Reyneke Estate, founded in 1998 in Stellenbosch, is one of South Africa's few certified Biodynamic wineries. Johan Reyneke Jr, the winemaker and founder, has established himself as an expert on the issue. This non-intervention strategy has resulted in wines that are faithful to their origin and character.

Reyneke is an 80 hectares farm. It was the first wine estate in South Africa to be recognised as biodynamic by Demeter International. The farm is situated on the north easterly slopes of the Polkadraai Hills, overlooking False Bay, at an elevation of 250 to 350 metres above sea level, with granitic soils of a sandy loam texture.

THE VINEYARD

Herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides are not used in the REYNEKE VINEYARDS. As it should be in any organic vineyard. Rather than spraying poison on weeds, they meticulously choose and grow companion plants amid their vines to outcompete the weeds. These companion plants can fix nitrogen from the air, assist break up compacted soil, and even harbour a helpful insect or two.

While poisons are commonly employed to manage pests, they simply release natural predators such as ducks — nothing tastes better to a duck than a good, juicy snail. There is no poison in the grapes. They don't need to spend money on fertiliser because the ducks do it for them. Everyone is pleased.

The Reyneke farm is independently certified, which means they implement what they preach. They ensure that the little Mealybug lives on the roots rather of the vines by allowing Dandelion ‘weeds' to grow.

They employ extremely small doses of natural fungicides like copper and sulphur instead of systemic fungicides. They're even attempting to eliminate all natural fungicides. It's still early days, but they're attempting to completely replace them with biological controls like as trichoderma and metabolite.

It's only natural to take organics to the next level once you've mastered these fundamentals. They mix biodynamic treatments into their compost and apply them to their grapes immediately. These formulations are made up of precisely prepared herbal, mineral, and organic ingredients that improve soil quality while also boosting plant and animal life. They use some as field sprays and others in homoeopathic amounts on their compost heaps.

Planting, pruning, harvesting, and other vineyard activities all take place at a natural pace. To build a harmonic totality, they work with natural and cosmic cycles, rhythms, and forces that regulate all life on Earth.

So, rather of using computerised displays, they work to the moon and study the constellations as they move, as they did in the past.