Green Secrets of Winter

Hex River Valley from the N1

February is always too scorching whilst June is always too wet and frigid: Capetonians can be a fickle lot. We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, blessed with weather that most people find utterly temperate; with neither the stifling humidity of Miami, nor the thermo-fan oven that is Dubai, nor the blast-chiller that is Toronto nor the chilly, gloom that is London. Yet, we often confine ourselves to the office, shop and home when the “mild winter chill” sets in from June to September.

Yet, this is when the Cape really goes to town; this is when she dresses

Fonteintjiesberg above Worcester from Nuy

in her winter best, when hardly any tourists even sneak a peek. Taking a break into the country is truly awe-inspiring when the Cape adorns her green garb of the Secret Season. At no other time of the year are the colours more vivid, the atmosphere more crisp and clear and the pursuit of great cuisine and fine reds, more fulfilling.

Take the N1 east from Cape Town. As you travel through the rolling hills of Joostenbergvlakte between Bellville and Paarl, an emerald-green landscape greets you in a genteel fashion reminiscent of Ireland. The N1 then turns slightly northward as it enters the beautiful Berg River Valley of Paarl, with the mountains looming larger now – if lucky enough to make the trek after a winter storm, snow will greet you on the Klein Drakenstein Ranges. Paarl has numerous hidden tourist gems like the language monument and a plethora of excellent restaurants, serving all manner of tasty fare.

Venture over the mountains. On a clear day, opt for the R101 DuToitskloof Pass in lieu of the N1 Huguenot Tunnel. The waterfalls, green fynbos-clad mountainsides and high-altitude vistas are unparalleled. Here, the mountain snow becomes more evident, with the 1995m high DuToit’s Peak often poking into the clouds as a frosted, jagged spire.

Late-autumn colours at Du Toitskloof producers

The Breede River Valley opens up on the other side, with a patchwork of stark, dormant vines, with the deep green of winter grass covering each patch of open earth. The mountains are higher, their snow-capped summits, more beautiful. Turning off at R101 Rawsonville, you begin to take in the Breedekloof Wine Route. Here is where you’ll find DuToitskloof Cellar. Take in a scrumptious deli lunch and dabble in some of our value-for-money wines, our multi-award-winning Dimension red and our lauded fortified wines, like Hanepoot Jerepigo, Red Muscadel and Cape Ruby (Port). Do not turn your nose up to the sweeter wines. Given a cold snap, a fire place and appropriate hors d’oeuvre or dessert, there is no better option to warm the heart and enhance the ambience.

Venturing through the surrounding wine route is rewarding, most visitors being dumbfounded by the quality of wines at prices that are at a fraction of other regions. The vistas are truly unique, often looking more like one is touring in the southern Alps, than the Cape Winelands. Do yourself a favour and track the winter storms. If snow has fallen, make your way to the interior Winelands soonest, for the ultimate picturesque experience and bring your camera!

Heavy snowfall at Klondyke atop Swaarmoed Pass, Ceres

If time allows, continue up the R43 towards Wolseley, taking in the breathtaking Mitchell’s Pass on the R46 en route to the queen-of-the-snows, Ceres. The Warmbokkeveld Valley opens op rapidly, above the summit of the pass; after storms, snow creeps down to the base of the mountains. The valley is an assault of white and green on the eyes, with a European-like briskness to the air. This region should be a pilgrimage every Capetonian should make once per winter. Through Ceres, venture up Gydo, Theronsberg or Swaarmoed Passes, to take in your slice of a South African winter wonderland.

Make the Cape Winelands interior part of your winter breakaway plans. You can’t beat the winter; so embrace it, revel in it, wine-and-dine it and photographically document it. There’s no more gorgeous a place, where the South African winter comes in its full splendor, than the Breede River, Hex River and Ceres Valley’s.

Community Clinic Launched for DuToitskloof Labour

Fair Exchange rural clinic on opening day

On 13 May 2013, Fairhills Project, DuToitskloof Wines’ Fairtrade empowerment project, opened the new community clinic adjacent to the improved Lorraine Primary School. This project will complete a consolidated community service node, in this proximal location for associated farm labour. 

