Biodiversity & Wine Initiative

The BWI is a pioneering partnership between the South African wine industry and the conservation sector. The goals are to minimise the further loss of threatened natural habitat, and to contribute to sustainable wine production, through the adoption of biodiversity guidelines by the South African wine industry.

One of the strategies of the BWI is to identify and enlist interested producers as members or champions of the initiative, who will implement the biodiversity guidelines, conservecritical ecosystems and incorporate a biodiversity story into their winery experience.

Biodiversity highlights: Area conserved – 50ha.

Boland Granite Fynbos (classified as an endangered veld type) and small fragments of Swartland Granite Renosterveld (critically endangered). Forms part of the proclaimed Koopmanskloof Private Nature Reserve. Member of the Bottelary Hills Renosterveld Conservancy.

Louisenhof Wines, owned by Stefan Smit and situated along the Koelenhof Road outside Stellenbosch, prides itself in its slogan “Wines produced in harmony with nature”. Stefan Smit, cellar master and owner of Louisenhof studied in Europe where he became intensely aware of the sensitivity of the environment. While still in business with his father (Oom Stevie Smit from Koopmanskloof), Stefan produced the first bio-organic wine in South Africa in 1991.

Furthermore, Louisenhof Wines is a current member of the Bottelary Hills Renosterveld Conservancy, which is a landowner association that is conserving a large area of renosterveld on the Bottelary hills. On one of Louisenhof’s farms called Steeneveld, an area of approximately 45ha exists of pristine Boland Granite Fynbos (classified as an endangered vegetation type) and small amounts of Swartland Granite Renosterveld (critically endangered). This natural area is directly adjacent to Koopmanskloof (which was one of the first BWI members) and is part of the proclaimed Koopmanskloof private nature reserve. Previous plant recordings indicate that these renosterveld-covered hills have numerous rare plant species.

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