"We're not looking at a record crop but it will be average plus, with a very good berry size. The only reason for the rumours of a low crop, which I can think of, is that cultivars such as Sugra One have a record crop one year then next to nothing the next year. There is a lot of that variety planted in the Orange River region."
"We have had extremely unusual weather, its was also raining in Capetown yesterday, which is very unusual for the time of the year. The cooler weather means the plant is under less stress and so the berries will be bigger," explains Andre. "We have the Early Sweet variety which will be ready in a month and the berries are already 18 mm, so it is looking good at this stage. All of the early varieties are looking extremely good just now."
Everyone is talking about Brexit and the drop in the pound, but the South African Rand has also dropped since it was announced that the Finance Minister will be charged with corruption.
"You're probably better off exporting to Europe at this stage," said Andre, "but as we all know you must be in the UK too, we will probably do 80% to the EU and 20% to the UK."
"The UK is where everyone traditionally has to be, but since the drop in currency we are down 5 or 6 Rand to the Pound which make us weaker - you need to get at least 18 against the Rand and at the moment it is 17.5, which is a bit of a risk, but lets see what happens."
Siverland Group will send some red seeded varieties to the Middle East and Africa and are trying to get into the Far Eastern markets. This year they will ship a couple of containers to try to spread the risk
The first harvest should be on November 7th (WK 45), the weather has been a bit cold for the last week but Andre does not think that will lead to a delay. Namibia has no danger of rain or hail during the season as it is a winter rainfall area. The last time it rained was back in 1988 when the first vineyards were planted, but as Andre says, you never know these days.
Namibia has 1995 ha in total, the Silverland group has 423 of those, and new vineyards will come into production next season.
For more information:
Andre Vermaak
Silverlands Vineyards
Tel: +264 63 297359
Email: andrev@silverlands.com