With the influence of the icy Benguela ocean current and a constant breeze, wine grape production at Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate already has two advantages over its nearest competitors.

Wine production comprises 66,25ha while property and hospitality operations are located on the 220ha lifestyle estate, a large portion of which is a nature reserve in the Kogelberg Biosphere.

Benguela Cove is on the road that connects Kleinmond and Grabouw to Hermanus in the Overberg region of the Western Cape. Yields are in the region of 8t/ha and 350  000 bottles are produced per year.

Placed 53rd in the World’s Best Vineyards 2023 rankings, the agricultural side of this business and the day-to-day running of the farm is managed by Jaco Mouton.

Born and raised in Calitzdorp, Mouton attended Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute and worked for Simonsig for five years, benefitting from the mentorship of the Malan Family. Immediately before joining Benguela Cove as farm manager, he worked at Mount Rosier in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village.

In a business deal that may signify some of the different thinking that Benguela Cove owners Penny Streeter and husband Nick Rea bring, Mouton is contracted to not only manage the farming business but also its associated staff complement.

Prior to Streeter steering the whole Benguela Cove ship as owner in 2013, she was one of the house owners on the estate, selected primarily because of its proximity to the sea and being able to launch their boat there.

Benguela Cove’s previous owners sold under duress after a death in the family, and with the risk of the estate being carved up, Streeter decided to purchase it all and take control.

Mouton joined Benguela Cove in 2009, while Johann Fourie, who left KWV to join the Benguela team, did so after Streeter took over. Fourie built the cellar, and since he became involved, the estate has become one of the primary award-winning producers.

Mouton explains: “The main move was away from chasing volume and selling grapes to focusing on creating quality wines ourselves. “The quantity you produce is often irrelevant.

We need to produce for a quality-sensitive market. We are very lucky that the owners are so supportive, and I think our strong sales and many awards mean we’re delivering the goods. The farm has done and continues to do quite well, which is largely due to the outstanding team here.

“It’s exceptional in terms of its proximity to the sea. I don’t know of another estate that has all these attributes. We are less than 2km from the ocean as the crow flies. Because of this, there is a completely different terroir here.

“We have a near-constant breeze, which helps protect against downy mildew, and the lagoon that surrounds us is such a large body of water that it also brings climate benefits.”

Being only about 20m above sea level also helps. “We are in a water-scarce area. Grabouw, as an example, gets double the rainfall and soils are much more fertile there but the disease pressure is also far higher than in our area.

“Benguela Cove is a WWF [Conservation] Champion because of our positive practices and we as farmers and the homeowners here take our location in a nature reserve very seriously,” Mouton says.

New plantings

They are increasing plantings of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.

“We currently have one block of Merlot but are adding a second. Chardonnay has already increased from 1,2ha to 2,5ha and new plantings now bring it to about 3,5ha. We tried to increase the size of some blocks by combining them. Selective corridors are still left to enhance biodiversity,” he adds.

“We follow vertical shoot positioning in quite a standard way, with spacing being anything from 1m to 1,2m, depending on the varietal, while row width is anything from 2,5m to 2,7m and mostly determined by size of the implement.”

They use a mechanical picker for Sauvignon Blanc, “but even that is not without challenges, and it has broken down before”, says Mouton.

“We typically have to pick Sauvignon Blanc in a two-week period. We prune some early and some late to extend the picking season by an extra week or two. We might have 90 people during peak picking season.

“It is a fallacy that mechanical picking impacts the quality negatively. I think sometimes the increased exposure to the skins produces a better product,” he says.

Irrigation

Irrigation has changed from micro-sprayers to drip irrigation, Mounton says. “Rather than using probes to test moisture in the soil, we test the leaf using the pressure ‘bomb’ system, where a leaf is contained and pressurised. The amount of moisture it produces under pressure indicates its stress levels.

“Cover crops are very effective in retaining moisture. We roll the cover crops to break stems so they lie flat and maintain their integrity.

“Especially a variety like Malbec, which is so sensitive to water, may look dry and then we think, okay, let’s give it a little bit of water and then boom, the grapes have swollen and you can’t get rid of that water in time,” explains Mouton.

“In dry years, crop reduction is a major tool to ensure stress management and quality. Remember, we are not looking for average, it must be for perfect.

“The cover crop mix is about eight different seeds and some are nitrogen

binding radish that breaks up the soil, wild mustard for bees and canola this year; typical grains too like lupins and field peas.

“This farm is quite fertile and with good canopy management practices throughout the year, it even increases yield but we manage it strictly down to get to the desired quality. We also do post-harvest quality sorting at the cellar.”

Integrated Pest management

Mouton says the pressure is high at the top end of the quality game.

“No quality wine can come from sick grapes so we must make sure our vines are healthy. We spray in as environmentally friendly a way as possible and use sulphurs and coppers rather than hard fungicides or insecticides.”

Natural predators help control mealybug, for example, and they follow other integrated pest management practices.

They protect against grapevine leafroll-associated virus as this can affect the taste.

“I always strive to get better. But, if someone tells me to only spray garlic water on the vines to ensure they are healthy I can’t risk that or risk delivering sick grapes to the cellar.

We are quite involved in trials and we are on the forefront of what works and what doesn’t.

“We focus a lot on soil health. All farmers should be open to organics, but it is a gradual transition that works better in certain areas than others. We don’t use harmful herbicides such as paraquat, diquat or glyphosate.

He adds: “Farmers have a choice of chemicals; some are more harmful than others. As a farmer I know it is quite difficult to be organic, especially at the high end.

“New varieties are resistant to certain disease but they may be GMO [genetically modified organisms], which opens another can of worms. I maintain that if the world goes only organic farming from tomorrow, half the population will go without food.”

While baboons are not a risk factor, helmeted guinea fowl kick up the cover crop.

“Starlings are becoming a problem and we use nets to control them. We are also looking at other environmentally friendly deterrents like lasers. We cover some block ends and isolated vineyards where they are more prone to damage.”

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