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LOMOND


Lomond is situated in the Uilenkraals River valley near Gansbaai at a latitude of 34 34' South. It forms part of the Cape Agulhas wine of origin. As the crow flies 8km from the sea, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet at the tip of Africa.

Having had the opportunity to develop a farm from the beginning it was important for us to be able to conserve the uniqueness of the area, with minimal contamination from our farming activities.

The farm lies within a valley where the natural fynbos is concentrated on the high lying areas and the lower lying areas being used for grazing. These previously cultivated lands were the focus area of our vine development, providing an array of slopes at latitudes from 30meters to 120 meters above sea-level. Prevailing winds blowing directly off the ocean in both a South Easterly and South Westerly direction provide consistent coolness throughout the Summer months with temperatures seldom reaching above 30 Celsius.
A cool climate with slow ripening is created.

The farm is over 800 hectares in extent and in our planning stage we earmarked the development of 350 hectares for vine cultivation with the rest of the farm being preserved to natural pristine fynbos,

Our aim was to eliminate as many risks as possible, and believing we had bought into a 'climate' in a new area which has all the potential to produce grapes for the making of unique quality wines, we would have to create a sustainable water source for our development. The Uilenkraals River meanders through the catchment and over the farm on its path to the sea just 8km away. In 1998 when we bought the farm it was almost impossible to find this river as due to neglect over many years the banks had become chocked up with alien vegetation.

Discussions initiated by ourselves with the local authorities and riparian owners identified the river as the only sustainable water resource for the area. Water restrictions were in place every year in summer for the local town of Gansbaai and surrounds and this was hindering any development in these towns.

A full consultative process was started by us into the building of a dam to satisfy all our needs in the area. Environmental impact assessment studies were conducted over the proposed area, a hydrology study of the catchment was carried out and various geotechnical reports were done. In conclusion of the whole process a dam could be built on the farm with a capacity of 6 mill. Cubic meters of water. The dam would have a surface area of 110hectares.

An inclusive Management plan was drawn up in consultation with Cape Nature and Dept. Water Affairs which has subsequently been incorporated into the Water Act governing riverine systems in South Africa. Parts of this management plan has proven to enhance the condition of the tidal estuary and river leading into it ,by simulating the natural flow of the system whereby all Summer flow is allowed through the dam and only 60% of Winter water is stored until the dam is full. At certain times of the year the dam assists in releasing sufficient water into the system for sustainable breeding of various invertebrates. The dam has allowed for better management of the 25 mill. Cubic meters of water that ran directly into the sea.

Prof.Eben Archer was then provided with all the relevant reports and a mapped plan ,on two meter contours .This showing the soil identities as plotted from a GPS. He then worked his magic in optimizing the 'terroir ' and providing a suggested planting plan consisting of blocks, row directions, varieties, rootstocks and clones. This plan further allowed us to identify and place channels and islands of natural vegetation amongst the plantings for the movement and development of fauna and breeding areas of natural predators.

Current plantings consist of 115 hectares with the following varieties Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Viognier, Nouvelle, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. A number of single vineyard wines have been made to express the diversity of the area. These wines have been named after various natural fynbos species found on the farm such as the Pincushion ( leucospermum ) Sugarbush ( protea ) Conebush ( leucadendron ).

We hope that these wines can help to promote and educate the public on the various fynbos species within the Cape Floral Kingdom by including an informative neck tie on the bottles.

Having the opportunity to develop vineyards on virgin soils in an uncontaminated environment it was very important for us to utilize an integrated system whereby we can manage our soils, our pests and diseases in a sustainable manner that is environmentally friendly. With a large dam being at the lowest point in the valley ,ultimately everything we do on the hills and slopes could have an impact on the dam and the quality of the riverine system. With this in mind we procured a range of organic and environmentally friendly inputs that we could utilize on the farm, this procurement process has grown to us forming a company that markets these products into the home garden market as well as to farmers called Biogrow.

I share some of the practices we have adopted to maintain long-term sustainability on the farm:

Irrigation- we installed pressure compensated drip irrigation in all the vineyards. This reduces water wastage and unnecessary leaching into groundwater. Scheduling is done to soil type and tensionmeters.

Fertilisation- We use a combination of naturally formulated organic fertilizers as well as water soluble chloride free fertilizers through the drip system. This has given us the opportunity to provide our soils with precision feeding according to the soil type and vine requirement with minimal loss to leaching and diffusion into the atmosphere.
The organic fertilizers are slow release and are available as a feed for up to 90 days as they are broken down microbially.

Cover crops and inoculations of micro-organisms into our soils, to maintain and enhance life in our soils have been undertaken. Winter cover crops are sown for there organic matter, reduction of erosion and habitat for the development of natural insect predators.

Compost teas are brewed with additional inoculations of beneficial fungi and bacteria and then watered into the soils via the dripper system.

Pest & Disease control- Pest control has been organic and strict monitoring programs have been implemented to detect an outbreak of pest activity. Tolerances are determined and the inspection for natural predators are conducted. If the balance between pest and predator needs to be restored then an organic spray is used to bring this balance back. In most cases a spot spray is used within an area, as when required with an increase in ant activity. Ants repel the natural predators of the mealybug. A further option is to release predators within these areas to increase the population required to bring the pest under control.

Further pest pressures that we have had to deal with include bollworm and snout beetle, control and balance has been maintained using Bacillus thuringiensis a natural bacteria only specific to controlling worms and with the spraying of natural neem oil at night when the snout beetle feeds, neem has anti-feeding properties and will not effect predators. The presence of guinea fowl and hadeda in the vineyards also do there bit.

With the threat of South Easterly rains directly off the ocean in summer being a real possibility for the area, fungicidal control was always going to be a challenge. It was for this reason that we could not rely solely on a preventative program and would require other options when need be. The first point was to make sure that the tractor spray cart ratio was correct to the amount of hectares needing control. We investigated a range of enviro-friendly options and the best way to manage our residue levels on the grapes, as well as the management of the resistance build up of the chemical to the disease. We have managed to reduce our initial fungicide program by 30% by using a new range of dual purpose nutrients, which provide elemental needs as well as fungicidal properties directly as well as boosting the vines self induced resistance to a disease.

With the addition of natural fulvic acid and canola oil to our herbicides we have reduced the amount of herbicide active by 20 %. Straw mulching under the vine has also reduced the weed population and has required less applications of herbicide.

As certain problem bird species do not go down very well with ripening grape berries, from the farmer's point of view. We have evolved a basket of deterrent methods and have come to the conclusion that a bit of everything helps to maintain a balance. These include hanging old CD and silver tape around the blocks to reflect in the sun, gas cannons that are sporadically moved around, increasing the grape load on the outside row of vines as a trade off and more recently we have planted many 6 meter poles with a perch on for the Peregrine falcons and Steppe Buzzards that frequent the farm and now sit above the vineyards eyeing out there prey.

The same happy medium has had to be maintained with the night time ventures of duiker and grysbok into the young vineyards. We collected hair from the local salons both pet and people and place this hair into stringed bags which are hung along there paths into the vineyards and this has reduced there movement into the vineyards.

We are constantly looking at new products and ideas to maintain a soft footprint on the environment.
We are involved in alien clearing programs on the farm in association with Working for Water and have adopted a management plan drawn up by the Walker Bay Fynbos Conservancy of which Lomond is a member.

Lomond further aspires to the principals of the Biodiversity Wine Initiative and is a member.