"There is so much guff spilt about ‘organic principles’ in wine marketing spiel across the world of wine. And when claims are made, we – the wine press, are prone to parrot them mindlessly. Greenwashing is rife throughout the world. It takes a bold heart and a tolerant wallet to lose a crop to rot rather than treat – it’s a hard road to hoe yet Alex Dale, the Chairperson of Organic Wines South Africa, feels it is the right and only path to tread."
Wine journalist Lisse Garnett and Alex get candid (as first published in Wine Anorak UK on 3.3.25)...
ALEX DALE OF RADFORD DALE HAS CO-FOUNDED A NEW ASSOCIATION TO FOSTER THE COLLABORATION AND GROWTH OF THIS IMPORTANT SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA. ORGANIC WINES SOUTH AFRICA’S TWELVE MEMBERS FOLLOW STRINGENT EU RULES AND OFFER A COLLABORATIVE OPEN-DOOR APPROACH TO CONVERTS – THOUGH GREENWASHERS NEED NOT APPLY
In the thirty-odd years since South Africa ended racial segregation, winemaking has evolved exponentially. The isolationist cellar palate of the nationalised KWV[1] has retreated into the dubious murk of past political follies – during its tenure generations of growers were paid by weight and sugar level alone.
Today South Africa is one of the most exciting fine wine-producing nations on the planet.
South Africans have shown great ingenuity and humility, they’ve travelled extensively, worked hard and learned fast – quality has risen sharply. World-class wine has emerged from clodhopping state-sponsored mass production. Last year prices of South African wine saw a moderate rise despite an extremely tough market. Yet when it comes to organic production South Africa lags far behind Europe.
Organic wine consumption in the UK is bucking the gloom of downward volume trends.[2] Being organic is good for business. Anyone who has bounced their way across the sprung splendour of a certified organic vineyard – humming with insects and life, will notice a difference when eyeing its chemically treated counterpart. Systemic herbicides are widely used to control weed growth in vineyards across the wine-producing world, stripped of all vegetation, nature’s oozing fecund fatness quickly morphs into barren desolation.
There are many levels of chemical use, some ethical growers strive to use the absolute minimum only when necessary. Much is being made today of regenerative and sustainable viticulture, both terms are currently unregulated and therefore open to flexible and loose use, soil health is the goal. Truly organic certified vineyards are required to meet rigorous fixed criteria, there is no in-between, no halfway house – if you achieve organic certification, you must follow the rules.
There is so much guff spilt about ‘organic principles’ in wine marketing spiel across the world of wine. And when claims are made, we – the wine press, are prone to parrot them mindlessly. We are hardly going to go and check out back for chemicals, though I confess I have spied them on the premises of ‘organically farmed’ operations before. Greenwashing is rife throughout the world. It takes a bold heart and a tolerant wallet to lose a crop to rot rather than treat – it’s a hard road to hoe yet Alex Dale, the Chairperson of Organic Wines South Africa, feels it is the right and only path to tread. He believes wine is produced in the vineyard, as do the other seminal members of Organic Wines South Africa, Avondale, Joostenberg Estate, Lazanou Organic Vineyards, Longridge Wine Estate, Noble Hill, Org de Rac Organic Wine Estate, Reyneke Wines, Sophie Germanier Wines, Spier and Stark-Condé.
Alex Dale arrived in South Africa in 1994, three months after Mandela became president. His Godfather is Cliff Roberson of Roberson Wines, and they share a moral compass. Cliff has planted thousands of trees in the UK in memory of his son Luke. He’s an old hippy at heart who has always championed the underdog. Alex too, has a clear and true commitment to the environment and a passion for fine wine. He adores Burgundy and having worked there for ten years, takes much of his inspiration from the region.
Alex Dale and Ben Radford chose Helderberg Mountain as a location because it’s close to the fresh and breezy ocean. Organic has long been their aim, they scored 95 points for their zero-sulphur organic Syrah from Vor-Perderberg in 2005, when organic wine became the focus of the business.
Buying organic grapes was always a struggle so when a respected grower of organic grapes in Elgin asked them to step in and buy him out, they couldn’t say no. This was the height of the Covid epidemic when wine sales and exports were forbidden in South Africa. But a twenty-hectare farm planted almost twenty years prior with Burgundian Pinot and Chardonnay clones, as well as Cabernet Franc – that had never seen pesticides, was too good to pass up. They have now planted Gamay too – they were the first to plant Gamay vines in South Africa for over a generation. Today they have six Gamay vineyards on three mountains.
To this day Radford Dale is the only certified organic producer in Elgin.
Alex Dale: “South Africa has done so much to catch up with the rest of the wine world over the past 30 years, but we are still behind with our viticulture. We have dozens of great young winemakers who are making exceptional wine, most often with bought fruit. Here the culture has not prioritised growing the best possible fruit, it has been more about winemaking. Things have improved massively but there is still a proliferation of herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilisers. People say they are working organically; they claim the certification is too expensive outwardly because that’s what the market wants to hear but many are not farming organically at all.”
“We started working in Elgin in 2004 when I woke up to global warming. I’d been in Burgundy where in 2003 my mates were forced to pick in August for the first time. Stellenbosch picks three to four weeks earlier than when I moved here in 1994. In Elgin, we get cooling winds that, combined with our altitude, allow us to make wines with more finesse and natural acidity; lithe and beautiful perfumed Pinot Noir has become our focus. Elgin has the highest rainfall of all the South African wine regions, and we pick a month later than Stellenbosch.”
Lisse G: Why are you pushing organic so vigorously?
