Lessons from SA's first regenerative verified wine farm

Earlier this year, Hartenberg Wine Estate, owned by the Mackenzie family, became the first wine farm in South Africa, and the second in the world, to achieve regenerative verification under the Ecological Outcome Verification framework. Viticulturist Wilhelm Joubert shared the lessons they have learnt on this transformative journey.

- Glenneis Kriel

Many South African farmers have adopted conservation agriculture practices over the years, such as minimum tillage, crop rotation, and soil coverage through stubble retention or mulches.

These practices have delivered tangible benefits, ranging from improved soil health and structure to better water-holding capacity, reduced erosion, and increased resilience during droughts and floods.

Wilhelm Joubert, viticulturist of Hartenberg Wine Estate in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, however, believes these practices can only take you so far: “To unlock their full potential, you need to add an animal factor – and manage those animals properly.”

While animal integration is often touted as a regenerative practice, Joubert cautions that it is frequently used rather as a marketing gimmick than being meaningfully implemented.

“Many operations nowadays claim to be regenerative, but if you dig deeper, the animals are not playing a functional role in the system,” he says.

At Hartenberg, authenticity drives the approach. Stellenbosch University has been invited to study the impacts of their regenerative transition, with South Africa Wine continuing the research to get longer-term results.

Although the initial study period has been too short for firm conclusions to be drawn, early findings suggest that fertilising cover crops brings minimal benefits in terms of dry matter production or cattle weight gain.

Joubert says that gains are so small that it does not justify the additional input costs.

Since embarking on this journey, the estate has also been comparing wines from regenerative blocks to wines from non-regenerative blocks. However, almost all its vineyards, except for controls, have been switched to regenerative agriculture since 2023.