There's no question that growing grapes organically is a good thing for many reasons. Both farm manager and winemaker at La Motte in Franschhoek agree on that.
But where they differ is on whether organically grown wines taste any different from other wines.
"Yes, it definitely makes a difference." says Pietie Le Roux, the farm manager. "The plant flavours make a much better wine."
Not necessarily, says Edmund Terblanche, the winemaker. "You can't taste organic. It's great to see the difference in the way life comes back to the soil, the birds, insects and snakes that are living in the vineyard. But the main issue for me is making good wine. Organic is not an excuse for sub-standard wine."
And that's why, while most of the grapes he uses are organic, coming in large part from La Motte vineyards in Franschhoek and Labot in the Walker Bay region, he will use what he needs. And the winemaking process is not organic.
Whatever the case, organically grown grapes for winemaking are the future, believes Le Roux, who has been the farm's manager for 25 years and has overseen the conversion from conventional to organic farming.
La Motte has been organic for three years and is SGS certified - an international certification that has stringent requirements.
Biodiversity is an offshoot of organic agriculture, as many beneficial insects and microbes return to the soil, but many wine farms have gone further and joined the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative (BWI), which seeks to protect threatened natural habitat and minimise the loss of further habitat by removing aliens, planting carbon sink plants such as spekboom, and through better farm management processes increase biodiversity.
La Motte has chosen to be a BWI champion, and a large contribution is its water management programme, which sees all water used in the cellar recycled to drinking quality.
Viticulture, like most agriculture, is a huge consumer of water - apart from the water needed for irrigation, every litre of wine requires between one to four litres to produce.
While La Motte is fortunate to have mountain water for its use, Le Roux is well aware that water needs to be conserved.
Each block of vines has what looks like a plastic lantern attached to a pole. This is part of a sophisticated system that monitors the temperature of each canopy every hour of every day.
There is also a pipe a metre underground which shows how much water the vineyards need, and when. It's irrigation on demand, with no waste.
Soil fertility is basic to organic viticulture - in fact any agriculture - and the soil needs to have healthy micro-organism populations. Soil is a living organism. However, microbes are destroyed by chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and conventionally farmed soils are depleted, if not devoid, of these micro-organisms.
Compost enriches soil and contributes to a healthier plant which is better able to resist disease, explains Le Roux.
Organic agriculture avoids or excludes the use of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and plant growth regulators. It relies on crop rotation, crop residues, animal manures and cultivation to maintain soil productivity.
Le Roux plants lupin as a cover crop, which binds nitrogen to the soil and produces mulch when it dies back. Mulch conserves soil moisture, increases soil fibre and organic matter. It's a good place for beneficial insects to breed. Lupin also dovetails perfectly with the grapes' growing season, dying off in November when it acts as mulch until March/April.
As part of its biodiversity contribution, 3ha of spekboom (a carbon sink) have been planted between the vines. A 30ha piece of mountain (on the 170ha farm, 75ha of which is under vines) has been cleared of aliens and the endemic "Blushing Bride" protea, a Red Data List plant - has been planted.
Farming organically on a large scale is not easy, is initially costly, and at this stage has no financial benefits. And La Motte is a big farm. "But if you do it, do it properly or not at all," says Le Roux.
Part of SGS certification requirements is that knowledge of organic concepts is passed on to workers.
"We will bear extra costs economically until the stage it does pay off," says Le Roux. "Organics is growing at 30 percent a year - if farmers are not organic in the next 10 years, they will struggle to sell their product."
There are few organic farms in South Africa, so organic practices are still being developed for our climate conditions, with little technical advice available. La Motte's experience will no doubt benefit others.
"It works. You let nature do what it needs to," says Le Roux.