At the Mercy of Nature

After two months of fires burning in the winelands, the fires were finally extinguished and life is back to normal. For the most part, the fires only ravaged the mountain vegetation, and the wine industry is grateful that the damage was limited to relatively few wineries.

The industry is no stranger to fires, which are a natural phenomenon in this part of the country. In 2000, the Simonsberg Mountain in Stellenbosch was devastated by a similar fire, which ripped all along the mountain side from Helshoogte to beyond Kanonkop and then Warwick, all within 24 hours.  Kanonkop reported 9 ha of pinotage damaged, which was subsequently pulled out and replaced, to minimize the risk of compromising quality with damaged vines.  Research has shown that smoke molecules are not transferable to the next vintage via the plant fibre or soils, but Kanonkop preferred not to take the chance.

At Rustenberg, the fire ran through vineyards higher up on the mountain, with the cover crop catching fire. Because the grapes had exposure to the smoke, the taint forced them to declassify their flagship wine, Peter Barlow.  This is an example of the industry's strict measures to maintain quality.

The most recent fires of February and early March 2009, razed considerably more forest land and fynbos (the indigenous habitat).  At Lourensford 95% of their pine timber plantations, an area of 1000 hectares, were burnt to a fine white ash, and an additional 2000 ha of fynbos were burnt. The burning of fynbos is not necessarily a negative; fynbos is regenerated though fire and, provided it doesn't burn more often than every 12 years, fires are beneficial. The last time fynbos burnt on Lourensford was in 1997.  At one stage Lourensford had 200 of their own employees fighting the fire, alongside the local Fire Department, assisted by military helicopters.

Vergelegen is equally badly affected; especially their indigenous landscapes. By the time the fires hit the valley, Andre van Rensburg (winemaker) was fortunate to have harvested all their whites grapes and they had started with reds.  The big challenge now is to ensure purity of flavour and to this end, as with Lourensford, Vergelegen is putting samples through gas-chromatography tests on a daily basis.

Vergelegen is also consulting with Australian and Canadian researchers about the impact of fire; in these countries wild fires rage for much longer at a time and the impact proves to be severe.  Their first finding is that the grapes are most susceptible to absorbing volatile compounds from shortly after veraison.  The smoky aroma is attributed to amongst others, guaiacol (Gu) and 4-methylguaiacol (4MGu); compounds also identified in wines aged in toasted oak barrels.  Through gas-chromatography tests, these compounds are being measured and Vergelegen is taking the necessary steps to eliminate the implicated batches from the production process. 

The severe burning of fynbos, however, appears at first glance, most disturbing in this particular valley.  Both Lourensford and Vergelegen are BWI Champions and have vast hectares of indigenous fynbos, but not all of it had yet been cleared of invasive alien vegetation (a very expensive and time consuming process). If you look at the scorched mountain slopes it appears that a decade of work on conservation has gone up in smoke, but the reality is that on Lourensford, the Fire Lilies and Blood Flowers are already in flower in the blackened landscape, the Watsonias will soon bloom and the Protea seed banks are being dispersed for spring growth after the winter rains. Vergelegen's habitat will soon follow suit.

CEO of Vergelegen, Don Tooth, says this BWI Champion is committed to commence immediately with the further rehabilitation of Fynbos. He says that the fire damage poses both a problem and an opportunity: If Vergelegen does not accelerate the rehabilitation process, the risk of re-infestation by aliens is high, while the opportunity now exists to start from a clean slate in terms of removing them.

Andre Van Rensburg reiterates that now, more than ever, the importance of fynbos conservation has been recognised, and should be emphasised through the BWI.  The aliens burnt with a much more severe and devastating impact, while the fynbos fires are "softer" and easier to contain.  Alien clearing should be high on the agendas of the authorities, but also that of private land owners.

In the Hemel en Aarde Valley, Kevin Grant of Ataraxia lost an entire Sauvignon blanc crop from one of his suppliers (15 tons) and 60% of his Chardonnay (10 tons), tragically, a day before harvest.

A separate blaze destroyed most of Paarl Mountain, starting on the Paarl residential side and then crept across the mountain to Fairview, where fire breaks and good planning managed to keep the fire at bay and no vineyards were lost.

In Jonkershoek Valley, Neil Ellis, Stark-Conde and Le Riche lost some vineyard rows, but as elsewhere, only on the edges.  This fire spread along the mountain towards Helshoogte, and damaged some of Delaire's reds.  In an earlier fire, a few weeks previously, Tokara lost 5 ha of their young shiraz vineyards and 200 olive trees.  Miles Mossop is also keeping a keen eye on the aromas during fermentation.

The wineries that have been affected are all committed to maintaining high quality. While some of the later bottlings of this vintage may be downgraded or not released, they are all grateful that there has been limited damage, and most important of all, no loss of life.

Wines of South Africa, March 2009 (with contributions by Angela Lloyd)