It’s a swelteringly hot summer’s day in Stellenbosch, one of South Africa’s most significant wine-growing regions. Temperatures are in the mid- to high-30s Celsius at 3pm, as farm workers start making their way home.
According to Charmaine King, 42, this intense heat is not normal. She has been working in Stellenbosch’s vineyards for 15 years and has noticed it getting hotter and harder to work over time. “Sometimes it’s so difficult in the sun,” she says. “When you come home, you are very tired. You are getting a headache from the sun.”
King is one of around 300,000 people directly and indirectly employed by South Africa’s world-famous wine industry. She and her husband rely on the commercial vineyards for their livelihoods and, like many, are increasingly concerned about the effects of climate change on a sector that contributed $3 billion to the economy in 2019.
As global temperatures rise, scientists predict southern Africa will experience less rain and more severe droughts. South Africa’s two major grape-growing regions, the Western and Northern Cape, have already seen a gradual increase in temperatures and falling average rainfall. Although the 2021/22 season was mercifully cooler than normal, the wine industry is still reeling from the effects of a drought from 2016 to 2019, in which Western Cape residents experienced severe water shortages and awaited so-called “Day Zero”.
As the effects of climate change worsen, all industries will have to adapt, but the challenges for a sector that relies on precise climatic conditions are uniquely complex. Wine-growing regions are carefully chosen for their particular combination of elevation, climate, and geography, and disruptions to these can have significant knock-on effects. Unusual weather patterns can lead to damage from sunburn, frost, and hail, increases in pests and diseases, and plant stress due to drought. These conditions all impact the development and yield of the grapevines, which, in turn, affects the colour, consistency, and flavour of the wine.
Dr Erna Blancquaert is a viticulturist from Stellenbosch University. As the principal investigator on a trilateral research project with China, Belgium, and South Africa – three relatively new wine-producing countries – she has been examining the impact of climate change on chardonnay and pinot. She has been measuring the development of grapevines in South Africa and examining how they perform under different temperatures and climates in the past couple of years.
“We are seeing lots of drought conditions so the plants are definitely more stressed, which can lead to early flowering,” she explains. “We had hail and thunderstorms, which is very unusual. That of course had numerous implications. Rain during the active green growing stage results in very high fungal pressure.”
Blancquaert emphasises the delicate balance of natural forces that need to come together every season.
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