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| Area Conserved: |
| 89 ha |
| Wine District: |
| Stellenbosch |
| Owner / Contact Person: |
| Anne du Plessis |
| Phone: |
| (021) 884 4940 |
| Website: |
| www.delheim.com |
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Biodiversity highlights: Area conserved – 89ha.
Founder of the Klapmutskop Conservancy, which has been cleared of all alien vegetation and where pristine yellowwood forest can still be found at the top (see in photo below). |
Delheim is situated in the Simonsberg region and owned by wine veteran, Spatz Sperling. Today, his daughter and son (Nora and Victor Sperling) are helping him to continue this work with even more gusto and environmental sensitivity. The Sperling property extends over 364 hectares (consisting of the farms Delheim and the Delvera), of which, at least a quarter are fynbos conservation areas, 150ha are planted to vine and the rest is a pine plantation.
In 2004, Spatz Sperling collaborated with local farmers and founded the 54-hectare Klapmutskop Conservancy in order to help protect the Swartland Shale Renosterveld originally found there, before the gum plantations took over. Together with Cape Nature Conservation and the LandCare programme of Department of Agriculture, the landowners elected to rid the area of alien vegetation. This conservation initiative also gave way for the Delvera Vineyard Trail and the Agri-Tourism Centre, which offers everything from a cheesery, a nursery, café, a wine tasting area, a wine trail, a hiking trail and a mountain bike trail, and cottage accommodation on the farm. A portion of the hiking and biking permit fee is donated to the conservancy. Delheim hope to soon upgrade their status to champion by fulfilling the stringent BWI champion criteria.
Klapmutskop Conservancy members include: Delheim, Elsenburg, Easthill, Le Bonheur, and Warwick.
Delheim is the Seventh BWI Champion
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