Backsberg Winery is a place I’ve visited several times – first to find out what they’ve been doing to earn and maintain carbon-neutral status, then to attend the launch of the Earth Centre and once again to attend Rootstock, a discussion on eco-friendly and organic wines in the Cape.

It’s a beautiful estate, with lovely views, award-winning wines and one, most importantly, with an eye on the environmental impact of its operations. Whilst Backsberg hasn’t gone the organic or biodynamic route (which I’ll admit I perhaps idealistically wish they would do), there’s good reason they won the Mail & Guardian Greening the Future Award last year (in the agricultural category) and more besides.

So I’m excited to be going there again, in just over a week’s time, for the third Slow Food Mother City outing of the year.  As a member of the committee for the fledgling Slow Food group, it’s so much fun planning outings like this one (and going on them, of course!).

We’ll be joining Simon Back on a walking tour of the estate, visiting the section set aside specifically for biodiversity (which earned the estate ‘Champion’ BWI status), followed by a guided wine-tasting, and a finger lunch outside the Earth Centre.

Please join us!  The event is open to guests and members alike – cost is R80 for members, R85 for guests and R35 for children aged 3-12. Wine will be available for purchase to take home or enjoy with your picnic. Cool drinks will also be available for purchase.

The full event info:

Date and time:
Saturday 27 March 2010. 11.00am

Schedule:

11h00: Arrival (refreshments served outside the Earth Centre)
11h00-12h00: Environmental Tour of the Estate with Simon Back
12h00-13h00: Wine Tasting in Historical Vat Cellar hosted by Cellar Door Manager, Danwin James
13h00: Finger Lunch outside the Earth Centre

For more details, and a map, visit slowfoodmothercity.co.za.

Hope to see you there!

Thanks to Michelle for finding the awesome drunken snail pic (original here).

DISCLAIMER: Please use any event information as a guide only. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy thereof, things do change – and the best way to make sure something is definitely on is to contact the event organisers themselves. Full bells’n'whistles disclaimer here.