In these challenging times I would like to inform you on the following operational matters within Winetech

  • The Winetech team will all work from home in line with the request from the President from Friday, 27 March 2020 until Thursday 16 April 2020;
  • All essential meetings will take place via electronic media and we have postponed non-essential meetings during the lockdown period;
  • Everyone will be available during office hours (08:00-16:30) from Monday to Friday, permitting we are not participating in electronic meetings;
  • Our office telephones have been re-directed to our individual cell phones, we will all have access to our e-mails;
  • We will be in regular contact with the project leaders at all institutions to discuss any delays, concerns, postponement, etc. of all research project objectives for 2020;
  • We will also assess our timelines for new project applications as well as deadlines for progress and final reports and communicate any changes as a matter of urgency;
  • Activities in the Learning & Development space will continue in line with our plans for 2020;
  • Technology transfer activities will continue as normal and we will assess our annual Winetech / Vinpro information days, which is still scheduled to occur between 6 – 19 May 2020;
  • All other knowledge transfer occasions will also be assessed on a continuous basis by the knowledge transfer team;
  • Activities in the innovation space will continue with the development of the innovation ecosystem.

Winetech will continue to serve the SA Wine Industry as the RDI partner in these very challenging times. The team is all committed to ensure that our objectives for 2020 are achieved as far as possible. We will continuously assess our environment and keep all communication channels open to ensure we act swiftly and responsibly to achieve our objectives for 2020.

Please be safe during this very uncertain and challenging period.

Yours faithfully

Gerard Martin Executive Manager: Winetech