We recently had an opportunity to interview and photograph Simon Back from Backsberg Wine Estate near Paarl.

Simon took us on a tour of the estate and gave us a glimpse of what it entails to be a environmentally conscious farmer in the 21st century.
He showed us ‘Footprint Park”, their Eucalyptus Research and a very interesting Parabolic Reflector they are experimenting with.

It was great to see someone who genuinely cares for the environment and who has obviously been putting a lot of time, effort and money into doing their bit as responsible farmers.

The virtual tour below we created has embedded video in it.

It’s a relatively new way of doing it and we think it works well to communicate information.
Click on the video icon in the virtual tour to see what Simon has to say and use the drop down menus to go to other scenes.
You’ll find more videos in “Eucalyptus Research” and “Conservancy Projects” spins.

Go to the Backsberg website for more information on their wines, the estate, the wedding venue, the restaurant and some general news on what they’re up to on a day to day basis.

We have some more content which we created for Backsberg and we’ll be sharing some of it here in the coming months.
Simply drop your email address to the right, to get automatic updates on when something new is posted.

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One of the most prestigious awards that can befall a South African winemaker is a 5 star rating in the annual John Platter wine guide.

This year Vilafonté , the first American-South African wine making collaboration, has made the cut with their Vilafonté Series C 2006 red blend.

Most people would understand that a 5 star wine is not made in one year, it is the result of many years of detailed planning and very hard work – the culmination of a series of good decisions and, in this case, some international team work.

From the picture below it is apparent that Vilafonte does have another competitive advantage though: they have been able to clone their winemaker, Bernard le Roux.

Apparently it’s a treat during the busy harvest time, but they have to lock at least 8 of him away during the winter.
Good thing they have those big cold storage rooms…….

Here is Bernard explaining the Vilafonte sorting process.
With this much attention to detail, no wonder their end product is top class.
Well done guys!!

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Virtual Africa has created a Google Earth file on behalf of Afrikaans newspaper Die Burger to compliment their article on the Hermanus Wine and Food Fair.

(Kliek hier vir die Afrikaanse weergawe.)

We’ve created 45 interactive panoramic images of the following wine farms and cellars in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley : Sumaridge, Newton Johnson, La Vierge, Hamilton Russell, Creation, Ataraxia, Hermanuspietersfontein, Whalehaven and Spookfontein.

By plotting these panoramic images onto Google Earth, we created an opportunity for you to explore the region like never before – which is what we specialize in here at Virtual Africa.

You can download the Google Earth file by clicking here.

(If you don’t have Google Earth installed on you computer, well, maybe it’s time to see why 300 million people do and download it from here. After downloading and installing Google Earth, simply open the Hemel-en-Aarde file we created for your enjoyment.)
If you don’t have time to do it now – have a look at our 2-d version (Google Maps) by on clicking here.

You’ll be able to virtually step inside the cellars and enjoy the view over the vineyards.

All that is left, is to visit the Food and Wine Fair and enjoy the produce from this beautiful part of our country.

For more information on what has been voted one of the Top 10 Wine Shows in South Africa, visit www.hermanuswineandfood.co.za.

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