Our Regenerative Story
The core idea of regenerative agriculture revolves around working with nature, instead of against it,
to increase land productivity and biodiversity. A key factor in achieving this is the restoration of soil
health and fertility through increasing soil organic matter and closing the carbon cycle by farming in
harmony with nature.
Cover Crops
Whilst vines are hardy plants, we understand that it is important to sow cover crops to prevent the negative effects of monoculture plantings. We annually change and sow multiple different species of cover crops, each adding specific nutrients to the soil. These nutrients are like a diverse buffet for the microorganisms living in our soil, enriching its health and fertility.
Our Viticulturalist, Wilhelm Joubert, started playing with this idea in 2010. He began planting cover crops like Medics, which can capture nitrogen from the air and improve soil structure and biomass, and White Mustard, which is a natural bio-fumigant, to combat nematodes. By 2019 our approach evolved to what it is today: prioritizing purpose-specific, multi-species cover crops that increase biodiversity, soil health, and that can serve as nourishment for our animals.
Biological Control
Since the early 2000s, Hartenberg has been pesticide-free, pioneering the use of historically
indigenous insects to control pest insect populations instead. This includes the use of ladybirds to
help control outbreaks by preying on mealybugs, which transmit the disease. Two indigenous wasp
species, Anagyrus and Perminutus, also prey on mealybugs and are released in big numbers. The end
result of this is that all vineyards younger than eighteen years continue to be virus free.
Copper
Copper is allowed in organic wine farming (0,4gm per litre) and is used in vineyards to control downy
mildew, but we have chosen not to use it at Hartenberg. It is a heavy metal and bad for the micro-
organisms and life in our soils. It is the most common pesticide residue found in organic products but
is known to be harmful to all life forms.
IPW
Hartenberg is farmed organically and adheres to the IPW (Integrated Production of Wine) scheme
codes of conduct which focuses on sustainable wine production. The Integrity & Sustainability seal,
which can be found affixed to the neck of all our wines, guarantees consumers and buyers that we
have produced our wines in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way. Compliance with
the IPW guidelines is assessed annually and audited independently.
High Density Controlled grazing
Hartenberg first acquired cattle in 2017 to graze fallow lands and areas that otherwise had to be kept tidy with implements. Upon further research, Joubert soon discovered that grazing animals could actually have a positive effect on plant and soil health in the vineyards too, provided they are managed correctly. The combination of the treading effect from the cattle’s hooves, the pulling effect from the way they graze, as well as their saliva, manure, and urine all improve plant and soil health. Hartenberg is pioneering this technique and is currently in the process of measuring soil microbiology as well as the effects on the resultant wines made from these test patches to compare to the norm
Composting
A key question we ask ourselves regularly is “what waste are we generating?” and then we look for
solutions. As a business we generate waste in our restaurant and cellar. All the food waste from
Hartenberg’s restaurant is composted using the Swedish Jora system. The compost finds a home in
the extensive gardens on the farm. In the summer, around 200 kg of compost is produced per week
and 50 to 100 kg in the winter. The compost is applied as mulch and nurtures the health of the soil.
On a bigger scale, all garden refuse, and annual grape harvest skins and stalks are all mixed and
composted. A year later the resultant compost finds its way back to the vineyards.
Waterwise
Waste Water Recycling
Hartenberg is blessed with water from 5 springs that flow from the top of the Bottelary Hills. Careful
management and investment in protecting this resource means they have never, in over 300 years,
needed to connect to mains water.
The spring water is of a very high quality and flows through a network of pipes around the estate to
where it is needed. Almost 2 decades ago, Dr Eric Smollgruber, an Austrian aquatic engineer, advised
Carl Schultz on how to improve our waste water management to ensure that every drop is reused.
We recycle all the waste water from the cellar, tasting room, restaurant and houses on the estate.
Hartenberg’s water has been a closed system for 15 years; the water reused over and over again.
Irrigation
Another way in which we are pioneering the conservation of water is through investing in sub-soil
irrigation. This super-effective method comprises irrigation pipes that are buried in the ground so
that water is drip fed directly to the roots of the vines, negating the water evaporation that occurs in
standard above-ground irrigation. Hartenberg has also switched from daylight to night time
irrigation thereby reducing evaporation by 10-20%.