Together with a generous R720,000 grant from WM Morrisons and cooperation with our cellar, Fair Exchange and Origin, The mobile healthcare unit and Fair Exchange clinic was launched to much fanfare this Monday. The grant was handed over to the Fairhills Project by representatives from WM Morrisons United Kingdom.

Not only will Lorraine Primary now cater to all learners from grades one through seven, quality primary medical services will be available to all Fairhills’ farm employees, free of charge. This development expands the services on offer within this innovative empowerment project, which already includes psychological services, day-care facilities, above-standard housing, green-energy for heating and quality primary education services.

The community library will be moving to the new facility, to make way for an expanded and heavily-utilised community computer centre. This state-of-the-art facility is not only available to all learners, but provides the community with access to information technology and doubles as an adult-learning centre. The new infrastructure is fully air-conditioned, with the Western Cape Dept. of Health assisting with equipment, maintenance and logistics at the new clinic.

The clinic boasts a sick-bay with television and all primary medical equipment, a consultation room, a waiting room, administrative office and full bathroom facilities. The clinic sports a unique mobile healthcare centre; fully equipped and on wheels, this innovative concept brings healthcare to each producer farm within the Fairhills’ family.

The relocated library provides the same quality services the project members’ have become accustomed to, including up-to-date computer technology, multi-media tools and even, two PlayStation ports for the young-ones.

Landscape improvements are also being implemented to address the secondary, but important aspect, of an attractive and livable community, building pride-of-place. Outdoor play-spaces for the learners are being improved, with miniature sports courts being constructed and lush lawns lined with trees, being planted.

DuToitskloof Wines, with the continued hard work of their Fairtrade project, Fairhills, continues to improve the lives of rural people each year.  We trust the new facilities will assist in addressing social ills, provide improved healthcare, foster skills development and ensure quality education for the community. All this, to build a brighter, empowered future.

By: Andres de Wet

Security improvements and signage for the Library and Medical Centre

Our computer centre, undergoing duplication.

New developments, courtesy to some great partnerships.

Our relocated library

Corridor to the Waiting Room (foreground) and Consultation and Sick-Bays (background)

Yes, a PlayStation (one of two) for the young ones.

Installing a unit for our fully air-conditioned clinic and library

WM Morrisons, Origin and FairTrade opening the new clinic for the Fairhills DuToitskloof empowerment project

The generous grant from WM Morrisons being handed over.

The mobile healthcare unit, bringing care to rural communities, when and where they need it.

Some of our little beneficiaries (Fairhills Creche) welcoming the guests in a way only they can!

 

Winelands Toll Trap

The proposed tolling of the N1 and N2 in the Winelands has raised the ire of most residents and local government entities in the province. The City of Cape Town and SANRAL (South African National Roads Agency) seem set for another court showdown. The demand for clarity on toll-costs and socio-economic implications is not only fair; all citizens in this province should demand this information, as this project could have significant impacts on the economy and thus, the prosperity of affected areas in the Western Cape, particularly the eastern Winelands and Overberg.

The N1 (proposed to be tolled) in the Rawsonville district

PROJECT SCOPE: SANRAL has declared the N1 as a toll-road from Old Oak Interchange to Sandhills in the Hex River Valley and the N2 from the R300 Interchange to Bot River. Three tolls along each route are proposed. On the N1, these proposed toll plazas are at Joostenbergvlakte, the existing Huguenot Toll Plaza (where fees are proposed to be significantly raised) and Glen Heatlie between Worcester and De Doorns. On the N2, one plaza is proposed near Khayelitsha, one at Sir Lowry’s Pass and the other, at Bot River. Don’t think you’ll be able to get around the tolls, where viable alternative routes exists, like the R101 Du Toitskloof Pass, SANRAL will construct ramp-toll plazas on these exits.

