Wine farmers must up their game or risk losing out to "onions and pears". Top viticulturists and marketers raised this concern at a winelands seminar in Franschhoek last Friday.The overriding industry message was positive as South African fine wines are enjoying a surge in popularity in overseas markets, experts said. But farmers must now cash in on this positive sentiment."It is a challenge but we have an enormous opportunity," said wine estate owner Kobus Basson of Kleine Zalze "Either we use it or we will lose it."Farmers could improve profitability by focussing on fine wines rather than bulk wine exports. We need to push for the next tier in terms of price points, then we hope to have more money to reinvest in the industry."DGB Group viticulturist Stephan Joubert said though there had been progress in the recent past, the industry still needed to convert its diverse vineyards into top-end product."We need a lot more 'icon' wines. South Africa is blessed with fantastic diversity as most of our vineyards are in the Cape floral kingdom with abundant diversity in soil type, topography and climatic conditions. We are now starting to better understand the link between terroir and wine style," Joubert said.Areas like the Ceres valley were well suited to icon or fine wines but farmers were opting for "onions and pears" due to profitability.Viticulturist and wine consultant Chris Keet said farmers should also harness recent technological advances to improve profit margins and increase quality of product."Advanced grape analysis, soil-water monitoring, leaf analysis and modern weather stations were recent innovations that should be utilised," Keet said."We have some of the most precious soils on Earth. We have the terroir and the skill to produce wines to compete with the best in the world."Farmers were also encouraged to collaborate to achieve regional brand identity to help the marketing effort.Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick Wines urged farmers to exploit the confidence the world was showing in South African wines."The world is showing confidence in us but do we have confidence in ourselves?" he asked...