Its wines are sold in most countries and it’s the eighth largest producer in the world, but the South African industry is suffering at present from the power cuts that are harming the entire country.

The disruptions in supply have coincided with the harvesting season, with not a day going by since the turn of the year that electricity from the state-run power company, Eskom, hasn’t gone down.

Power is needed for a range of the processes that go into turning the grapes into the final product as Peter Pentz of the Groote Post vineyard explained.

“As soon as the power cuts, it means that [without a generator] none of the operation can continue within the cellar,” Pentz told the BBC. “No labelling can continue, no bottling and no cooling. Especially in the harvesting season, it’s vital for us to get the fermentation process started.”

Groote Post is close to the west coast, about 70km north of Cape Town, with the business forced into spending around £2,400 per month on diesel for a generator to ensure there is no break in power supply, with no end in sight to the current problems.

South Africa is reliant on an old and inefficient coal-fired power stations that constantly break down with the two new power stations the country has heavily invested in, not yet up and running. Eskom is expecting load shedding – interruptions when power demand exceeds supply – to continue for at least the next two years.

Around half the wine produced in South Africa is exported to overseas market, with the UK the largest consumers.