They are planning some significant upgrades to the roads, so why is the Western Cape populace vexed? The anger in Gauteng over the controversial eTolls is still boiling over, yet SANRAL sees fit to set another pot to high-heat in our province. The Auditor General reports on countless billions being misspent per annum, yet SANRAL, a government parastatal, pleads poverty. Furthermore, the stark contrast in this province, where most roads are (Provincial Government – Western Cape) PGWC maintained, from the fiscus. Our infrastructure is generally well maintained, unlike numerous other provinces. The N1 and N2 westwards form the aforementioned points, where SANRAL jurisdiction ends, is in a better condition. In recent years these PGWC sections have seen resurfacing, highway lighting and the significant upgrading of numerous interchanges take place. Thus the resident logically asks, “Why can the PGWC maintain and upgrade our roads with our tax-money whilst SANRAL is unable to do so?”

Admittedly, there are bottlenecks in our infrastructure in these proposed tolled-areas: one being the N1 at the Huguenot Tunnel and two, the N2 through Somerset West and Strand. I am not against greenfields tolling. Thus, the Helderberg Bypass could be constructed without entrapping the Elgin Valley. The opening of the second Huguenot Tunnel (already bored – requires lining and equipping) is not up for debate. This sector is already user-pays and has been so since 1989; road improvements go without saying.

The economic impacts could be serious indeed. SANRAL commissions studies that investigate the economic impact of the “do nothing” or “if they toll” scenarios. This creates a bias in the analysis. No roads agency or governmental entity is entitled to “do nothing” to the infrastructure, as population, road-usage and by inference, revenue increases. Even under this potentially biased analysis, undertaken by UCT Graduate Business School, it is admitted that communities north-east of Paarl would see little cost-benefit in the short to medium-term, as traffic volumes are too light. Even under their analysis, agriculture could experience hardship, the lifeblood of these communities. Even under their analysis, the Hex River and Elgin Valleys would become entrapped to tolls, cut off from their service centre towns, major markets and neighbouring engines of economic growth. Even with this information, SANRAL has to date, made no attempt to move toll plazas to locations that would not hold these communities hostage. They have admittedly, offered Hex River Valley residents the option of toll discounts.

Furthermore, rural tolling is an even crueler pursuit, as public-transit or non-motorised transit options simply don’t exist and probably never will. This seriously disadvantages rural communities and the workforce, such as those under FairTrade’s umbrella. It restricts their freedom of movement and access to economic and service centres in the province, as mobility is made unaffordable.

Grabouw and De Doorns, communities plagued by recent civil upheaval, will be the worst affected. Whatever the reason for the recent unrest, the obvious catalysts remain lack of employment and poor local economic conditions. With spiraling fuel and transport costs, additional tolling has only one outcome for these communities on an economic and social knife-edge. Communities like Rawsonville, where we are located, have had a perennial struggle to attract tourist numbers. The toll tunnel has acted as a psychological barrier for years. Additional toll gates and fees on these routes will only exacerbate the issue. Tourists and Capetonian wine-drinkers will not only think twice before venturing out along the N1 and N2, they’ll think thrice.

Where possible, tourists and residents alike will look to the free-to-use provincial roads to escape the toll; this will severely burden these secondary routes and the provincial transport department. For areas such as the Breede River Valley, no viable alternative exists and businesses and communities will be kept entrapped and tourists, out. For a wine company constantly aiming for value-for-money, this could seriously impact on our business model of bringing products to the consumer at affordable prices.

SANRAL’s public participation process has lacked reach and transparency, where the bare legal minimum is done in consulting with communities. There’s a universal awareness of the intense public opposition to the inequitable user-pays policy. We already pay through hefty fuel-levies which rise annually, along with the spiraling cost of fuel in South Africa. Ring-fence the levy, make them provincially imposed according to local need. It’s the cheapest and most equitable form of roads funding there is, with the least risk of graft or corruption.

My suggestion if SANRAL is unable to fund their infrastructure: cede control of the roads west of Bloukrans River and Three Sisters to the Provincial Government of the Western Cape. Allow the national treasury to grant them that equitable share of SANRAL’s allocated budget for these road-sectors. It is clear our provincial administration is able to maintain the infrastructure under their jurisdiction.

