Journey’s End Vineyards, nestled on the mountain slopes above Sir Lowry’s Pass Village in the Helderberg basin, is delighted to have received the Ethical Company award for the second year running, as well as the Water Management award at The Drinks Business Green Awards 2021, held in London earlier this week.
The Drinks Business Green Awards is the world’s largest programme to raise awareness about green issues in the drinks trade and recognise and reward those who are leading the way in sustainability and environmental performance. Journey’s End is proud to be recognised for its initiatives on the farm and in the community.
Since 1996, when the Gabb family bought the farm in the Stellenbosch winelands, Journey’s End has always been committed to ethically and sustainably producing premium, delicious wines for every occasion. The winery converted to solar power in 2014, became Fairtrade certified in 2017, WWF Conservation Champions earlier in 2021, are founding members of the Sustainable Wine Roundtable, planted 6,000 spekboom (these plants are known as ‘carbon sponges’), recently achieved carbon negative status and continue to support the local community through the Journey’s End Foundation.
The Foundation, which was launched last year largely as a result of the worsening hunger and poverty due to the pandemic, funds a network of soup kitchens in the local Sir Lowry’s Pass village. These six soup kitchens are run by an inspiring group of women who have now provided over 1,250,000 meals to those in need since the programme started in August 2020.
Over the past year, Journey’s End has also made improvements to its water management systems, including extending water catchment channels to a total of 2.1km around the farm, ensuring all vines are drip irrigated and continuing to improve its own wastewater system.
Judges were unanimous in their decision for both categories, saying, ‘This year one business stood head and shoulders above the rest for its worthy work supporting the local community in the Cape winelands, and for its network of waterway catchment channels and dams to conserve the precipitation this property receives, particularly following a severe multi-year drought.’
Managing Director, Rollo Gabb, adds, ‘We are incredibly proud of our teams for working so hard to implement green projects on the farm, and for the work that goes into running our Journey’s End Foundation. Ensuring that the environment is well looked after and that the people in our community are supported is at the very heart of what we do, and we are entirely committed to continuing these initiatives and more.’
Journey’s End’s three acclaimed core offerings, Tales, V and Precision ranges, are available for purchase at the cellar, online at https://shop.journeysend.co.za/ and nationally at selected retail outlets and wine merchants.
Journey’s End believes in drinking well and growing forward, while truly being a force for good.
JOURNEY’S END VINEYARDS, SIR LOWRY’S PASS ROAD, SOMERSET WEST 7130
Tel: 021 858 1929 · Email: info@journeysend.co.za
Website: http://www.journeysend.co.za/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/journeysendwines
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JourneysEndWine
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journeysendwines/
About the awards:
The Ethical Award is given to a company whose foundations are firmly based in, and dedicated to, the community and environment where they are based. This award considers all types of activities related to improving and benefiting the surrounding community in their day-to-day business; be it funding education, bringing clean water to communities or promoting improved environmental practices.
The Water Management Award is given to companies who have employed initiatives that promote more efficient use of water, including the processing of wastewater and whose policies relating to water have positively benefitted their community.
About Journey’s End Vineyards:
Founded in 1996 by the Gabb family, Journey’s End has always been wholly committed to sustainably and ethically producing excellent wines for all occasions.
While ageing in French and American oak barrels remains a firm part of Journey’s End’s creation of classically elegant styles of wine, dynamic winemakers Leon Esterhuizen and Mike Dawson also use progressive methods both in the cellar and in the vineyards. These include a minimal intervention philosophy, carbonic maceration, and fermentation and ageing in amphorae and concrete eggs, adding a complex layer to many of the vineyard’s wines.
As the most southerly estate in the wider Stellenbosch wine region, the Journey’s End team make use of their exceptional terroir and unique microclimate. Vines are planted on the Schapenberg Hills, blessed with decomposed granite soils that are 350 million years old, creating one of the most prestigious terroirs in South Africa. As well as incredible views, the vineyards benefit from the cleansing and cooling south-easterly wind known locally as the ‘Cape Doctor’, which comes in from nearby False Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