Pressure bomb reading
Hartenberg purchased the first Pressure Bomb Reading kit in South Africa in the late 1990’s. This test
allows a high level of accuracy in determining the water needs of a plant and is the only instrument
of its kind to measure levels of water in the plant as opposed to soil moisture levels.
The implement measures the amount of pressure needed to push sap out of a leaf’s stem. This
pressure is the same as the pressure the plant needs to exert to extract water from the soil. From
this reading a viticulturist can judge what amount of water stress the vine is experiencing and
consequently the need to irrigate or not.
Rewilding the ecosystem
Wetlands
Our estate is around 170 hectares of which 65 hectares is an extensive wetland, comprising indigenous plants including bullrushes which are renowned for their fibrous root systems that are natural water filters.
Over a period of a decade, starting in 1995, we removed copious amounts of alien trees from the wetlands, including Syringa, Black Wattle, Blue Gum, Pine, Port Jackson and Sesbania. This has led to increased soil water levels and longer run-offs after rain, and has allowed the indigenous plants to thrive. The protected wetland area attracts a large variety of birds (85 species in total), buck, wild cat and caracal. Two of the best indicators of successful sustainable farming and an absence of pollution in
the Cape are the presence of frogs and Cape Francolin and we are delighted to have an abundance o
Family & Staff Nurturing
There is global concern for the welfare of workers employed in the South African wine industry.
Hartenberg is a family-owned business and the Mackenzie family have a long history of retaining
staff and uplifting their knowledge and skills.
Social commitment is valued with sponsored after-school facilities and adult literacy classes provided
for our permanent cellar and vineyard staff. Staff are transported to and from work free of charge,
and their children to and from school at the company’s expense, using buses from a local BEE (Black
Economic Empowerment) company.
To quote our Cellarmaster, Carl, “wine doesn’t like change” and Hartenberg’s history of retaining
staff ensures that the knowledge of our team grows each year, and this is reflected in the increasing
quality of our wines.
Frequently Asked Questions
While Regenerative Agriculture has no one, set, agreed-upon definition, most of the literature
surrounding it agrees that it takes a holistic approach to increasing land productivity and
biodiversity. A key factor in achieving this is the restoration of soil health and fertility through
increasing soil organic matter and closing the carbon cycle by farming in harmony with nature.
At its core, Regenerative Agriculture is not about sustaining our environment, but actively healing it
through our farming practices and leaving our planet – the land, waters and climate – in a better
condition than when we started.
Most proponents of Regenerative Agriculture support Organic Agriculture, but see them as two
separate, complementary systems.
Regenerative Agriculture is outcome-based and puts focus on principles, while organic is a labelling
term that indicates products were produced using verified organic practices.
According to “The Carbon Underground,” an organization advocating for the reversal of climate
change through the restoration of soil, the reason for the distinction is two-fold.
Firstly, in order to achieve the lofty goals of reversing climate change through closing the carbon
cycle, as many farmers as possible must be encouraged and enabled to adopt Regenerative
Agriculture practices, something that may be hampered by the requirements of an Organic
certification.
Furthermore, while both Regenerative Agriculture and Certified Organic prohibit the use of artificial
chemical inputs, the latter does not guarantee carbon drawdown and the rehabilitation of topsoil.
Copper is also allowed in organic wine farming (0,4gm per litre) and is used in vineyards to control
downy mildew, but Hartenberg has chosen not to use it. It is a heavy metal and bad for the micro-
organisms and life in our soils. It is the most common pesticide residue found in organic products but
is known to be harmful to all life forms.
Regenerative and Sustainable are often used interchangeably, but the difference is quite clear when
one considers the meaning of each word regardless of the context. The first requires, for example,
the maintenance of soil health through various techniques, while the latter focuses on the critical
need to restore soil health, re-balance the water and carbon cycles, create new topsoil, and then
grow crops in a regenerative way that enables nature to sustain these systems.