South Africa Wine Technical Yearbook 2025

EVALUATION

JULY

Outstanding Verygood Satisfactory Marginal Unsatisfactory

SHUTTERSTOCK

Checklists By Pieter Badenhorst

the month, top management can sign off on the four weeks’ forms. • Where should it be stored? It can be stored in a specific file kept in a designated office. • For how many years should it be stored? Quality control systems like HACCP and IFS usually have strict requirements regarding the duration for keeping food safety records. Normally, records should be kept between 3-5 years. The barrel room temperature control list is not really integral to food safety, and therefore, it should not be necessary to keep a record of it for longer than a year. What might be important, though, is to review the data of the last year and identify any possible trends in terms of temperature fluctuations, e.g. winter versus summer months, or any other similar trends. Impact of checklists A clear description/directive at the top of the checklist is strongly recommended, as well as a statement explaining the impact or consequences likely to occur should the form not be completed as instructed.

In previous articles, I referred to checklists that have to be completed for certain records. A question that always arises is: “Who checks that an action actually gets done?” Think about the classic cleaning list on the back of public bathroom doors. How many times do you see incomplete actions on such lists? It can be quite alarming! It might sound strange, but does your cellar have a list of all the lists to be completed? This ‘master list’ should include the following: • Who exactly is responsible for completing the specific checklist? Using the example of temperature control in the barrel room – if there is a list controlling this, let the person responsible write down the temperature at the time of checking, in addition to their signature. This will confirm that the system is active. • Who must check that the list has been completed correctly? At the end of the week, supervisors can assume the responsibility to take in the form, check that it has been fully completed and sign it off. At the end of

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TECHNICAL YEARBOOK 2025