South Africa’s pioneer of organic and biodynamic winemaking, Johan Reyneke is spreading the word that organic farming is good for business.
Although less than 1 per cent of his country’s wine production is certified organic, as a founding member of Organic Wines South Africa, he’s working to develop the sector and claim more market share.
A philosophy grad student and avid surfer turned farmer, Johan Reyneke founded the Stellenbosch winery in 1998.Supplied
The push is motivated by demand, he says. Younger consumers are driving the sales growth of organic wines, which they see as representing better quality and being better for the environment.
Despite an overall decline in wine sales around the world, consumer interest in the organic-wine category continues to grow. Data from the International Wine and Spirits Record point to exponential growth in sales of organic wine, from 29 million cases in 2012 to 71 million cases in 2022, while sales of non-organic wine fell from 2.4 billion cases to 2.06 billion cases over the same period.
A philosophy grad student and avid surfer turned farmer, Reyneke says a sustainable, self-sufficient approach to farming is responsible for the success of the Stellenbosch winery he founded in 1998. “We were perhaps a bit ahead of our time, but the time has come globally, not just in Stellenbosch,” he explained last week while in Oakville, Ont., to promote current releases. The distinctive and crowd-pleasing Reyneke Organic Chenin Blanc 2024 and Organic Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 are currently available at LCBO and SAQ outlets.
His farm in Stellenbosch’s Polkadraai Hills embraces biodynamic principles, which add a holistic dimension to established organic-farming practices including eliminating synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The biodynamic approach takes cues from lunar and planetary cycles to cultivate soil health and create a balanced and sustainable environment that will produce high-quality grapes and wines. Grapes vines are complemented with vegetable gardens, pastures for livestock and areas that have been left wild.
The approach presents different challenges compared with conventional farming. “I had every pest and disease that exist in the country in the first six months,” Reyneke told Meininger’s Wine Business International magazine in 2019.
Reyneke’s estate was officially certified biodynamic in 2008.Supplied
Once established, however, Reyneke says farming biodynamically can be cheaper than conventional farming because there’s no need to purchase products, such as fertilizers or fungicides. Livestock on the farm contribute the required fertilizer and compost. Reyneke’s estate was officially certified biodynamic in 2008 by Demeter International, a third-party organization that ensures members meet strict international standards in production and processing.
Organic Wines SA will feature prominently at the coming Cape Wine exhibition in September, an event that takes place every three years to showcase South Africa’s thriving wine scene to international wine buyers, sommeliers and media. A round-table discussion about sustainable agriculture will address whether regenerative farming, a farming system that prioritizes maintaining healthy soils through cover cropping and composting, can meaningfully shape wine quality. (Regenerative farming is often seen as a complementary approach to organic and biodynamic farming, with many farms integrating both practices.)
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Working organically, biodynamically or regeneratively in South African vineyards is aided by beneficial natural conditions. There isn’t much rainfall during the summer growing season (which can cause mildew and fungal problems) and many regions enjoy coastal breezes from the ocean which reduce disease pressure in vineyards.
“The benefits of organic farming cuts across regions and goes way beyond the wine industry, which is phenomenal,” Reyneke explains. “We have people growing avocados or macadamia nuts in other areas coming to visit us.”
As Reyneke’s business evolved, embracing sustainability led to concerns beyond the farm winery. Issues surrounding glass and packaging were raised by wine writers in Britain – “unnecessarily heavy bottle” is a comment frequently made in reviews by Jancis Robinson about wines with heavyweight glass containers. (The production and transport of glass bottles represent the wine’s industry’s biggest carbon footprint.)
Reyneke says farming biodynamically can be cheaper than conventional farming because there’s no need to purchase products such as fertilizers or fungicides.Supplied
“We took the criticism seriously and had people doing analysis, who pointed out it wasn’t just a matter of bottle weight, but also the percentage of recycled glass and the type of electricity used for production,” he said. There were also societal implications in addition to environmental considerations. Buying glass bottles made with renewable energy at a plant in Germany would have had less of a carbon footprint than producing them in South Africa, but that would spell lost jobs for South African workers.
The bottles used for Reyneke’s Reserve range were sandblasted to feature the estate’s name, while others for the Biodynamic tier were screen-printed and came with a heavier carbon footprint owing to addition electricity required for the application process.
“It is a delicate balance because it is about the environment but it’s also about the marketplace,” he says. “Our fear was that if we put our premium wines in lightweight entry-level bottles, we could jeopardize sales.”
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The company worked with Ardagh Glass Packaging-Africa to produce a bottle with similar look but weighing 450 grams compared with the previous 580 g container. The new bottle, which debuts with the 2025 vintage, contains 40 per cent recycled glass and the company plans to transition to renewable energy by 2030.
The self-reflection didn’t stop there. Reyneke said the consideration of the proper bottles to use going forward led to a serious overhaul of the variety of wines on offer.
“We saw the opportunity to bring some focus and clarity back to the brand,” he says. The traditional selection of 21 different labels spread across different quality levels, including the Reserve, Biodynamic, Organic and Cornerstone ranges.
The result is the introduction of the Estate Range, a selection of certified biodynamic wines made from the grapes that perform best in the Polkadraai Hills – chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and syrah. The chenin blanc and syrah will continue under the Organic label as will Cornerstone, the flagship wine of the estate whose proceeds provides housing, education and financial security for permanent employees. Keying on the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, economic and social – Reyneke sees a thriving farm as an equitable environment that promotes the health of the soils, vines and the people doing the work to make it happen.