By: Andres de Wet (DuToitskloof Online Content Manager)

Lowest Common Denominator Wine Legislation

Computer mock-up of Penfolds label courtesy AdelaideNow: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au

Alcohol advertising has been prohibited in several countries in the last decade. Last month, Australian health lobbyists took matters a step further, demanding graphic health warnings on the front labels of all alcoholic beverages, from spirits and beer to even their genteel ‘lifestyle’ cousin, wine.

In AdelaideNow, prime print media for South Australia’s capital, the rhetoric went thus, “The campaign, led by a range of vocal groups including National Alliance for Action Against Alcohol, the Alcohol Policy Coalition, Vic Health and the Cancer Council of Victoria, has targeted a range of products from beer, spirits, mixers and wine in its aim to combat public health hazards resulting from risky drinking practices.”

I’m certain the Barossa and Clare valleys are in a complete tailspin about these manoeuvres in Australia, thus I find myself weighing in on the debate as their southern hemisphere cousin.

Nobody can deny that alcohol abuse is a scourge. Nobody can deny that irresponsible consumption can lead to health and social problems. Nobody can deny that anything not done in moderation is usually bad for you. Why then, the target painted on the back of the alcohol industry? Same reason why the so-called sin taxes always increase, irrespective of the budget tabled: it is an easy target for tax hikes, public ire and zealous health lobbyists.

It’s easy to label any industry, associated with the production of a non-essential product, as unnecessary, a luxury, or in the case of alcohol, downright socially destructive. Then I pose the question to all sane-minded people, going back to, anything not done in moderation is usually bad for you: Are we to have graphic warnings of hardening arteries and people unable to escape the confines of their bed-prisons on BigMac burger packaging? Are we to have graphic warnings of rotting teeth on Coca-Cola cans? Are we to have graphic pictures on sweet-packets of removed digits and dead-tissue due to diabetes? Do we need provocative warnings on mens’ magazines such as Playboy and FHM of herpes and other STD infections? With debt being the greatest issue in the Western world, should we not have warnings on credit cards?

The point is, in a healthy democracy, the common denominator determines the public need, not the lowest common denominator. In a democracy, the right of the layperson is paramount, the rights of the careless minority, secondary. When this unwritten rule is disregarded, you create a nanny-state. A de facto over-legislated and heavily policed society is created, where freedoms of the many are curtailed, because of the irresponsibility or carelessness of the few.

Would-be alcohol abusers would not be put off by a warning or even graphic imagery. Extreme abuse is an illness, an addiction, something that must be treated clinically and psychologically. Would-be abusers don’t do so, because the bottle looks attractive. They do so, because societal or personal pressures trump their own inherent education about the perils of abuse. Education is the answer; social programmes in badly affected communities are the answer, not defacing brands.

In fact, in the South African context, it is not the branded wines which cause the social ills associated with alcoholism. It is the bulk wine sold by the litre, in nondescript plastic containers. If anything, one should aim to formalise distribution and pack quantities, to curtail the misuse of the product in bulk by individuals, in addition to public education.

Wine in particular is a lifestyle product. Wine is supposed to be a romantic affair, paired with friends, family and excellent food. To degrade a millennia-old product of the vine, the nectar of the gods, to the level of a scapegoat for social ills, seems blatantly reactionary.  This is not to deny that abuse of the product can become barbaric. However, a certain type of person becomes an addict; a certain type of beverage does not an addict make.

I hate to place the wine-label debate in a religious context. At the same time, no other story can illustrate what is being said more clearly than the following: When Jesus multiplied the bread and fishes, when He turned water into wine, I doubt he intended anyone to eat two fishes and three loaves of bread in one sitting. I doubt He wanted anyone to be morbidly obese and develop heart-disease and diabetes. Just as I doubt He wanted anyone to consume three bottles of wine in one sitting. Therein lies the point, even the most righteous of things can become an evil if abused.

Everything in moderation! May sanity prevail; seeking responsible consumption and sales, public education and enlightenment, rather than a convenient scapegoat panacea for legislative zealots.

