After facing a complete ban on sales of their products during level 5, 4 and 3 of the lockdown, many South African wine-producers are now burdened with an oversupply of wine at their storage-facilities.
Umbrella organization, Wines of South Africa, says estimates show that producers are sitting with up to 300-million litres of excess wine, which they can’t sell.
Communications Manager at Wines of South Africa, Maryna Calow, says even though wine-sales are now allowed at level 1 of the national lockdown, the industry is still battling to recover.
Calow says these “alternative” products are sold at “a loss”‘
The industry lost up to R400-million of income per week during the national lockdown. Calow says many wineries face closure, because of remaining alcohol sales-restrictions, which could lead to the loss of an estimated 22,000 jobs.
Calow says with sales-restrictions over weekends, wine-farms can not sell wines to visitors.
