blanc was picked from this site and processed by Stellenbosch University students at Die Laan Cellars.
Another first from the GEN-Z Project was a platform for knowledge transfer for the youth of the South African wine industry in the form of information days. This year 70 young wine industry professionals attended these days to network, learn and create a shared vision.
Vinpro CEO Conrad Schutte praised the efforts of the GEN-Z team. “Thank you for driving innovation and technology in our field. Establishing over 63 demo sites in the Cape Winelands is no easy task. These sites provide us with information to make future best decisions – from soil to vine. Having established the Welgevallen demo site and being part of educating the next generation of winemakers and viticulturists in South Africa is a rewarding undertaking. As custodians of the wine industry, we are proud to be part of creating a more informed future for everyone working in the wine value chain.”
Visit the website at www.genz.co.za for more information on the project and ways to get involved.