Knowledge is Power

dem·a·gogue 

/’demə,gäg/

Noun

A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.

Admittedly this is a hard hitting definition for a wine industry article. Why this charged introduction? Leaders of this type can be dangerous to nations and even specific industries. Numerous developing nations have fallen into their clutches and recently, some personalities influencing agricultural policy in South Africa, have reared their heads.

A book a day keeps the demagogue at bay. Poor policy, poor practices, poor economic ideology and poor leadership is kept ay bay by an intelligent populous. Agriculture and the wine industry in particular, is in a fragile state at Africa’s southern tip. Without government support, often enjoyed by our northern hemisphere counterparts, eking out a living off the land can be a stressful one. Having personalities running about, with the aforementioned definition, could be a nail in the metaphorical coffin for some. There is only one solution: knowledge; Empowering the workforce with information and education to identify red herrings, before they take hold of a once thriving industry.

This is exactly what FairTrade and DuToitskloof’s Fairhills Project does. We have noticed a promising trend amongst the rural workforce on member farms. The digital satellite dishes decorate the roofs of homes, alongside the solar water heating panels. Smart phones and MP3 players are becoming commonplace, with working activity often sounding like a mini-concert in the vines. Social media activity is on the increase. First and foremost, the project’s library and computer centre on Lorraine is being well-utilised, free access to information technology and the internet is precipitating a knowledge revolution in the Fairhills’ community.

This all makes for a well-informed workforce that has a greater understanding of the world around him/her, a grasp of what is fair practice and what is not, an insight into current affairs and how to make informed decisions in an adolescent democracy, like South Africa’s. One also cannot discount how access to information can forge advancement in critical thinking and therefore, raise the value of human capital in these communities.

Improved employee-employer relations are a result. The recent labour upheaval in the agricultural sector was one such example. DuToitskloof and its associated producers experienced no issues. This is due in part to a successful empowerment project, but can also be attributed to a workforce that thinks critically, asks pertinent questions, can grasp basic economics and is informed enough to understand when someone/something is creating faux outrage for some external gain.

Not only can we thank our successful Fairhills Project and the FairTrade ethos for this blessing, but we need to thank the maturity of our community, staff members and foresight of the producers. Knowledge is power. Rather than legislating people out of poverty, a short-term solution with some painful consequences; we opted for a long-term permanent fix, educating, upskilling and informing people into greater prosperity. We all are bearing the fruits of this knowledge harvest that in turn, makes for a more successful, sustainable and pleasurable viticultural harvest.

 

Can Newer Wine Regions Make Waves?

Breedekloof Wine Route, surrounding the village of Rawsonville, can learn a tremendous amount from newer wine regions. Although the art of growing vines and making wine is an old, intrinsic art in the valley, the wine route as a marketing entity, is relatively new. Thus, the area faces numerous challenges in making a name for itself.

I picked up the new Essential Guide to South African Wines: Terroir & Travel (authors: Elmari Swart, Izak Smit); I was excited by its fresh look, reminding me of the graphics-rich DK Travel Guides. I was left disappointed, albeit not all that surprised, when I realised the Breede River Valley appeared glaringly absent, despite it being the largest, by-volume, contributor to Cape Winelands’ production.  There it finally was, Breedekloof and Worcester, given a concise, text-based description, alongside Plettenberg Bay and Orange River towards the end of the book.

Where I picked up this book was more significant though. I was in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, one of South Africa’s southernmost regions, just to the north of picturesque, whale-famous, Hermanus. It too, is a newer wine route, with Walker Bay only afforded full wine region status in May 2004. It has its shortcomings and strengths, as does our region, the Breedekloof. What we lack, they have and conversely: They have a tourist hub town, we do not; they have no major tarred through route, we do. This will soon change, as the R320 is being sealed from the Hemel-en-Aarde valley to the N2 in Caledon.

