South Africa Wine Technical Yearbook 2025

JUNE

SHUTTERSTOCK

STAFF TRAINING

Who is ultimately responsible for a task? By Pieter Badenhorst

to leave the cellar to attend to vineyard matters or other tasks? If the cellar team waits for a few hours until they return, this could result in losing a lot of time. If the task is, however, clearly handed over to another senior staff member, the process can continue in the absence of the designated winemaker. It is also important to ask the question: Does the substitute have the necessary skills to perform the task correctly? Focused planning is required to ensure that stand-in staff are equipped with the necessary skills to execute the duties required. A simple rule that can be followed, is the 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 approach, namely: Training involves three main steps: • Identify all the staff and all the processes involved The team should thoroughly evaluate all processes,

The saying goes: let sleeping dogs lie, or don’t scratch where it doesn’t itch. If your business runs smoothly, and all tasks are carried out with clockwork efficiency, then naturally, there is nothing to worry about. When things start to go wrong, however, and someone in the team suddenly falls ill or goes on leave, we quickly ask the question: Who is the substitute for this person? And this is not only true for illness. It also applies to situations where someone has to attend to other responsibilities, especially in a crisis or emergency. We recently concluded a harvest season, and here follows a good example. When flotation is performed on white wines, the juice is tested first to confirm that it is pectin-negative. Let’s say this task is the responsibility of the assistant winemaker. What happens if both the assistant and head winemaker have

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TECHNICAL YEARBOOK 2025