Johan Reyneke
BIODYNAMIC Grower/WINEMAKER
Reyneke Wines
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Johan Reyneke loves his cattle. His little herd meanders to the field where they will enjoy a day of grazing, alongside their trusty herders Cain and Gift. You cannot help but fall in love. Bess is everyone’s favorite, with her shiny copper-colored coat and pretty almond eyes, and Poodle, the white one, was named by Johan’s daughter. Lucky arrived at the farm very sick but luckily survived. Orphan, the long-horned bull, lost his mother when he was very young. And Swartji, the black one, is always interested in everything.
The cattle are Nguni, a breed that has spent the last 8,000 years roaming South Africa. Cain and Gift are descendants of Khoekhoe people, once nomadic herders. The people and their cattle existed together, moving contentedly through time as they do at Reyneke Farm. But the farm is not just about cattle. Here you will find a menagerie of Cape creatures big and small, fulfilling their bliss.
The Reyneke family moved to Stellenbosch in the late 1980s, when Johan was studying philosophy at Stellenbosch University. The story goes that Johan was in need of pocket money and found a job working in the fields on a farm. He was the only white guy and quickly realized how different his circumstances were from those of the people he was working with. His fellow workers shoved old newspapers into their clothes to insulate themselves in winter, while Johan could wear his expensive wetsuit to keep warm. The workers were barely making living wages and regularly had to work with conventional herbicides and pesticides. As Johan says, “With knowledge comes responsibility.” His paradigm shifted to environmental ethics, with an objective to create a new farming model in which the wellbeing of nature and of the people who cared for it was part of an interconnected whole.
Biodynamic farming is what Reyneke Farm is known for today, but it would take a few more twists and turns to get there. Eventually Johan had the opportunity to acquire Uitzicht Farm in the Polkadraai Hills overlooking Stellenbosch, a lovely 40-hectare (99-acre) farm established in 1863. Its Chenin Blanc vineyard, planted in 1972, has been certified as a heritage vineyard by the Old Vine Project of South Africa. At that point Johan did not know anything about biodynamic farming. He just knew chemical sprays were not good for humans or the land. So he began farming with what he thought were organic methods. The farm erupted into a frenzy of pests and diseases. He soon realized he would need more than good intentions to succeed.
Destiny intervened again. He met Jeanne Malherbe, a well-known biodynamic farmer from north of Stellenbosch. She took one look at his fields and smiled, explaining that organic did not mean neglect. She told him transitioning away from chemicals would require a lot of study from the great book of nature: “The weeds are the letters in the book and you must learn to read again.” She taught him about the value of weeds and the importance of soil and mentored him in the ways of biodynamics. It would lead to the fulfillment of his objective, the establishment of a utopian ecosystem in which every form of life on the farm could thrive. It took several years to get the balance right, but finally, in 2008, the first plot on the Reyneke Farm was certified biodynamic by Demeter. Johan has been expanding the biodynamic practices throughout the farm ever since.
Then more magic happened. An 80-hectare (198-acre) farm came on the market near Uitzicht Farm. The buyer liked what Johan was doing and said if he paid for half the farm, he could farm all of it. Of course he found a way, and today the two farms are collectively called Reyneke Farm. It is a lovely self-sufficient enclosure, just as Johan had envisioned. The best land is planted with vines, and the remainder complements the vineyards with vegetables and fruit, pasture for farm animals and pockets of South African fynbos everywhere.
An important lesson Johan has learned is to accept what he does not understand and let nature balance itself. The path may not always make sense, but healthy results provide undeniable evidence. Nature is, and will continue to be, his teacher. But he invites scientists and students to study whatever they wish to on the farm, comparing insects, soils and yeasts with those in other vineyards in the area. He thought there might be 50% more life in the microbiology of his farm, but it has turned out to be as much as 900% more!
One thing Johan does understand very well is the value of the people who work the land with him. He says, “You must respect the inherent value of people too!” Apartheid may be over, but economic inequities remain and are challenging to overcome. When he asked the workers what mattered to them most, they said home ownership and education for their children. His answer was creating Cornerstone, a Bordeaux-blend wine, so named because the workers are the cornerstone of the farm. Proceeds are used to help them with housing, fund education and provide pension funds. Workers also participate in decision-making around the farm so they can learn farm management and potentially run their own farms one day.
Transmuting the energy from the vineyards into wines is a huge responsibility. The winemaker needs to know how to nurture the transformation but also how to step aside and let nature speak for itself. As a surfer, Johan may possess intuitive insight into how the unseen currents of nature influence our lives. The journey from sea to shore defines the terroir of a wave just as terroir expresses itself in the grapes as they evolve throughout a vintage. This is what Johan hoped for when he began making wine on the farm: a vivid expression of its source, like surfing the wine’s terroir.
Reyneke Farm strives to respect all beings: people, animals, plants and soil. Says Johan, “Everyone and everything has a unique personality with contributions to offer to the whole.” Together they tell a story of a vibrant life. The collective energy illuminates the property as if everything were lit from within. The farm is thriving, above and below the earth, far beyond what the eye can see. It is nirvana found in the Polkadraai Hills.
Bibliography: Deep Ecology in the South African Wine Industry: The Biodynamic Approach and Its Ethical and Practical Implications — Johan Reyneke
Links to other Terroir Talking stories: Old Vines, Rosa Kruger, Surfing Terroir, Fynbos (Or just go with links in the story)