Grape hijack 'syndicate work'

2003-03-04 08:36

Ziegfried Ekron

Cape Town - The well-planned theft of nearly two tons of choice grapes from a Boland wine farm has raised fears that an organised crime syndicate may be at work in the winelands.

The precision with which the vineyard of Delheim Estate outside Stellenbosch was raided at the weekend, has lead experts to believe the cabernet sauvignon grapes were destined for another wine-maker.

André Morgenthal of Wines of South Africa export company said he suspected the stolen grapes had ended up in the vats of a so-called boutique wine-maker.

"There is a growing trend to produce only one or two vats of wine. Each vat produces about 250 bottles of wine. Two tons of grapes would yield about two or three vats."

Morgenthal said he was convinced the grapes had been destined for a bandit wine-maker.

"It often happens that grapes are stolen at random from farms, but not as purposefully as in this case. It is difficult to harvest these particular grapes.

Raid would have taken three hours

"Whoever stole them, wanted those grapes and nothing else. To get to these grapes, they had to pass another block of shiraz grapes."

Delheim general manager Victor Sperling said the grapes were at their best and would have been harvested within 1½ weeks for the estate's choice wine.

Morgenthal said it was difficult to judge how many thieves had been involved, but that it would have taken five or six expert pickers about three hours to raid the vineyard.

He said there was no black market for grapes and the grapes were probably stolen to order.

"The wine industry is small and is a closed community. It is difficult to believe any respectable wine-maker would turn to something like this.

"It is more likely that an organised crime syndicate was responsible."

- Die Burger