IT IS ESTIMATED that as of 2024 the two to three dozen organic wineries in South Africa account for less than 1% of the country's total production. That's according to Organic Wines SA, a new association “encompassing the core, established, certified-organic wine estates”, with the objective being “to broadly market the merits of sustainability” in their agricultural processes and of their “non-chemical production methods”. The founding members are: Avondale, Germanier, Joostenberg and Noble Hill in Paarl, Lazanou in Wellington, as well as Longridge, Reyneke, Spier and Stark-Condé in Stellenbosch, Radford Dale Organic in Elgin and Org de Rac in Piketberg, Swartland.
While organic wineries count for only a small fraction of total production in South Africa, the global vineyard is said to be around 8.4% organic, up from 1.4% in 2005 (source: Organic World, 2022 data). The International Wine and Spirits Record reports that global sales of organic wine have grown from 29-million cases in 2012 to 71m in 2022 – an increase of 145%. The leading markets for the consumption of organic wine include the UK, Germany and the USA – among the top export markets for South African wines.
“There is a significant opportunity to be seized,” said Organic Wines SA chair Alex Dale, elaborating that the aims of the association include the promotion and development of the organic sector of the wine market, collaborating in collective marketing both domestically and around the globe. “Our intention is to extend membership to any willing South African producer of organically-certified wines… We have adopted EU criteria, in terms of verifiable certification parameters, so as to ensure that an optimum level of compliance is ensured in order to qualify as a member.”
There are some wine producers who claim to farm sustainably using organic farming methods but who choose not to get an official stamp of confirmation. Conversely, there are farms whose wines are certified organic but who for whatever reason choose not to say so on their labels. “There tends to be a prevalence of ‘greenwashing' when it comes to the marketing of ‘sustainability',” said Dale, “and wine production is certainly not immune from this. For this reason, and to avoid any uncertainty, we will limit our membership to certified-organic and/or certified-biodynamic wine producers.”
• For more about South Africa's organic wine producers, click here.