Their uniqueness as a region is glaringly obvious. Somehow the cellars are doing something out-of-the-ordinary here, that sets this region apart, even from juggernauts like Stellenbosch and Frasnchhoek. It’s quirky, fresh, accommodating and amenity-rich, without being commercial cheese. Could this be why this dead-end road with no sealed outlet (yet), appears to be thriving? Is it the power of Hermanus over the Camphill Ridge? Or is it that one cellar struts her stuff in Parisian burlesque garb, whilst another does so in traditional Cape-Dutch attire? One cellar oozes über-contemporary chic and the other, gothic revivalist grace? Is it that some are glaringly nouveau-riche and others, historic-conservationist and traditional? The diversity in a distance of barely 10km, was so much to take in: I was happy, in awe, but exhausted.

One may say we have an uphill battle, as the village of Rawsonville could never compete with the town, that is Hermanus. This is probably true for the foreseeable future; they just have the tourism critical mass already. They have the sea and the whales and we don’t. However, we do have greater wine volumes, offer better value-for-money, taller mountains and easier access to all parts of the Cape and the rest of South Africa for that matter. All our roads are already tarred, so why the lack of attention?

Could it lie in our ability to be quirky, to redefine ourselves and create that in our cellars: setting us apart, making ourselves unique? I’m still debating how this can be enacted, but one thing is for sure, Hemel-en-Aarde is one unique little area with some weird and wonderful cellars. If our wine route’s value-for-money, wine quality and statuesque beauty is anything to go by, our region could do the same. We just need to find that thing that defines us. We need to do that, which the regional juggernauts cannot do, and do it well. If a “dead-end valley” can do it, so can we.

Whine For the End Of the World

On a day like today, a scorching 38°C in December, one wonders how people can still think climate change is some psychotic-lobby-group myth. After a solid week-and-a-half of unseasonably hot weather, with humidity that is unheard of in our summers, you get plain peeved at those people’s opinions that deny the existence of scientific fact. They are basically saying, “Stuff you farmers, we don’t care if you need to make a living and the climate change you feel is real; we don’t live off the climate like you do, but our belief system knows better than your daily physical observations.”

Then I get to thinking: This could be the end! The summer solstice could precipitate Armageddon anyway, why moan? The Mayan long-count calendar ends the current 13^th b’ak’tun on the 21^st of December; for those in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice, I might add. So, is this the end of the world, or the end of a particular epoch? Or, as Y2K did, shall it pass with nothing more than another sunrise and sunset?

You may be forgiven for thinking it’s the end of the world in Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands or Tuvalu. Many of these atoll island nations are already planning their mass evacuations due to rising sea-levels. That stupid climate change again…

Or perhaps you’re in London and it’s once again, dreary and bloody cold, with those ‘lovely’ sunsets before four in the freekin’ afternoon! Does the world end in fire or ice? Well, to us in the Southern Hemisphere it must be fire, we’re burning up! To those in the United Kingdom, it must be a winter tempest of epic proportions. To the islanders, we’re all going to drown in water of biblical proportions.

For some, the apocalypse is delayed; it arrives in January with that long list of Christmas gifts gleefully charged with reckless abandon in December. Only, to later bite one’s bank account in the ‘other word for a donkey.’

So as 2012 comes to a close and we all reflect on the year and what may, or may not come, raise your glasses! Forget about all these troubles for a couple sacred days of vacation during the festive season. Forget if 2012 was great or not, forget if the apocalypse looms or not, forget if you’re a climate change skeptic or pundit. Just think: Is it hot or is it cold? Is it time for a red or a white? How many family and friends do I have? How much wine must I get?

For to whine at this time of year is futile, we shall thus wine. Wine and dine and worry about worldly troubles in 2013, for ‘tis the season to be mildly intoxicated with loved ones; as long as one takes public transit or stays put. Whatever the Mayans may have you believe; be certain: If no asteroid hits us, we’ll be looking after the grapes for you, despite our climate being a royal pain in the rear end. Rest assured we’ll be making you the best the vine has to offer for New Years 2013 and beyond.

Du Toitskloof wishes you and yours a trouble-free end to the 13^th b’ak’tun, a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year.