Feature

Adding a Unique Floral Note to SA wines

Dr Garth Cambray

Many wines are described as having floral notes, but only 3.1% of the worlds wines come from a floral kingdom with more than 9600 plant species.

Winemakers in the Cape Floral Kingdom at the tip of South Africa are blessed with an abundance of biodiversity surrounding their vineyards - now, a new initiative, the biodiversity in wine initiative helps wineries to capture the essence of conservation of this floral kingdom in every bottle adding a floral note that no other wine producing area in the world can match.

The Cape Floral Kingdom, world renowned for plants such as Proteas and Ericas, is the smallest, but also the richest plant kingdom on earth. Recently this incredible diversity has been recognized by the kingdom receiving World Heritage Site status. Sadly, this incredible treasure trove of plant and animal species, which contains more plant species than the entire Northern Hemisphere, is threatened by urban, agricultural and invasive plant developments. In addition to this, highways, power lines and irresponsible people have greatly increased the incidence of fire, resulting in loss of biodiversity. More than 80% of the Cape Floral Kingdom is privately owned, hence the only way to conserve this region is through landowner buy in.

In many rehabilitation projects around the world, this has proven important, as government cannot do everything. Wine farms in South Africa represent a major foreign exchange earner, and as the tastes of the major first world wine markets have become more environmentally friendly, the unique position of the Cape wine farms allows these vineyards to capitalize on this sentiment and conserve the environment. The biodiversity in wine Initiative seeks to guide and develop this process.

Participating wineries are divided into two categories, members and champions. Currently the vast majority of participants are members, representing more than 95% of wineries. To be a member, wine farms must designate a minimum of 2% of their land as an undisturbed, conserved area, with the focus being on riparian lands and wetlands. In addition to this the Integrated Production of Wine system, which all members are required to conform to, has special guidelines for land custodianship and conservation.

The champion members are required to conform to far higher standards. These wineries must develop a full environmental management plan which includes the management and eradication of alien vegetation, and restoration of degraded land such as wetlands and fallow land and dedication of more than 10% of their land to conservation. The champions currently comprise the progressive wineries of Vergelegen, Graham Beck, Kloof Wine and Burgherspost estates, and the Wederwill ecovillage, game farm and wine estate. More wineries are expected to join this elite club soon.

In order to make any initiative such as this work it is important to incorporate not only a social and environmental profit, but a firm financial profit as well. Hence the Biodiversity in Wine Initiative is lobbying government to provide tax incentives to farmers for conservation areas -this provides an incentive for not developing land. In addition to that, marketing bodies such as Wines of South Africa, are able to promote South African wines globally as environmentally sensitive wines which come from an area of great importance, allowing the consumer to purchase wine and support the environment. Major United Kingdom retailers, such as Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys and Tesco, have all agreed to move to environmentally friendly purchasing practices with a focus on preferentially procuring products produced in sustainably managed operations. The Biodiversity in Wines Initiative allows SA wine makers to gain a marketing advantage in this market.

In addition to the conservation aspect, many other projects are being explored such as biofuel production to allow wineries to have carbon neutral status. Farms are also being encouraged to modify title deeds to include conservation areas, meaning that land zoned as a conservation area will be sold one day and the next landowner is contractually obliged to maintain and conserve the land.

All in all, the Biodiversity in Wine Initiative provides us with an exciting sip of a future where development and conservation merge into a more sustainable option for us on our small planet.

More information:

  Web site: http://www.bwi.co.za 
For more information contact the project co-ordinator:

Inge Kotze
BWI Project Co-ordinator bwi@sawb.co.za  

Or the project extension officer:
Joan Isham
BWI Extension Officer bwi.joan@sawb.co.za 

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