COVID-19: Update on operational matters within Winetech
· 2 min read
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
More from
People, community and tourism
The Portrait of a South African Winemaker
In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus resolves to express himself "as freely as I can and as wholly as I can". Joyce's hero refuses to be just one thing. That same many-sided energy is increasingly being asked of the modern South African winemaker, who has to adopt different faces for different places.
Who will drink South African wine tomorrow?
Tomorrow’s wine drinker is already here, standing at the braai with a can in one hand and a phone in the other. South African wine still has time to join the occasion, although it may need to loosen its collar first.
Ice in the Chenin and other South African wine crimes
There is ice in the Chenin Blanc, Cap Classique in an ordinary wine glass and a bowl of curry waiting beside a bottle of something pink. By old wine standards, the afternoon is a small crime scene.