This is theme of National Water Week, from the 5th to the 11th of March. It is an appeal for South Africans to cultivate a real appreciation of water and to foster a constant awareness of our complete dependency on water. This is an appeal that Avondale surely supports. We are keenly aware of the integral role that water plays in our vineyard ecosystem and our winemaking. From the outset, we implemented measures and systems to ensure the proper conservation and use of our water source, such as:
In the cellar
- We built a gravity-flow cellar to optimise the force of gravity, and minimise our power and water needs
- We don’t allow any wasting of water, and we have stop valves installed on every tap
- We only use organically certified, natural cleaning products that are easily broken down in our waste water system
In the vineyards
- We irrigate our vines using natural waters from a fresh mountain stream ensuring that our vineyard ecosystem is supported by a high quality water source
- We use a sophisticated moisture probe system in the vineyards so that we can accurately gauge the water requirements of the vines, and only irrigate when necessary
- We use a drip irrigation system that minimises waste and gives each vine the water that it needs
Waste Water
- We have a wonderful waste water system that mimics the way water is cleaned in Nature, and this ensures that all waste water from our cellar is well-purified and reused