Sixty wine farms across the Cape Winelands are WWF Conservation Champions, having committed to producing wine sustainably. EMILE JOUBERT explores how vineyards are cultivated with the protection of the Cape’s precious fynbos in mind.
High on the Simonsberg, Delheim’s vineyards meet the spectacular Cape Floral Kingdom, home to indigenous flora and fauna that are allowed to flourish in their natural environment.
Like any wine-producing country, South Africa is unique. Each of these countries – together with its vinous products – is distinct in its own way, contributing to the incredible diversity of this global industry that centres on the growing of grapes and the making of wines. When it comes to individuality, South Africa has a lot going for it. Like the grape varieties Chenin Blanc and Pinotage that serve as calling cards of the Cape wine industry.
Although they are not exclusive to this country, it is here that the most vines bearing these cultivars are grown and it is here – according to pundits – that the best Chenin Blanc and Pinotage wines are made.
Of course, there is also a specific wine culture here at the southern tip of Africa, one that bears the spirit of French Huguenot settlers, slaves and a spectacularly diverse demography.
Then there is the place itself. The Cape Winelands spread from Cape Town to the mountains of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, up the arid West Coast on the edge of the frigid Atlantic, south-east to Elgin and the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, and inland to the limestone-rich fossil beds of Robertson. The landscape is magnificent, with a varied topography that produces not only spectacular scenery, but also a broad spread of different terroirs – those distinctive parcels of land, each with its own soil, aspect and climatic influence that enable its vineyards to express a sense of place in the wines they grow.
Fynbos corridors between the vineyards allow for carbon capturing from the air and converting this into nitrogen in the soils. Exquisite erica flowers – fynbos also acts as a natural pest‐controller by offering critters a suitable home, and in this way keeping them away from the vines.
But today this conservation mindset has expanded to include the conservation and responsible use of water. Water stewardship became an especially relevant topic during the extended drought experienced in the Western Cape between 2016 and 2018, and it is one of the main criteria on which WWF Conservation Champions are monitored.
And then, of course, with the global drive to decrease carbon emissions, WWF Conservation Champions are playing a leading role in the South African wine community in regulating and controlling the offsetting of carbon on their farms. Conserving energy has also leapt rapidly to the top of the list of priorities for WWF Conservation Champions, with carbon calculation being used to monitor members’ farming activities.
There’s obviously more to this physical magnificence than postcard- pretty scenery and the making of great wine. Forming part of one of the world’s greatest centres of biodiversity, the Cape Winelands are home to more than 9 000 indigenous plants and enough animal species to fill an ark twice over.
Today, De Wetshof is one of the few third‐generation wine estates in South Africa. Here Johann de Wet has taken on the role of CEO and is also responsible for De Wetshof’s vineyards, while brother Peter runs finances and logistics. Both are also actively involved in winemaking and strategy alongside their father, Danie.
And the way in which the local wine farmers have gone about conserving this natural wonder is, to my mind, a feature that makes South Africa unparalleled in the wine-growing world.
De Wetshof is one of the few third‐generation wine estates in South Africa and actively involved in winemaking and strategy alongside their father, Danie.
The spirit of innovation shown by wine farmers in conserving the sensitive ecology of the Western Cape’s Winelands plays a major part in ensuring that South Africa’s wine industry is one of the most conservation-conscious in the world.
And so significant and relevant is the role of Cape wine producers in conservation, they constitute the only national wine industry that is an official partner of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
It’s 20 years since the first steps were taken to establish an official body representing wine farms that show a tangible and impassioned commitment to conserving the indigenous environment on and around their farms. Then known as the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative, this enterprise metamorphosed in 2015 when it underwent restructuring to form what is now called WWF Conservation Champions.
This group of 60 farms – and growing – is spread throughout the Winelands. All have undergone audits to achieve status as conservationists at championship level – as well, of course, as being producers of revered wine brands.
Farmers who are WWF Conservation Champions own some 45 000ha of land between them, of which about half is conserved as a pristine part of the Cape Floral Kingdom.
The 60 members work closely with the WWF in their conservation endeavours and are subjected to annual assessments to ensure they meet the specifications required of a Conservation Champion.
