An interview with winemaker Lizelle Gerber and CEO Johan Gerber at Org de Rac

The 2022 vintage of Org de Rac Organic is Winemaker Lizelle Gerbers first own vintage of this wine that has been on the Swedish market for over 10 years. We asked her some question to get to know her and her work better.

Personal Journey

Been making wine for the past 27 years, it is now part of my being. Growing up as a city girl it gives me great pleasure being able to work close to nature and experiencing the seasonal changes each new year brings. Being part of the Org de Rac team brings me closer to how it all was intended to be – respecting nature and cherishing the fruits to protect all the naturally given characteristics, getting it all to perfect harmony in a great bottle of wine. Enjoy this with good company – bliss

Inspirational Sources

Inspiration start in the vineyards. Each vineyard had their own conversation, you just need to “plug in” and listen. The vineyard process the story into the grapes. It will deliver the best quality fruit with the help of your nurturing. “Feeling” the grapes, transitioning to juice and wine is a journey and when you are one with it – hopefully we can create magical art

Technical Intricacies

For me the greatest aim is to respect the fruit that nature has given us. Work with it in a delicate way to preserve fruit flavors and soft, ripe and structured tannins. All our premium white grape are whole bunch pressed for the ultimate quality juice. French oak barrels are carefully selected to compliment and support our fruit, not to dominate. Harmony, concentration and seamless structure.

Signature Style

Quality and Finesse with fruit purity. At Org de Rac we have the same principles – attention to detail

Wine Profile Transformation

One of our greatest accomplishments is the Org de Rac wine range, which has some focus now. The Org de Rac Varietal range has fruit purity to each cultivar, constant quality at an affordable price point.

Our premium range has evolved into Chenin Blanc being the leading variety on the Waghuis White and Shiraz the leading variety on the Waghuis Red. These two varieties has a proven track record in the Swartland, we embrace this achievement and aim to harmonize it with complimentary cultivars.

Organic Challenges

Vineyards is definitely where most of the challenges are. Good viticultural practices are key to keep our vineyards healthy.

Swartland’s climatical conditions are definitely advantages to producing organic wines. Mindful selection of ingredients used in the winery is necessary to keep within our Organic certification.

Pairing Philosophy

To me wine is easy to pair with any ingredient, the difference comes with the cooking technic, spices and sauces. Great respect for the chef that takes the time to taste the wine and create a dish that justifies both the wine and the food. The two must complement one another, this can only be achieved with having a good understanding of the wine and its characteristics.

Vintage Variation

The key is to already identify the differences in the vineyard and adjust winemaking in the cellar accordingly. If there would be a “problem” parcel it is best to treat this grapes separately. Only the best quality batches gets allocated for our Org de Rac wines. As mentioned before, the Swartland has the ideal climate to ensure low disease pressure. Being organic for such a long time has also benefited the natural predator population to naturally keep our pest under control.

Educating the Consumer

Tutored tastings is best to include and encourage our consumers to experience the quality wine Org de Rac is producing. Being organic is the added health benefit as well as protecting our natural resources in an organic, sustainable way. Guiding our consumer to experience all the natural characteristic of our varietal range, aweing them with Premium Range – giving them the confidence to become our ambassadors.

Proudest Achievement

This is always something I struggle to answer – how do you differentiate between them all. Org de Race has been very privileged in the past year being awarded multiple accolades on all tiers of our wines.

Our greatest achievement is a happy consumer. Sale trends have definitely curved upwards, so we are hopefully doing something right!

** At the end it is a whole team working as a well oiled machine, none of our wines would be possible without the dedication and passion of each team member. From the vineyard to the cellar to our sales team.

Each playing an important role in delivering our quality produce to our consumer.

We also asked Johan Gerber about the latest news at the producer:

Vision and Evolution

We are currently replacing some of our older vineyards and shifting our focus more to Shiraz and Chenin Blanc, the two varieties that have always done extremely well in the Swartland.

Our Focus is on quality and sustainability. A new destemmer and press will be in time for the 2024 harvest. This new technology was selected with quality as the priority spec.

Organic Approach

Org de Rac was one of the first wineries in South Africa to go totally the Organic route. A vision of our founder-owner, the late Mr Nico Bacon. Keeping our soils healthy and with good micro-organism population is important. At the end we want to produce world class quality wine for our consumers to appreciate.

Consumer Shift

The shift to organic wines is slow but definitely growing. The more consumers get exposed to our Organic wines and confirming thus our quality is comparable with the best wines available is encouraging.

We are growing our production keeping our growing consumer numbers in mind. Exploring new markets and more distribution is part of our marketing focus.

Challenges and Adaptions

One the biggest challenges we have is weed control in our vineyards. All our weed control is by hand. All new plantings are packed with a thick layer of hay. This has multiple benefits – protection of the soil moisture and the thick layer inhibit the weed germination. Already we are seeing terrific results.

Sustainability

No chemical herbicides or pesticides are used in our vineyards. We do administer organic fertilizer and also supplement this with foliar feeding. In the winery we aim for minimum intervention.

Market Positioning

Org de Rac produces quality wine and the right price point. Being Organic is an added benefit

Brand Identity

We would like for Org de Rac to become known as a trusted brand delivering quality. Marketing and reaching our consumer on a personal basis keeps us informed on how our consumers are perceiving us and also in line on changing consumer trends.

Customer Experience

Org de Rac is focusing on what we do well. We do not want to be everything for everybody. Product focus ensures that we improve wine quality year on year, keeping consistent quality in the bottle for our consumer to enjoy.