Article May 2003

putting you in touch
with the SA wine industry community

PREVIOUS WINELAND ARTICLES | WINELAND HOME

Washed away by the waters

Damage to a young orchard in Montagu.

For the next three months, buyers will have to wait patiently for wine from Van Loveren following the inundation of the cellar by the recent floods. Altogether 100 000 cases of wine were ruined, with damage amounting to R12 million.
Barrels with Chardonnay from the current vintage and 2002 Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon were floating in the maturation cellar and caused damage of about R500 000. The wine in steel tanks was not affected, but pumps, cooling and other equipment were damaged. And to top it all, the cleaning up operation was delayed because the farm's water supply had been cut off!
Van Loveren is situated at the confluence of the Cogmanskloof River and the Breede River. Phillip Retief of Van Loveren recounts that the family were watching the river transform from its normal course into a seething 300 metre wide mass of water.
Initially only 30 cm of water ran through the cellar. "We tried to stop the water by stacking sand bags in front of the door, but the doors collapsed and the cellar was flooded - in places up to 1,6 m deep."
The Retief family are working day and night to recover some of their production.
At the time of going to press, Montagu was still cut off from the outside world. WineLand ascertained that the following cellars/farmers also suffered losses:
Johan Bruwer (Prospect & Goree in Ashton), chairman of Robertson Cellar, reckons the river stormed headlong through their vineyards and orchards like an eight lane highway. "We have not really had an opportunity to calculate the financial implications, but suspect it will be astronomical. We are still trying to salvage some of the grapes and access remains a problem."
According to Abé Rossouw (Roodezandt), members farming alongside the Keiyers River - which runs from McGregor - saw their vineyards being flooded and vineyard paths destroyed. "Below the iron bridge, vineyards and holiday accommodation were flooded, also causing major inconvenience. The closure of the R62 is bad for tourism in our area."

In Ashton the Cogmanskloof River swept away vineyards.

Steph Malherbe (Goudmyn, Ashton), a member at the Ashton Cellar, reckons the entire Cogmanskloof River ran through his house. They had to evacuate and are currently staying in a guest house. He says they only managed to save a carpet or two in time and the wooden floors are already lifting up. "We'll have to see whether it can be salvaged. The Kombi was written off, carpets will have to be replaced and the house will have to be painted. We also lost 2 ha of Shiraz, which still had to be pressed. One advantage of all the rain is that the dams on my farm in the McGregor area are now filled to capacity!"
According to Paul & Dan de Wet of Zandvliet in Ashton, their damage amounts to hundreds of thousands of rands, but they will only be able to calculate the exact amount at a later stage. Hectares of vines, irrigation systems and telephone wires were swept away and the cleaning up will last for months. The Cogmanskloof River bisected the farm and the last grapes to be pressed, were taken from one side of the river to the other in a rubber duck.
According to Bonita Malherbe of the Robertson Wine Route, Boetie Feuth, Koos du Toit and Louis de Wet of Ashton Cellar also suffered losses.
- WA
Flood causes great damage
The Little Karoo was characterised by very hot and dry weather conditions this past summer. Very little rain fell in Montagu and the rest of the Little Karoo, with the Little Karoo experiencing one of its driest seasons ever. However, the drought was broken on the night of 23 March and on the subsequent days. In places, more than 200 mm of rain fell in a 24 hour period. Some farmers along the Langeberg Mountains measured more than 300 mm of rain until the morning of Tuesday, 25 March.
The vast quantity of rain had disastrous consequences in that the Kingna River was in flood and wiped out everything in its way. Damage was caused everywhere alongside and surrounding the river, to orchards, vineyards, infrastructure, houses, roads and bridges. Although orchards and vineyards were damaged by the flood, the destruction affected mostly the infrastructure, houses, roads and bridges in the vicinity of Montagu. Damage to vineyards and orchards is limited to the low-lying areas along the Kingna River.
In addition to the torrential rains, wind conditions were gale force, causing a lot of damage to trees, roofs, etc. It is still too early, however, to determine the extent of the damage caused by the floods and wind.
Enormous flood damage also occurred in Ashton and the Robertson district. As in the case of the Little Karoo, damage was caused mostly to vineyards, orchards and infrastructure adjacent to the Cogmanskloof River, which flooded its banks on Monday morning, 24 March 2003. Isolated cases of destruction also occurred in the vicinity of McGregor.
The damage to the vineyards ranges from vineyards or sections of vineyards that were swept away, to vineyards that were flattened and others that were silted. With regard to infrastructure, damage was caused to roads, bridges, pipelines and buildings, with many farmsteads being flooded. Van Loveren suffered badly in that water inundated the pack-store and caused palettes of wine to collapse. The barrel maturation cellar was also damaged and the total damage at Van Loveren is estimated at more than R10 million rand. Despite heavy rains in Robertson (81 mm) and Bonnievale (160 mm) the two towns suffered only limited damage.

Visit our sister sites:

Technical guide for wine producers

South African wine farmers' representative organisation

2009/10 Directory Now Available!
Facts, figures, contact details and much more...