The credentials of all the Champions are also underscored by South Africa’s Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) certification, as the wineries have achieved 70% or more in their IPW evaluation. Shelly Fuller, the manager of the WWF’s Fruit and Wine Programme, says that as a group of like- minded farmers, WWF Conservation Champions have not only implemented innovative conservation practices, but have also helped add to the South African wine industry’s image of being truly concerned with sustainability and the protecting of their farms’ natural legacy.
“Since the programme began 20 years ago, it has really captured the imagination of the wine community worldwide,” says Shelly. “This has led to practical successes achieved by Conservation Champion wine farmers in preserving some 22000ha of the Cape Floral Kingdom situated on their properties, which has underscored the tangible success of this initiative.
“However, it must be said that together with the practical measures taken to protect our ecology, the ethos of conservation shown by these farmers and their farming communities is one of the most successful and rewarding aspects of the programme. What is most satisfying is knowing that the foundations are now being laid for the future generations who will pick up the baton and follow the examples set by today’s generation of conservation-minded farmers and farm workers.”
Initially, the main priority of the WWF Champions was to conserve the more than 9000 species of indigenous plants that make up the Cape Floral Kingdom, as well as the insects, birds and mammals that depend on this extraordinary ecological system.
“Worldwide, this is currently the most talked-about aspect of wine-farming and production, so it is important that energy usage and carbon emissions receive top priority within the realm of the WWF Conservation Champions programme,” says Shelly. “Here we are seeing incredible innovation from our members, especially on the renewable energy front, with solar power rapidly becoming the norm for providing electricity for production as well as housing facilities on farms.” (The failure of Eskom also, it must be said, contributed to this.)
Delheim Estate was one of the first farms to apply for and achieve WWF Conservation Champion status. Nora Thiel, co‐director of Delheim, with a bunch of the finest fynbos from the estate.
Delheim Estate was one of the first farms to apply for and achieve WWF Conservation Champion status, and this year it received the award for Conservation Pioneer Award at the prestigious Great Wine Capitals’ ‘Best Of Wine Tourism Awards’. Looking out from the property on the majestic slopes of the Simonsberg, you could be forgiven for thinking that the sense to preserve this splendour comes naturally.
Beneath the imposing granite mountain face, the earth is resplendent with critically endangered Boland Granite fynbos, a component of the Cape Floral Kingdom. Raptors glide gracefully across the pristine sky, while down on the farm, where fynbos and vineyards meet, insects, birds and mammals create an environment filled with life. It’s the natural bustle of a living world, a world where Delheim’s wine farming is conducted in tandem with nature. As it always has been.
It has, however, taken an immense appreciation of and love for this very special environment – as well as an almost jealous instinct to guard it against the encroachments of the modern world – for Delheim to become a model of environmental conservation in the 80 years of its existence.
“There are many practical measures one can – and does – take to practise conservation, but the most important is to feel it in your heart,” says Nora Thiel, co-director of Delheim and daughter of the legendary Spatz Sperling who was at the helm of Delheim for decades. “Conservation and sustainable wine farming is as much a mindset as it is a practical endeavour, and I think this is what has created this community of conservation-minded wine farmers in the Cape. We are people of the land, we love the land and we want it to love us back.”
Having worked in the Delheim vineyards with his father for most of his life, Victor Sperling – Nora’s brother and co-director – grew up understanding the interdependence of wine and nature. “Everyone says wine is made in the vineyard, but what happens in that vineyard depends on the environment in which it grows,” he says. “The more natural the vineyard environment, the healthier and more expressive the grapes for the making of wine.”
Rows of colourful vygies between the vineyards on De Wetshof make a dazzling picture and protect the vines against pests.
By planting corridors of fynbos close to the vineyards, natural pests are kept away from the vines as they prefer to live in the thick indigenous vegetation rather than the vineyard, where they would have to be removed by the use of pesticides.
“Furthermore, on Delheim we use parasitic insects to neutralise the more harmful bugs, while the planting of cover crops inhibits weed growth, curbing the need for chemical spraying.”
