The Journey’s Finish property sits in a magical location on the southeastern tip of Stellenbosch, going through the Atlantic and ignored by Helderberg Mountain – Afrikaans for ‘shining mountain’. Its vineyards profit from a singular terroir, with 350-million-year-old decomposed granite soils and the cooling sea breeze from False Bay, identified regionally because the ‘Cape Physician’.
Initially from Shropshire, the Gabb household have been struck by the pure fantastic thing about the location, and based the vineyard in 1996. ‘It’s a ravishing place to make wine,’ says winemaker Mike Dawson. ‘So the first goal and focus at Journey’s Finish is to provide terroir-driven wine, with minimal manipulation.’
Winemaker Mike Dawson within the Journey’s Finish vineyard. Credit score: Halima Beale
Preserving, not exploiting, the land
Simply as highly effective, nevertheless, is Journey’s Finish’s want to guard this particular surroundings and protect it for future generations. That is the philosophy behind quite a few initiatives within the vineyard and vineyards, together with planting 10,500 spekboom succulent crops on the property to seize carbon.
‘We attempt to reuse and recycle completely the whole lot that we will,’ says Dawson; the vineyard’s waste water, for instance, is handled and recycled, and the farm captures rainwater to make use of ‘for drip irrigation – versus placing stress on native assets.’
Journey’s Finish was the second vineyard in South Africa to transform to solar energy. ‘The roofs of our cellars are utterly lined in photo voltaic panels,’ notes Dawson. ‘We’ve just lately put in a ginormous inverter and battery station, so even on overcast days, we’re nonetheless in a position to retailer electrical capability. Which means we’re utterly off-grid.’
Spekboom bushes on the Journey’s Finish property. Credit score: Halima Beale
Sustaining the neighborhood
At Journey’s Finish, caring for the surroundings is inherently linked to caring for the folks residing in that surroundings. The Journey’s Finish Basis was launched on the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 to assist sort out starvation and poverty in native communities. ‘We’ve got six totally different female-run soup kitchens,’ explains Dawson. ‘Anybody from the neighborhood can go there and have a nutritious meal on daily basis.’ The inspiration has handed out over 5 million meals – and counting – and helps schooling and neighborhood outreach programmes to guard folks from bullying and help victims of gender-based violence.
Journey’s Finish will proceed to develop and develop each its neighborhood and environmental initiatives. ‘On the finish of the day, we’re simply custodians of the land that we farm on,’ concludes Dawson. ‘So for future generations to be taught from our improvements and our practices is much more useful than what we’re doing for the time being.’
Credit score: Halima Beale
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