JOHANNESBURG — Baboons, it seems, prefer pinot noir. They also like a nice chardonnay.
Largely undeterred by electric fences, hundreds of wild baboons in South Africa’s prized wine country are finding the vineyards of ripe, succulent grapes to be an “absolute bonanza,” said Justin O’Riain of the University of Cape Town.
Winemakers have resorted to using noisemakers and rubber snakes to try to drive the baboons off during harvest season.
“As far as baboons are concerned, the combination of starch and sugar is very attractive — and that’s your basic grape,” said O’Riain, who works in the university’s Baboon Research Unit.
Growers say the picky primates are partial to sweet pinot noir grapes, adding to the winemakers’ woe: Pinot noir sells for more than the average merlot or cabernet sauvignon.
“They choose the nicest bunches, and you will see the ones they leave on the ground. If you taste them, they are sour,” said Francois van Vuuren, farm manager at La Terra de Luc vineyards, 50 miles east of Cape Town.
Farmers say this year is worse than previous ones because the primates have lost their usual foraging areas due to wildfires and ongoing expansion of grape-growing areas.
Sometimes the baboons even get an alcohol kick by feasting on discarded grape skins that have fermented in the sun.
