Visi – July 2019

NO

27

BACK TO

NATURE

Sustainably produced,

organic, biodynamic, vegan...

Wine drinkers are increasingly

asking where their wines are

from and what goes into them.

A

ORG DE RAC

“Organic is here to

stay,” says Frank

Meaker, general

manager at this

organic wine farm

near Piketberg in

the Swartland. “It

just makes sense.

Basically, what it

means is you farm

the way our great-

grandparents did:

close to the soil and

to nature, and with out

artificial fertilisers

and pesticides.”

Natural fertiliser such

as seabird guano is

used, wasps keep

undesirable bugs

under control, and

good vine manage-

ment prevents

diseases. Org de Rac

wines have received

local and inter national

recognition.

All Org de Rac wines

are vegan, but they do

contain sulphites. “We

try to apply as little as

possible to the wines,”

says Frank, “but to

avoid making salad

dressing, we use SO 2

in the cellar.”

orgderac.co.za

Org de Rac Die

Waghuis 2016, a blend

of Shiraz, Grenache,

Mourvèdre and

Verdelho, R197

s consumers are
becoming more
health- and
environmentally
conscious, more wineries are
responding to the demand
for wines that are sustain-
ably, ethically and organically
produced. Farming organically
means not using any chemically
synthesised products in the
vineyards to fertilise the soil or to
control weeds, fungi and insects.
Sixteen South African wine farms
have been certified organic, and that
number is likely to rise as the demand for
organic wines increases.
Based on principles first proposed by Austrian
philosopher Dr Rudolf Steiner in the 19th  century,
biodynamic farming involves not only organic
methods but also practices like following
a  calendar that tracks the lunar cycle and the
position of the constellations. These farmers strive
to create a holistic living system on their land.
There is also a rising demand for vegan wines.
Many vegans have been upset to learn that wine-
makers use products like egg albumen (from
egg white), casein (a milk protein), gelatine (from
animal bones) or isinglass (derived from fish-
bladder membranes) in a process called fining,
which is to remove unwanted particles from the
wine. For vegan wines, winemakers use an
alternative such as bentonite, a powdered
clay, or no fining agent at all.
And what about sulphites in wine?
In the US, for a wine to be certified
organic it must be produced without
the use of added sulphur dioxide
(SO 2 ), which prevents oxidation and
keeps unwanted bacteria at bay.
In South Africa and the rest of the
world, however, “organic” does not
necessarily mean “no sulphites”.

visi.co.za JUNE/JULY 2019 178

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