BUSINESS DAY (Final), Companies & Markets

Wednesday, 2 December 2009, p. 15

Green winelands
protect heritage
Organic wine farming and supplementary crops like

fynbos, rare flowers and plants that supply oils point

the way to the future, writes Lauren de. Beer

HE farms in the Cape
winelands are taking the
long view and turning to
T more sustainable
environmental methods of
managing their crops and
business practices.
One is the family-run Haut
He says the benefit, apart from with what we believe in at La
the aesthetic appeal, is that it cuts Motte Estate. Global warming is an
the cost of having to spray the ever-increasingconcern and by
vines, because your pests in the producing an organicallygrown
fynbos control your pests in the wine La Motte aims to decrease
their vineyards as snakes and predator the environmental side-effects of
birds will control the rodent farming and wine-making.
population and the problem bird In addition, La Motte cultivates

Espoir, at the end of the
Franschhoek Valley. The farm was
bought in 1999 by the Armstrong
tamily, who removed alien
iegetation and planted fynbos.
The farm is split equally
between vineyards and fynbos
liha of each with vines yielding
100 tons of grapes that deliver
about 80 000 bottles of wine.
They also use natural fynbos
ground-cover in the vineyards,
which not only fixes nitrogen in
the soil but also negates the need
for pesticides.
Were one of the first farms to
plant fSinbos in the vineyards,
species called Otholobium
decumbens, says Rob Armstrong.
We started off with a test
block and were now propagating it
throughout our vineyards. Its
companion planting initiativeand
ivere encouraging stuff to grow
wild.
species, so theres no need to put a limited variety of a relatively rare
up expensive nets or gas canons. flower species, the Disa. The farms
Its just boxing clever rather Disa collection is the largest private
than boxing expensive. collection of its kind in the world.
Haut Espoir is committed to the La Motte produces ethereal oil,
biodiversity and wine initiative obtained from plants or seeds and
(BWI), a partnership between the used as flavours and fragrances for
wine industry and the conservation perfumes, lotions, food and soap.
sector to minimise losses to the About 25ha of land is used for the
Cape floral kingdom, the worlds organic cultivation of oil-producing
smallest and most diverse plant plants such as lavandine,rose
kingdom. geranium, Cape snow bush and
La Motte Wine Estate is one of buchu. All plants are cultivated in
SAs premium producers of the estates own nursery, which
organically grown wine. allows it to be self-sufficientwhile
The farm has implemented an also operating as a commercial
a ecoefficiency programme to supplier of plants to the industry.
optimise the use of resources Armstrong is a member of the
through elimination, reduction, Franschhoek sustainability
reuse and recycling to cut capital committee, along with Jenny
and operating costs and reduce the Prinsloo, CEO of the Franschhoek
a cost to the environment. wine valley and tourist association,
Hem Koegelenberg, CEO of La Johan Bouwer, from LOrmarins,
Motte, says: The focus on organic and eco architect Ricardo Panzeri.
farming and winemaking fits in Its not about the wine, its
 ORGANIC: Above, La
Motte vineyards.Right,
Hem Koegelenberg,
CEO of La Motte, says
their focus is on
organic farming and
winemaking. Global
warming is an everincreasing
increasingconcern and
by producing an
to furthering sustainable
grown tourism.
organically wine
ÓThey aims
La Motte farms on ecofriendliness,
rate to

decrease the whether you have an

upmarket
environmental or a small B&B,
hotelsideeffects
looking of things such as how do
at wine-making.

you serve your tea and coffee Ù is

the urn on 24 hours a day? Ù and
whether you are using low wattage
light bulbs and so on.Ô
Armstrong is looking forward to
the future. ÓIÒm pretty positive
Franschhoek is going in the right
direction with initiativessuch as

the BWI and growing awareness

a

of the need for organic farming.Ô

He believes children need to be
able to filter the message back to
their parents.
ÓEach school in our region will
adopt a river, and each month they
will take samples. A laboratory in

Paarl will do the analysis free and

weÒll publish the results. Water is

where weÒre focusing because itÒs

the life-blood of any community

While development is going to
happen Ówhether we like it or notÔ,
the key word, believes Armstrong,
BUSINESS DAY (Final), Companies & Markets

is sustainability An example of this

is GreenstaySA, which is dedicated

about the whole valley,Ô says
Armstrong. ÓWeÒre working on
Wednesday, 2 December 2009, p. 15

cleaning up all the rivers together

with schools, and educating the
kids about climate change.Ô
He says the plan is to have the
whole valley sustainablewithin two
or three years.
ÓThe rivers are in a complete
state because of all the
development. The sewerage hasnÒt
been able to keep up, so hundreds
of thousands of litres of sewage is

pumped into the Berg River every

day.Ô