An interview with our sixth collaboration winemaker, Kosie van der Merwe
Our collaborations for Wasted Wine Club have taken us far and wide in search of excess wines to rescue. None more beautiful than Mosel in Germany, a region with breathtaking vineyards and enchanting, rolling hillsides. Kosie van der Merwe first started growing and making wine in his native South Africa, before moving abroad to pursue new endeavours there. His efforts in biodynamic viticulture and ambitious agro-forestry projects are incredibly inspiring, and our sixth collaboration wine for Apricity's house wine is wildly impressive. We spoke to him on a recent visit to Germany about hybrids, bag-in-box wine, and the future of farming.
Angelo van Dyk: Besides the obvious environmental impact, could you elaborate a bit on why bag-in-box is such an important topic for you?
Kosie van der Merwe: This topic runs quite deep for me. As you already mentioned, the environmental impact is something very important, but also the fact that wine—especially fine wine—is seen as something that is not really approachable, or that it is just for a select few. I find that’s complete bullsh*t. I think anyone who loves flavours and tastes and good food and good drinks can relate to wine, and I’d love to make fine wine approachable for the general public—people who have never had good wines before and want to explore good drinks. We have so many friends from Belgium who come to visit and they love our natural wines because they have a similar feel to their raw beers. They’re unfiltered, they’re textured, there’s a lot of depth and they immediately relate to it. But if you put it in this fine wine bracket, everything has to taste a certain way, everything has to look a certain way—then you only ever reach a certain sector of the public which I find really sad. The fine wine sector also needs to rethink their impact, because this ‘no compromise’ idea to produce a ‘perfect’ bottle of fine wine has huge impacts on our environment and global warming and the production of unnecessary shit. Basically, that’s all to say that we can actually put good wine into lighter bottles or into BIB, and it can still be a fine wine. So this idea of ‘no compromise’ in fine wine can then also refer to not compromising in regards to environmental impact, as opposed to simply putting your wine into another heavy glass bottle, for example, simply because that’s what your clients are after.
'I think there is still a lot of education needed as to when is it absolutely necessary to be out there and doing something to your fields and when not to.'
AVD: Hybrid grape varieties have become an important part of what you’re doing on the viticulture front at Staffelter Hof. Could you tell us a bit about the significance of that, and what some of the challenges are that you face when working with them?
KVDM: PIWIs, or hybrids, were probably one of the biggest reasons that I decided to make the move to Mosel. I think that in South Africa, I did a lot of trials into looking to move away from copper and sulphur treatments in the vineyards. Even though we were already farming organically and were Demeter certified, we were still using copper and sulphur. I did a lot of trials with compost teas and extracts, but it was very difficult to get away from it. This idea of using hybrids therefore really appealed to me. We’ve now planted a lot of them at Staffelter Hof. We’re working with 9 different varieties now, and I really do think that they’ll play a really big role in the future of winemaking. Just the fact that we already don’t have to spray them as often is huge. We probably spray 90% less compared to traditional vinifera varieties, depending on the season of course. They also seem to be much more robust when it comes to climate change. So when it’s really dry, they don’t seem to be as affected by drought compared to vitas vinifera. That’s been fantastic. The challenges have been really just trying to better understand them and figure them out. No one has really made wine from them in the Mosel before. It’s been planted a lot over the past few years, but no one has really made large quantities of it. I can definitely say that no one is really making natural wine out them over here either. We’re doing trials, and we’re just going to have to go through the process of understanding how to treat these grapes the correct way. That’s been huge. Not just in the cellar, but also in the vineyard. How to grow them, when to do leaf removal, how to train them. We’ve even changed a lot of the training systems because of how they grow. I would say that everything has been a challenge, but purely because they are new. It’s been fantastic to see the potential of it however. We’ve bottled five of them as pure expressions this year from the 2024 vintage, which I am very excited to get into the market, and to see how the market reacts to it. That’s also going to be something to consider. It’s one thing growing them and making them, but then another thing is selling the stuff. Especially in a market that is already very competitive. Suddenly you bring in grapes that no one has ever heard of, and you have to work through the reaction and response. I think the market has asked us for something more along this line—something that is more sustainable—and this, I believe, is the answer.
'It would be such a powerful thing if we all put more of our marketing energy to rather communicate this [sustainability].'
AVD: Do you think the wine industry can contribute to and impact how we approach the broader idea of sustainability?
KVDM: Just the fact that winemakers and wineries spend so much time and money on marketing, that alone means there is a great opportunity to use that marketing power in a more constructive and supportive way for sustainability. It would be such a powerful thing if we all put more of our marketing energy into rather communicating this.
AVD: People in the wine industry often fixate on agriculture as being the most important facet of sustainability in our trade. Do you agree? Or are there other significant aspects that should be considered with as much importance?
KVDM: I would agree with that. You can look at the pure act of farming in different ways. If you are not a conscious farmer, and you for example start your tractor and take it out when it's not actually necessary, you can end up doing more damage than good. I think there is still a lot of education needed as to when is it absolutely necessary to be out there and doing something to your fields and when not to. When is it actually detrimental to the environment when you start ploughing? All of these are things that actually isn’t often spoken about. A friend of mine once said that it’s ridiculous that the only thing you really need to become a farmer is money to purchase land, and then you can farm. If you want to go hunt, you’d need a hunting licence. It’s very regulated, right? If you want to drive a car, you need a licence. But for farming, you just need land, and you can do whatever you want to it. Which is pretty insane, if you consider that. I think that’s definitely one of the biggest facets when it comes to sustainability. Also of course, where we sell our wines. Because it’s such an incredibly competitive market, we tend to sell our wines to whoever wants to buy it, without really thinking about the impact of that. Global trade has made us almost not think about this anymore, and it is something we should consider moving forward.
'I still don’t own my own press or winery equipment, but there are a lot of the older producers—like Jan from Staffelter Hof—who have embraced this change.'
AVD: Mosel is a very old wine producing region. Is there a lot of resistance to change in the area? Or are producers able to balance a respect for the past whilst still being forward thinking and dynamic when considering the future?
KVDM: I think I’m living in a bit of a bubble here. In the Mosel we have a very strong network of natural wine producers. We have people coming from all over the world with a similar story to me. They travel here, they visit the place, they see it and fall in love with it, and they want to produce wine from this terroir and so they move here. In that sense, there has been a lot of camaraderie and support for all of us. I still don’t own my own press or winery equipment, but there are a lot of the older producers—like Jan from Staffelter Hof—who have embraced this change. They are part of a growing community of international people, who are young and come from old, traditional wineries wanting to do something different. Last weekend we hosted Burgfest, where we had natural wines alongside traditional sulphured wines. It was very contradictory, but still, it was a group of people wanting to breathe new life into the Mosel, and I think there is space for all of us here. You wouldn’t think this, because it is so traditional, but there is a lot of open mindedness. So like I say, there is space for us all.
