Green Wine Tourism

The world’s first biodiversity wine route & eco route

The Green Mountain Eco Route combines attractions including wine farms, activities, events, accommodations, restaurants, wedding & conference venues. It offers scenic beauty, natural diversity of terroir and a wide range of wine styles. Whether you want to crank uphill on your mountain bike, hike through acres of fynbos, experience a unique wine tasting with the winemakers, or enjoy meals made from locally grown produce, the Green Mountain Eco Route has things to do for everyone.

BWI members participating on this route include: Beaumont Wines,Eikenhof Farm, Mofam Trust, Molteno Brothers,Oak Valley Wines & Paul Cluver Wines.

www.greenmountain.co.za

South Africas Darling the first entire Wine District to obtain BWI membership
Darling, less than an hour's drive from Cape Town, is the first wine producing district to be awarded membership status by the Biodiversity Wine Initiative (BWI) with all individual farms, including Cloof, Burghers Post, Groote Post, Ormonde, as well as Darling Cellars, achieving accreditation.

www.darlingtourism.co.za

Press Release:
A WORLD FIRST FOR DARLING'S NATURE
Darling, less than an hour's drive from Cape Town, is the first wine producing district to be awarded membership status by the Biodiversity Wine Initiative (BWI) with all individual farms, including Cloof, Burghers Post, Groote Post, Ormonde, as well as Darling Cellars, achieving accreditation. Desk top research indicates that this is a world-wide first with no similar achievement elsewhere in the wine producing world.

Inge Kotze from the BWI explains "This exemplary wine district encapsulates BWI's central philosophy of conservation and continual improvement of all aspects of environmental management on the farm. With the guidance and support of Darling Tourism, they have worked very effectively at their continual environmental improvement to conserve highly threatened habitats".

Spokesperson for the Darling Wine and Art Experience Shaun Mc Laughlin continues "Anecdotal research informs us that visitors to wine cellars are looking for a restorative and recuperative experience in a country and rural environment when on their "Power Breaks" from the city. The granting of membership status to the entire district together with an ever burgeoning tourism offering means that this is provided in an area that's less than an hour's drive from Cape Town".

He continues "This recognition is testimony to our farmers' desire to leave the district in an even better state for generations to come. Take Peter Pentz from Groote Post who was one of the pioneers in the creation of the West Coast Biosphere or Oscar Foulkes from BWI Champion farms Cloof and Burghers Post whose inspiration is derived from standing on the Southern boundary of the farm and seeing the tangible benefit of their alien clearing program - inside the farm land is reverting to natural vegetation. The view back towards Cape Town over others' land is a green desert of thousands of hectares of alien Port Jackson. Tukulu's commitment to their already popular Organic range is yet another example of this testimony as is Ormonde's dedicated conservation efforts".

"What makes this district's dedication all the more remarkable" says farmer John Duckitt who supplies his grapes to Darling Cellars, "is that the wildflowers and vineyards flourish in the same soils, meaning that the preservation of flower reserves in and around Darling is at the expense of vineyard plantings".

Inge Kotze concludes "It is incredibly rewarding to see members progressing from individual membership to compliance at a district level, demonstrating how this project is all about action on the ground through the ongoing dedication and commitment to conserving our unique Cape wine lands".