of South Africa's Western Cape will cut wine production but it is too early to say by how much, a farmers' group said on Tuesday. Marius Boshoff, spokesman for the Western Province Cooperative, told Reuters the three days of 40 degree-plus temperatures up to Sunday would reduce the weight of grapes now in the ripening stage. "There is a lot of sun damage, you can see it on the grapes and on the leaves. But the extent of the damage caused over the weekend will only be fully apparent in a week's time,'' he said. Boshoff said red wine cultivars would fare better than the white wine cultivars. It was also too early to say what the quality of the surviving grapes would be. He said table grape farmers generally used irrigation and would not be as badly hit by the heat as dryland farmers growing grapes for wine production. Cellars in the Swartland region include those at Darling, Malmesbury, Porterville, Riebeek valley and Durbanville. Boshoff said they had a big slice of the South African wine market but had limited export contracts. "Darling is a nice fast growing area for wine,'' he added. He said the heat wave had been unexpected and had come at a bad time because many farmers were on holiday and could not take remedial action like increasing irrigation. A spokesman for KWV, the wine and brandy cooperative, said damage was largely confined to the Swartland and the heat had not harmed vineyards in the Stellenbosch and Paarl regions. Spokesman Johan Pienaar said Swartland output would not make a huge dent South Africa's total wine. PHOTO There are plenty of South African wines on offer at Lindo's Family Foods