Winner of the Best Environmental Practices Award
The Green Knight
Anthony Rawbone-Viljoen is often referred to as a gentleman farmer but "gentle farmer" more accurately describes the proprietor of Oak Valley Estate in Elgin. Joanne Gibson pays a visit to the Best Environmental Practices winner of the Nedbank Green Wine Awards.
It's the stuff of fairytales, so much so that they once built a castle here. Admittedly it was merely a prop for a BBC mini-series set in the time of Charles I, and it was very quickly razed to the ground by an angry bull who wanted its meadow back. But Oak Valley Estate in Elgin is truly as idyllic as it gets...
Long-lashed cows graze on emeraldgreen pastures shrouded in early-morning mist; bees buzz lazily between the blossoms of apple and pear orchards dressed up for spring; tubby piglets scamper in the shade of ancient oaks while their corpulent elders sleep off a long acorn lunch; mountain fynbos flourishes in the African sun while lilies like Victorian ladies take shelter in the splendid bug-free isolation of greenhouses; and, on distant hills, regimented grapevines stand neatly to attention: "Yes, Sir!"
Anthony Rawbone-Viljoen, to be precise, the third-generation proprietor of the 1 786-hectare property that has emerged as winner of the Best Environmental Practices category of the inaugural Nedbank Green Wine Awards.
It was his grandfather, Sir Antonie Viljoen, who founded the estate in 1898. A medical doctor who later became a senator in the Cape parliament, he was knighted in 1916 for his post-war efforts to bring Boer and Brit together. And somehow he also found time to establish the Elgin Valley's first commercial deciduous fruit orchards, plant its first vines for wine grape production, commission its first wine cellar (sadly taken out of production in the 1940s) and become the country's largest manufacturer of charcoal which he made from his black wattle plantation ...
The wattles are long gone, the rest of the alien vegetation going. Only the old English oaks remain, with Sir Antonie having stipulated in his will that no heir to the property should ever cut them down. Today over 4 000 trees cover 30ha, their acorns gathered by the children of farm workers to feed the pigs now being reared to make Iberica-style ham - just one relatively small example of Oak Valley's commitment to producing a range of agricultural products in a sustainable way.
"It's an ethos we have adhered to and emulated for over a century," says Rawbone-Viljoen, "a practice we will continue by improving techniques wherever possible."
TABLE OF PLENTY
From his Sir Herbert Baker manor house, with an honours degree in economics no doubt influencing his decisions, Rawbone- Viljoen now oversees the farming of apples and pears on 342ha of orchards; "gourmet" beef from 450 Simmentaler cows that range freely on almost 583ha of pastureland; and flowers in 16ha of greenhouses, making Oak Valley Flowers the largest supplier of fresh-cut flowers in the Western Cape.
But it is the wine which has brought Oak Valley to WINE magazine's attention in recent years. The first - a Sauvignon Blanc - was only released in 2003, but the first modern-era vineyards were established on an experimental basis as long ago as 1985, and commercial plantings began "after a process of elimination" in 1992, with fruit initially sold to the likes of Bouchard Finlayson and Rupert & Rothschild.
There are now 49ha of vineyards planted, more recently on the higher, steeper slopes of the farm ("extreme winegrowing," as Rawbone-Viljoen puts it), and the wines include a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon/Semillon blend, a Pinot Noir and The Oak Valley Blend (predominantly Merlot with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and a smidgeon of Petit Verdot).
Apart from 4 Star ratings in WINE magazine this year for the Chardonnay 2007 and Pinot Noir 2007, highlights have included winning the International Trophy for Best Bordeaux-style Blend over £10 at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2007 for the Oak Valley Blend 2004, a wine which also came tops in a WINE magazine category tasting with 4½ Stars
"Not bad for a former apple grower," says Rawbone-Viljoen of farm manager Pieter Visser, though the self-taught vintner points out that he did study viticulture as well as horticulture at Elsenburg Agricultural College before joining Oak Valley in 1993. Inspired to make wine after visiting the cellars that bought his grapes, he did a few Cape Wine Academy courses and even made some wine with garagiste Clive Torr. "When Anthony decided to advertise for a qualified winemaker to make our own wine, I asked him to consider me."
