Leaf roll virus inspections, monitoring of various cultivar vines and Elisa testing. This is what’s happening at Vititec right now with leaf roll virus inspections on 81 sites during which time 1 605 877 red cultivar vines will be monitored visually by five technicians. And another 38 sites to be visited, while 302 142 vines will be tested by means of Elisa.
An order of 30 000 bundles of grafting material for the nursery industry also has various people running around, although all of the material has been inspected by Vititec technicians throughout the year. Chenin Blanc is the largest order followed by Colombar, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay in 5th place.
According to Renier Louw at Vititec, there has been a definite increase in demand for red varieties like Durif, Grenache Noir and Malbec. “We’ve also noticed growing interest in our table grape cultivars.”
The following red cultivars will be inspected:
| SCION | VINE | AS % of | |
| ORDER | CULTIVAR | PLANTED | TOTAL |
| 1 | CABERNET SAUVIGNON Total | 340 830 | 21.22 |
| 2 | SHIRAZ Total | 276 249 | 17.20 |
| 3 | PINOT NOIR Total | 251 796 | 15.68 |
| 4 | PINOTAGE Total | 213 077 | 13.27 |
| 5 | MERLOT Total | 98 142 | 6.11 |
| 6 | RUBY CABERNET Total | 83 792 | 5.22 |
| 7 | PETIT VERDOT Total | 59 835 | 3.73 |
| 8 | CABERNET FRANC Total | 57 811 | 3.60 |
| 9 | CRIMSON Total | 42 339 | 2.64 |
| 10 | CINSAUT NOIR Total | 36 265 | 2.26 |
| 11 | GRENACHE NOIR Total | 21 037 | 1.31 |
| 12 | MALBEC Total | 17 829 | 1.11 |
| 13 | MOURVѐDRE Total | 17 178 | 1.07 |
| 14 | CARIGNAN Total | 14 765 | 0.92 |
| 15 | TANNAT Total | 14 426 | 0.90 |
| 16 | MUSKADEL ROOI Total | 10 840 | 0.68 |
| 17 | DURIF Total | 8 808 | 0.55 |
| 18 | TEMPRANILLO Total | 8 453 | 0.53 |
| 19 | TOURIGA NACIONAL Total | 5 865 | 0.37 |
| 20 | SANGIOVESE Total | 4 817 | 0.30 |
| 21 | TINTA BAROCCA Total | 4 283 | 0.27 |
| 22 | MEUNIER Total | 3 668 | 0.23 |
| 23 | SOUZAO Total | 3 586 | 0.22 |
| 24 | NEBBIOLO Total | 3 284 | 0.20 |
| 25 | BARBERA Total | 2 459 | 0.15 |
| 26 | RED GLOBE Total | 1 334 | 0.08 |
| 27 | CARMENERE Total | 1 087 | 0.07 |
| 28 | ZANTE KORENTE Total | 539 | 0.03 |
| 29 | ZINFANDEL Total | 340 | 0.02 |
| 30 | ALICANTE BOUSC Total | 240 | 0.01 |
| 31 | ROOBERNET Total | 120 | 0.01 |
| 32 | TOURIGA FRANCA Total | 108 | 0.01 |
| 33 | AUTUMN ROYAL Total | 100 | 0.01 |
| 34 | FLAME SEEDLESS Total | 100 | 0.01 |
| 35 | GAMAY NOIR Total | 97 | 0.01 |
| 36 | COUNOISE Total | 82 | 0.01 |
| 37 | TERRET NOIR Total | 66 | 0.00 |
| 38 | TINTA AMARELLA Total | 53 | 0.00 |
| 39 | CORNIFESTO Total | 50 | 0.00 |
| 40 | LLEDONER PELUT Total | 50 | 0.00 |
| 41 | MARSELAN Total | 50 | 0.00 |
| 42 | VILLARD NOIR Total | 27 | 0.00 |
| Grand Total | 1 605 877 |
The top 10 red varietals in relation to each other:
