This came from the Facebook Home Winemaking page. I sure hope my grapes are on the water already.
Today the South African wine industry was dealt a shattering blow. With wine deemed a non-essential item during
#21daysLockDownSA, hundreds of wineries are left stranded in the middle of harvest, with thousands of tons of grapes still on the vine. As a non-essential item, producers are not permitted to finish picking or perform any cellar work (as in, winemaking) during lockdown.
While Springfield has fortunately finished harvesting and with most of our fermentation finished, we are distraught thinking of our fellow producers whose very livelihood will be left to rot on on the vine.
Further to that, wine (and all alcohol) is not permitted to be sold or transported during lockdown, which means that at this point we are unable to export to countries that are still able to sell alcohol - which was a small comfort for us during this time.
While
#VinPro is lobbying for an industry that contributes around R36,1 billion to the GDP annually, we are calling on you, our fellow wine lovers, to do your part for an industry that might not be around when we all get out of this.
Please, support your favourite wineries. Order wine online even though you will only receive it after lockdown. Every time you find yourself wishing you had a glass of wine right now, add a bottle to your cart. Make sure that the wineries you love, are still able to make the wine you love after all of this is over.
More than anything, please do your part to make this lockdown go as smoothly and as quickly as possible. Stay at home. Stay safe.