Alex: “We are doing this because we think the vineyard has the biggest impact on our wines. We also think that South Africa needs to up its viticultural game. This is not a box-ticking marketing exercise to promote buzzwords like sustainability on our labels and nor are we dogmatic, we simply see it as a way of life and a philosophy of how we want to farm. Winemaking takes one month of the year, for the rest of the year the work takes place in the vineyard..”
Lisse G: Greenwashing is a lot more common than people think, in the UK I see a lot of guff in wine, less so from producers, more so from individuals seeking media attention by allying themselves to a worthy cause to create traction for self-advancement. Is there any way to game organic certification?
Alex: “We use the EU standard of organic certification (EcoCert), which is incredibly rigorous, some of us are going for US certification too. It is another cost and it’s difficult enough to make money in this industry. There is also a time cost and a huge amount of bureaucracy. Not only that but the organic products you are permitted to use are costly too. Labour costs are higher, you need to be skilled and it’s time-consuming. Someone like Eben Sadie does everything organically but doesn’t want to certify; he is credible. Being certified organic, however, removes any doubt and obliterates dogma. For members of our association greenwashing is a real issue, we all know producers who do it when buyers or journalists are present. We want to eliminate any doubt by walking the walk as well as talking the talk.”
Lisse G: What are the criteria for joining Organic Wines South Africa?
Alex: “You can join us if you are certified organic in winemaking, or if in conversion, you can join us if you are an organic grower, even if you don’t make organic wine – we will however only show certified organic wine at our tastings and events. We in the association share a fundamental core belief that we need to stop using chemicals or genuinely diminish them to the very best of our ability.”
Lisse G: How important is the UK market to South Africa?
Alex: “The UK market is receptive to fine South African wine in a way that Asia and much of the rest of Europe isn’t. There is a much bigger understanding of and enthusiasm for South African wine. It’s possible to go to the UK with fine wines and find a market. The UK trade has always supported South African wine, there is a cultural link, there is a linguistic link – there is rugby. As producers, we all look to France when we talk about the best wines in the world but when we think about selling our wines we look to the UK.”
Lisse G: Times are hard everywhere, is there not ample justification for cutting corners in such an economic climate?
Alex: “So many committed organic producers in Europe have lost crops and had a terrible time in 2024 and we have disease pressure here too, but not to the extent you see in Europe. I don’t think we can throw the baby out with the bath water; 2024 was a freak year in Europe.
Younger producers are way more concerned about the future of the earth, about what we put in our bodies, and the way we treat one another. Things are coming to a speedy head. We as producers have got to embrace it. The wine market is shrinking and consumers want organic wine.”
Lisse: What are the specific challenges of growing organic in South Africa and what are the benefits?
Alex: “The upside is we have less summer rainfall and many of us enjoy afresh and windy ocean influence which diminishes disease pressure. At Radford Dale we have gone at it full throttle, all of our vineyards are certified organic and we are ahead of the curve on light bottles and packaging materials too. We work with The Wine Society, and they are very strict about these things. When I read through their new compliance documentation, I saw we were already doing everything they asked for which was a huge plus.”
Lisse: What about the argument that chemical cross-contamination renders organic viticulture pointless?
Alex: “You might have a point in somewhere like Burgundy where people own tiny plots but here the farms are large. In Elgin one of our neighbours has planted an orchard next door to one of our vineyards, so we planted a windbreak and consulted EcoCert, the organic certification agency, and they’ve said that for the first eight years, until the windbreak has grown enough to be functional, we cannot use the first ten rows of vines that face the orchard. Until the hedgerow is large enough to do its job we cannot use those grapes. EcoCert will measure and analyse samples; you can’t bend the rules.”
Lisse: Does organic wine taste better?
Alex: “There is a tension a liveliness to organic wine that I especially enjoy. There is an intricacy and a lightness to them that I love. Generally, organic producers extract less, oak less, manipulate less, use less sulphur and produce wines with lower alcohol levels. Less really is more in this case.”
Lisse G: Why does organic viticulture matter?
Alex: “Younger consumers get it way better than our generation, they care about the environment, and they will embrace change. It’s not hocus-pocus – I believe that we cannot carry on as we are and so do the other eleven producers of Organic Wines South Africa.
We need to be doing the right thing, we should be looking after the earth, empowering people and thinking about what we eat and drink because it’s the right thing to do, nothing more, nothing less.”
THE WINES – a unique mini vertical of Radford Dale’s stunning Loire Valley-inspired Cabernet Francs
Radford Dale Organic Estate Higher Purpose Cabernet-Franc 2024 (Elgin) 13.5% Alcohol. Whole bunches and berries were placed into concrete eggs for 2 weeks for carbonic maceration and aged in third to fifth-use barrels. Blackcurrant and violets, oregano and thyme – sweet and peppery, silky and fresh with a hint of high church incense. Such a pleasure to drink a fresh, light, dazzlingly bright ruby-coloured perfumed beauty like this. 94
Will reach the UK imminently, circa £26.00 Les Caves de Pyrene
Radford Dale Organic Estate Higher Purpose Cabernet-Franc 2023 (Elgin) 13% Alcohol. Fermented in concrete, aged in old French barrels. Salty plum and strawberry, cherry and expensive French perfume, such a lovely pretty dry silky structured sup. Luminescent, light, fresh and so charming. 94
Radford Dale Organic Estate Higher Purpose Cabernet-Franc 2022 (Elgin) 13% Alcohol. Whole bunch, fully carbonic, macerated in concrete eggs. Hauntingly perfumed and electric with crunchy redcurrant/blackcurrant freshness and zip. Silky moreish granular tannins and a light savoury hint of green forest – so movingly pretty with fragrant flowers and herbs that it lifted my cold damp Sussex-based spirits. Lovely. 94