Freak flood leaves R10m bill for wine producer
April 2, 2003
By Ronnie Morris
Cape Town - Van Loveren cellars, the family-owned grape growers and wine producer at Robertson, was still counting the costs of the freak flood that destroyed 100 000 litres of wine as it raged through the town eight days ago, Phillip Retief, a partner, said this week.
The cellar is situated less than 1km from the Kogman's River, which ordinarily is no more than a stream.
The large amount of rain burst the stream's banks and flooded the countryside, he said.
Damage was conservatively estimated at R10 million but this figure could be less if more bottles of wine could be salvaged through relabelling and the cleaning off of mud. The clean-up operation was expected to last two months, Retief said.
The cellar produces 2.9 million litres of wine a year, of which two-thirds is sold on the local market and the rest exported.
The flood waters reached the cellar by midday and the pressure of the water forced the doors open, Retief said. The cellar had a capacity of 2.5 million litres in both the holding tanks and bottled wine stacked on wooden pallets about 1.8m high.
When the water was a metre deep the boxes at the bottom broke, causing the stacks of wine to collapse.
The business employs 100 permanent workers, who are working on the clean-up, while an additional 50 casual workers are hired to work in the vineyards.
No jobs were at risk.
Apart from the smashed bottles of wine, French oak casks as well as cooling units, pumps and the air conditioning had been damaged, but this was expected to be repaired soon. At least 3ha of vineyards, which still had grapes on the vines, were flooded and the grapes could not be used.
Retief's biggest concern was that the farm would be out of stock, but the 2003 harvest was already in the tanks.
While the white varieties would take about two months to bottle, the red varieties would take up to six months, Retief said.
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