Confusion over wine tasting and sales on wine farms resolved

The wine industry has expressed relief that the ban on wine sales by wine cellars on Sundays has been lifted, reversing regulations published in the Government Gazette on 15 December, prohibiting wine tastings and sales on Sundays.

The regulations that were published on 15 December contradicted an announcement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s on Monday, 14 December.

However, the latest amended regulations allowed for the sale of wine and wine tastings at wine farms during normal licensed hours, which would, by implication, include all week days and weekends, in line with the relevant local municipal by-laws.

According to Vinpro, the implication of the gazetted regulations would have been that wine cellars with a micro-manufacturer’s on- and off-consumption license, as held by the majority of local wineries, would not have been allowed to offer wine tastings on Sundays.

Liquor stores may, however, still only sell liquor from Mondays to Thursdays from 10am to 6pm in accordance with the regulations announced on Monday, 14 December, for the period from 16 December 2020 to 3 January 2021.

Marisah Nieuwoudt, wine tourism manager at Vinpro, described the amended regulations as excellent news for wine farms. She also expressed gratitude to the Department of Tourism that assisted Vinpro in escalating the discrepancy.

Rico Basson, managing director of Vinpro, said he was relieved that Vinpro was able to resolve the confusion about wine tastings and sales so speedily with the help of stakeholders, such as Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, and MEC for agriculture Dr Ivan Meyer, and their respective teams in the Western Cape government and Western Cape Department of Agriculture, as well as the national Department of Tourism.

“We commend and thank them for their tremendous support for, and regard of, the South African wine industry as a major contributor to our country’s economy and job creation during this past year.”