"I just told him not to mess it up," recalls Rawbone-Viljoen. "And he didn't. But he's going to do even better, just watch!" To date, the wine has been made in rented cellar space at Paul Cluver Wines, but environmental approval is currently being sought to build a winery on site - "environmental" being the operative word.
BACK TO NATURE
Oak Valley's excellent track record of environmental responsibility, specifically in terms of minimising further loss of natural habitat to vineyards while contributing to sustainable wine production, has resulted in it becoming one of only 15 Cape wine farms to achieve Champion status through the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI).
A founder member of both the Groenlandberg Conservancy and the Green Mountain Eco Route, the world's first biodiversity wine route, Oak Valley has 500ha of pristine Kogelberg Sandstone mountain fynbos, with five Red Data species documented, including the largest known colony of Protea Stoekoei (pink sugarbush).
In addition to its Integrated Production of Wine accreditation, Oak Valley was also one of the first farms in SA to be WIETA-audited in terms of ethical trading - and I am left with overwhelmingly positive impressions after a 4x4 tour of the property (in a vehicle, by the way, for which a comprehensive fuel-monitoring system has been drawn up to minimise inefficiencies...).
From the beehives hired at a cost of R187 000 so that bees can pollinate the apple and pear blossoms to some of the best worker conditions in the winelands (the housing, crèche, community hall and sports facilities have been used as benchmark examples for SA agriculture as a whole...).
From the German system of five-way waste sorting for recycling to the recent installation of a sophisticated incinerator for waste items not suitable for recycling (built-in pollution controls mean that the smoke released is white not black...).
From the fire hydrants installed between vineyards and natural vegetation to the smoking ban imposed on visitors (this after a devastating mountain fire in 2006 almost destroyed the Protea Stoekoei colony...).
From the dam walls planted with fynbos to the porcini sprouting up beneath the trees after some recent spring showers (Rawbone-Viljoen keeps a knife in his 4x4 so that the opportunity for a wild mushroom lunch is never missed. "One of the hidden pleasures of life on this farm...").
The fact that Elgin is a relatively high rainfall region means that Oak valley's drip irrigation system in the vineyards is mostly an "insurance policy" for grape quality, with the average water usage per kilogram of grapes a mere 27.65 litres in 2009. "It can be up to six times that in warmer areas," says Visser to put things in perspective.
The downside is that spraying in an unavoidable part of vineyard management, but this is performed on a least-use basis - only when high-risk infection periods are predicted by weather station data, and never in windspeeds exceeding 12kph. The chemicals, too, are selected on the basis of least effect on man and the environment, with blood tests performed on all handlers throughout the spray season.
But where possible, the Oak Valley team comes up with alternatives - such as the "mating disruption" technique for codling moth control, whereby pheromone emitters are employed to blanket the fruit orchards with pheromone, as well as sterilising male moths using low-intensity radiation (also used to control the Mediterranean fruit fly).
Trapping and hunting is prohibited on the property, even if klipspringers nibble on the vine leaves - and guards have to be employed a month before harvest to monitor the movement of a troop of baboons! Birdlife is also abundant: "I've personally counted 93 different bird species here, and I'm just an amateur," marvels Visser.
A keen mountain biker, it was he who mapped out the Oak Valley Mountain Biking Experience which gives riders the opportunity to experience nature and the farm - and ends conveniently close to the tasting room. The three trails in mixed terrain through this magnificent property have been described as the best of their kind in the Western Cape.
Which, given how well they do everything else, shouldn't come as a surprise...
OAK VALLEY WINES
ESTATE: off R321 to Villiersdorp, Elgin
PO Box 30, Elgin 7180
TEL: 021 859 2510
FAX: 021 859 3405
wines@oak-valley.co.za
www.oakvalley.co.za
OWNERS: Anthony Rawbone-Viljoen
(in family since 1898)
CELLARMASTER: Pieter Visser
(since 2002)
SALES: Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00,
Sat 10:00-14:00
TASTINGS: no fee
PICNICS: welcome to bring
ESTABLISHED: 2003
PRODUCTION: 8 250 litres pa.
UNDERVINE: 43ha (68% white)
FLAGSHIP: Sauvignon
SINGLE VYD: The OV (Sauvignon &
Semillon)
WINE PORTFOLIO
D WHITE: Chard (W); Sauvignon (U);
The OV (W, Sauvignon & Semillon)
RED WINE: Blend (W, Merlot & Cab Franc
& Cab); Pinot (W)
