Not imagining that the 2024/2025 table grape season could get any better, Francois Rossouw Jr of Mooigezicht Estates in the Hex River Valley says he's been overwhelmed by the response to his top placement in a competition for young farmers in the Western Cape, organised by Agri Western Cape, organized agriculture body, and insurance company Santam.
"I didn't realise from the outset the amount of exposure you gain through this competition," he says. "The organisers really invested a lot to reach out to and motivate young farmers in the province."
© Mooigezicht EstatesGerda and Francois senior, parents of Francois Rossouw junior, with his wife Jean-Mari, at the awards ceremony
He had three hours in which to convince the judges of his merit, not only in operational processes but crucially also in community and organized sector involvement. The judges would have liked what he had to tell them of the past season: on their farms, 2025 has replaced 2017 as the most successful grape campaign of all time.
The secret to their high-quality grapes with a long shelf life, packed at twelve packhouses, is simple: a bone-dry season.
"For the first time, we as Mooigezicht Estates packed more than two million 4.5kg cartons," Rossouw says. At six of Mooigezicht Estate's nine production units, the class 1 production target was exceeded. "In general, last year we were 10% below the crop estimate, with the hail and the rain, and this year we're on average 10% above the targets we set ourselves."
© Mooigezicht Estates
Record grape crop
The grape industry as a whole packed a new record of 78.9 million 4.5kg cartons, 4% more than last year. Of that number, almost all (77.4 million 4.5kg cartons) were exported, an increase of 5% over the previous year.
"In the upper valley of the Hex River Valley, where we are situated, we are quite late, and towards the end of the season, prices on particularly red grapes are strong. However, during previous seasons, due to the amount of rain we had, we were unable to capitalize on this advantage; we just didn't have the supply. This year we were able to keep supplying red grapes right up to the end of the season, where there's a gap."
© Potentieel Snow on the mountains surrounding the Hex River Valley
"As Mooigezicht Estates, we account for approximately 17% of the volumes that South Africa sends to China," he says. "However, we haven't grown those volumes. In fact, I'd say we've stagnated in our trade with China, along with the rest of the industry, because of the market's instability. In the past, we'd tried to send a variety of grapes there, but we found only specific cultivars work in China."
Strategic packaging
Coming at the end of South Africa's grape campaign has definite benefits, one of them being learning from the mistakes made earlier in the season, such as oversupplying the United States this past season. "We usually send a bit of grapes to the USA, but this year we realised that there was an oversupply. Fortunately, we received that message early on and could adapt our strategy."
Nimbleness regarding packaging is a pillar of their marketing strategy. They handle their own marketing with 70% of their grapes, the balance packed into established retail programmes. Their willingness and ability to pack a big range of different combinations in response to client requests open the door to more programmes and more specific programmes, he says.
Depending on adequate availability of white and red, or even white and black grapes, mixed punnets are key to their offering. "The demand for mixed punnets is high, and prices are excellent. It's another way in which we add value to our crop."
© Potentieel
Several cold fronts are moving over the Western Cape at the moment
Upbeat mood
After a few difficult years in the grape industry, during which one is prone to second-guessing oneself, he remarks, the mood on farms and in packhouses has been elevated.
"During the difficult years, we invested less into vineyard renewal," he says. This season, they can pick up where they left off. Old Crimson blocks are removed – that's about 90% of the vineyards on the chopping block – plus unwanted cultivars like local ARC cultivar Sundance. What they are planting are new generation Crimson ("Crimson still performs tremendously in Europe, especially during the mid to late season. Even the latest red cultivars struggle to keep pace with Crimson Seedless") and Autumncrisp®, Timpson and Sweet Globe – and even some Red Globe, which they didn't think would ever happen after pulling it all out.
Grape buyers in Africa and certain regions of Europe still prefer Red Globe for its globular berries and long shelf life.
"I don't expect the South African industry to grow much more volume-wise, perhaps we'll still reach 80 million 4.5kg cartons. At this point, I think our primary aim ought to be maintaining our shelf space. The amount of competition on a market can rapidly change over one or two seasons."
© Mooigezicht Estates 
For more information:
Francois Rossouw Jr
Mooigezicht Estates
Tel: +27 23 356 2953
Email: [email protected]
https://mooigezicht.co.za/