The result of these and many other sustainable farming methods is that Delheim continues to be rich in fauna and flora. More than 50 bird and 120 plant species have been identified on the property, and animals include porcupines, duikers, dassies, snakes and lizards. Even the majestic Cape leopard has been caught on camera, prowling the vineyard slopes at night.
On De Wetshof Estate, another WWF Conservation Champion and one of Robertson’s premier wine farms known especially for pioneering Chardonnay in the Cape, innovative ways have been found to utilise the indigenous plants to benefit the farm’s viticulture. Here, wild fynbos plants are left to grow between the vines, offering various viticulture benefits as well as contributing to De Wetshof’s commitment to sustainable agriculture.
“With our famous fynbos plant kingdom, we Cape wine farmers might just be sitting with a cover crop that’s incomparable in the world,” says Johann de Wet, CEO of De Wetshof.
“Cape fynbos incorporates a mass of wild bushes and flowers – more than 9 000 different species, each in one of various categories throughout the geography of the Western Cape. On De Wetshof we are committed to conserving this majestic natural occurrence, not only by putting an area of our farm aside as wild, uncultivated veld to conserve the natural environment, but also by making the fynbos part of our viticulture.”
This natural integration between vine and veld is evident on the steep slopes of De Wetshof, where young Chardonnay vineyards are planted alongside a number of fynbos plants, including colourful vygies. “The vygies and other indigenous plants play two roles in our viticulture,” explains Johann. “First, they extract carbon dioxide from the air and through their roots they put the carbon dioxide into the soil, which is beneficial to soil health.”
The common buzzard found a perch in one of the vineyards on De Wetshof. FAR Vineyards interspersed with fynbos on Paul Clüver Family Wines estate.
A higher level of organic carbon in the soil promotes its structure, which means it has greater physical stability. This improves soil aeration and water drainage and retention, as well as reducing the risk of erosion and nutrient leaching.
“The other benefit of fynbos between your vines has to do with pest control,” continues Johann. “Unwanted critters, such as nematodes, tend to prefer shacking up in the fynbos instead of attacking and chewing on our vines. This lessens the need for spraying insecticide, and because the fynbos plants are so hardy, the insects are unable to inflict the kind of damage they do on the more delicate vines.”
So, here the ecology is not only a cherished part of the land, but it shows that with the right human attitude it can be deployed to farm better, and in turn make better wine.
Paul Clüver Family Wines is set on the Groenlandberg, much of which is a natural conservancy protected by the Clüvers and other farmers in the region.
No talk on wine farming and conservation can be complete without mentioning Paul Clüver Family Wines, a well-known WWF Conservation Champion. Dr Paul Clüver pioneered wine farming in Elgin when he planted the first commercial vineyards in that region in 1987, and with more than 1000ha of the family’s De Rust farm being an official nature conservancy, the Clüvers are known as much for their approach to conservation as they are for their fine Chardonnay and elegant Pinot Noir.
Paul Clüver Jnr, who is the managing director of Paul Clüver Family Wines, says that conservation on this farm, which has been in the family since 1896 and encompasses Elgin’s spectacular Groenlandberg wilderness, “has always been a no-brainer. The majestic beauty of the region, the spectacular plants – many of which are only found here – and the influence of my father instilled a deep-seated desire to protect what needs to be protected, and to farm vineyards and fruit orchards by regenerative practices.”
However, Paul – who has an especially astute world view on wine, as much of the world imports Clüver wines – says the WWF Conservation Champions programme has done a lot to position the South African wine industry as one with a special commitment to conservation and sustainability.
“Sustainability is probably the most important word in the global wine business, and producers’ and countries’ credentials are scrutinised by potential buyers, whether they’re from the trade or the public,” he explains.
“Here the WWF Conservation Champions programme has helped to elevate the image of our country’s wines by accentuating the proactive commitment Cape farmers show to protecting a one-of-a-kind ecology and, in general, farming as close to nature as possible.
“It is a spectacularly beneficial image to have for any wine country, and I know that many others envy us laying claim to it. Hopefully it will eventually turn into real commercial success for the greater South African wine industry by giving the Cape recognition as the world’s true home of wine and nature,” says Paul. V