Farmer Angus Wine

My interest in the world of wine was inspired by reading Nicolas Joly’s seminal book on BioDynamic viticulture “Wine from Earth to Sky”.

My first foray into this regenerative world started in 2006 with resurrecting an abandoned Chenin Blanc vineyard, on the Spier Wine Estate, near Stellenbosch, alongside my first BioDynamic and Permaculture mentor, Avice Hindmarch. 

From 2008 I made questionable wines from the Chenin Blanc vineyard and by 2014 I realised that this is something best left to experts to do and so Frans Smit and Tania Kleintjes have been making the wines since then.

In 2009 I started, with my colleague Orlando Filander, to convert all the vineyards on the Spier Wine Estate to organic and BioDynamic practices. The Estate vineyards have been certified organic since 2012.

We were also the first farm in South Africa to employ the Simonit Sirch company to teach us their vine life prolonging pruning method. 

Our, the winemakers and I, philosophy when it comes to making wine is that the cellar is merely a nursery where the wine completes the process started in the vineyard. This means, for example, that we don’t add yeasts to aid fermentation.

The imprints on the wine bottles and on the paper wrapper were made by me, under the expert tutelage of Michele B, from leaves that I harvested from the vineyards. 

Please come and visit us on the farm where we can experience a farm tour, deepen our understanding of the healing exercise that is regenerative agriculture and enjoy these fine wines.