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Cape Jaffa

Country: Mount Benson, South Australia

Website: www.capejaffawines.com.au

Special Notes: DISCOVER THE TRUE AUSTRALIAN TASTE!

Spec Sheets: click here to view the Siberia Shiraz Spec Sheet

About

Winemaker: Derek Hooper & Anna Hooper; Assistant Winemaker: Nigel Westblade

Derek Hooper studied at Roseworthy in 1991. Before establishing Cape Jaffa Wines, he gained extensive experience at world renowned wineries, including Domain de Chevelier in Bordeaux, Chapoutier in the Rhone Valley and Leconfield in Coonawarra, South Australia.

Graduating from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Oenology), Anna Hooper joined the Cape Jaffa team in 2003.  Anna’s winemaking experience before Cape Jaffa was extensive having worked at a number of world-renowned wineries including Domain Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy, Rustenberg in Stellenbosch and Chapoutier in the Rhone Valley.  Now in charge of winery’s daily operation, Anna takes a hands on approach to her winemaking, striving to create wines with both elegance and complexity.

Nigel Westblade has been with Cape Jaffa since the 2003 vintage. He studied winemaking at Adelaide University and has since worked at various wineries around Australia and overseas including Delatite Winery in Victoria’s highlands, Tahbilk in Nagambie and Chateau Ste Michelle in Washington State.

Our Vineyard

The vineyards at Cape Jaffa were first planted in 1993. The site was selected not only for its cool climate, but also for the famous terra rosa soil over limestone, ideal for premium grape production. The majority of the vineyard is bilaterally trained, spur pruned and vertically shoot positioned to increase sunlight exposure. Vines are drip irrigated during the growing season. The constant sea breeze during the growing season reduces disease pressure, making the area well suited for sustainable and/or organic viticulture. Since establishment, we have been conscious of our environment and have endeavoured to keep all vineyard inputs ‘clean and green’ as much as possible. Our plans for the near future are to convert the vineyard to biodynamic management.

Cape Jaffa plans to green Australia, one wine bottle at a time
Cape Jaffa Wines establishes Greening Australia environmental fund and makes its first steps toward carbon neutrality

MOUNT BENSON – 5 March 2009: Mount Benson’s founding winery and first fully-certified biodynamic winery on the Limestone Coast Cape Jaffa Wines has today pledged $2000 to an environmental fund to be administered jointly by the winery and Greening Australia.

The environmental fund was established in November 2008 from which date Cape Jaffa Wines has donated a portion of sales from each bottle sold of its La Lune, Cape Jaffa and Brocks Reef wines throughout Australia. Today’s pledge is the result of funds raised from 1 November 2008 through to 31 January 2009, and each quarter monies raised will be added to the fund with the aim being to finance local revegetation projects across the Limestone Coast region. The first milestone for the partnership will be to fund a conservation action plan (CAP) for the region between Ngarkat and the

Coorong, Australia’s world-famous lagoon ecosystem in South Australia’s South East. It is hoped that on-ground revegetation projects undertaken as part of the CAP will also deliver a carbon biosequestration outcome long term for the medium-sized winery. Already Cape Jaffa Wines has planted two hectares of land at its Mount Benson vineyards to a developing native woodlot and seed orchard for use by Greening Australia in the local area. Plans to partially fund a Greening Australia local native vegetation guide for the South East region is also a goal that Cape Jaffa hopes to achieve with the establishment of this fund.

“We decided to partner up with Greening Australia because they offer a number of ways that we can contribute to improving our local community while also offsetting our greenhouse gas emissions,” says Derek Hooper, general manager of Cape Jaffa Wines. “We were always hoping we might be able to achieve the long-term goal of carbon neutrality by giving back to our immediate environment.”

This partnership follows the compilation of a greenhouse gas inventory for Cape Jaffa Wines with the assistance of the Netbalance Foundation in 2008 to ascertain the emissions incurred through the daily running of its biodynamic vineyard, organic winery, cellar door sales and administration building, as well as the full biodynamic certification of its vineyard in vintage 2008.

Biodynamic fruit and certified to boot!

Cape Jaffa Wines’ vineyard achieves full biodynamic certification

MOUNT BENSON  9 April 2008: Mount Benson’s founding winery and pioneer in biodynamic winegrowing on the Limestone Coast Cape Jaffa Wines (www.capejaffawines.com.au) has completed requirements to become one of South Australia’s largest fully-certified biodynamic winegrowers, a process some four years in the making.

The certification granted by Australian Certified Organic (ACO) sees Cape Jaffa Wines’ entire vineyard become a fully-certified biodynamic operation. This consists of a biodynamic producer certification for the vineyard as well as an organic processor certification for its winery.

The Mount Benson operation is only one of a select few wineries in the state that have decided to go through the certification process.

“Cape Jaffa’s decision to become certified was one largely based on our commitment to consumers. There’s a lot of confusion surrounding biodynamic farming and we’re hoping to change that,” says general manager Derek Hooper.

“A lot of overseas markets don’t allow products to be labelled or marketed as organic or biodynamic unless they are certified, and it’s likely that Australia will follow suit and tighten their own regulations sooner rather than later.”

The ACO accreditation validates Cape Jaffa’s commitment to biodynamic vineyard management which has been developing over the last 12 years, and this year a certified product line will be released.

Biodynamic vineyard management is an advanced form of organic farming based on the idea of the farm as a self-sustaining organism. Growing using biodynamic practices from a winemaker’s point of view means the wine created bears a close relationship to the soil and climate that it is grown in, and therefore expresses the true regionality of where it is grown.

CAPE JAFFA WINES established in 1993 pioneered organic and biodynamic winegrowing in Mount Benson, South Australia. It is committed to growing regionally distinctive fruit and producing wines that are a true reflection of its unique site. The Cape Jaffa philosophy is to tread lightly through its environment, use biodynamic techniques to manage the vineyard and employ sustainable practices in the winery that minimise environmental impact.