What is IPW?

Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) is an industry-wide, technical system of sustainable wine production. One of the most important principles of IPW is that production should proceed in harmony with nature -a principle shared by the BWI. The scheme has been in existence since 1998 and is published under the Liquor Products Act (Act No. 60 of 1989). It consists of guidelines, consisting of recommendations of what should be done, as well as minimum standards.

In order to qualify grapes or wine as IPW-registered, producers are required to complete the IPW evaluation forms for the farm and for the cellar. An IPW registration certificate is issued if the minimum required score is obtained. Spot audits are conducted on a random sample of farms and cellars every year by two independent auditors. A recent introduction to the IPW audit procedure is that producers can specifically request an IPW audit. If compliant with all requirements, an IPW Conformance Certificate will be issued, which can be used for marketing purposes and to fulfill specific sustainability reporting requirements of buyers and retailers.

Biodiversity Guidelines & IPW

The IPW guidelines for farms consist of 15 chapters which address all cultivation aspects such as correct selection of cultivars, vineyard layout, irrigation, Integrated Pest Management, pruning, etc. Previously, the content of chapter 2 entitled "Conservation and improvement of the farm and vineyard environment", was minimal and did not adequately address certain issues such as threatened ecosystems such as renosterveld or lowland fynbos or the need to remove alien plant invasive plants. Therefore, the contents of this section were distributed to a number of conservation experts for comment by the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative. In May 2004, a revised version of Chapter 2 was officially accepted by the IPW Committee for the 2004/5 production years. Chapter 2 of IPW is now more commonly referred to as the "Biodiversity Guidelines".

It is these specific guidelines which the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative is seeking to promote and assist producers to implement. All producers will be required to evaluate their farms for the 2005 harvest, based on these new guidelines. A 1-page summary of the biodiversity guidelines is available for download. The BWI has produced a biodiversity guideline self-assessment form which consists of 10 questions to help guide the producer in allocating the appropriate score for this section on the overall IPW evaluation forms, and point out areas that farm management can improve on.