Wine Spectator: South African Wine Faces (Yet Another) Alcohol Ban

The pain of 2020 has not ended with the new year for South African vintners. The nation’s government has instituted another ban on domestic alcohol sales, in hopes of reducing alcohol-related hospital visits at a time when Covid-19 cases are surging and a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus has arrived. That has winemakers worried.

According to Vinpro and Wines of South Africa, two industry bodies that represent wineries domestically and internationally, the impact of a total of 14 weeks of bans on domestic sales so far, five weeks of restricted domestic sales, plus five weeks of bans on exports has been devastating to the wine industry. The groups estimate that the industry has already lost more than $400 million since the first shutdown began. They also estimate that about 80 wineries and 350 grape growing operations will shut down and 21,000 people won’t have a job in the coming months, as a direct result of the alcohol bans. Wine Spectator has the full story.-Aleks Zecevic

Tagged : Wine Spectator

GET YOUR FIRST LOOK AT 2025 ESTIMATES AND 2030 PROJECTIONS FOR THE WINE AND SPIRITS INDUSTRIES. ORDER YOUR 2025 IMPACT DATABANK REPORTS. CLICK HERE.