Vondeling Wines incorporating Bowwood vineyards, in the Voor-Paardeberg ward of Paarl, has just been awarded BWI Championship status, after several years of conservation and financial investment. The farm compromises 330ha of land, of which approximately 200ha is allocated for conservation. This area includes Boland Granite Fynbos, a vegetation type categorized as vulnerable according to the latest national list of threatened ecosystems.
The conservation area was the subject of an intensive post fire evaluation which resulted in over 1000 fynbos species being catalogued and geo-tagged on this 4000ha mountain. Many of these species are endemic to the Paardeberg, including Babiana noctiflora, Erica hippuris, Oscularia paardebergenis and Serruria roxburghii. Vondeling’s flagship wines, ‘Babiana’ and ‘Erica’ are named in honour of two of these species. A coffee-table book is to be released in April, cataloguing the cycle of fire and regrowth in Fynbos.
The working wine farm is subject to an ecological management plan that includes an innovative waste water management system, a recycling program and a comprehensive fire management system. Vondeling is also involved, together with neighbouring farms, in the establishment of a community pre-primary school with aftercare and school feeding facilities. Vondeling is a significant sponsor of the Paardeberg Sustainability Initiative’s NatReM project, which has a mandate to create 90 sustainable jobs in Natural Resource Management, including erosion control, invasive alien plant clearing and wildfire prevention.
For more information, please contact;
Jane Ferreira-Eedes
T) 021 869 8595
C) 083 324 6855
E) [email protected]
W) www.vondelingwines.co.za
