South Africa's Stellar top selling UK organic wine

It also reveals that organic wine is now the largest sector in the organic alcohol category, and accounts for 56% of its sales; which with an extra 267,000 shoppers buying organic wine this year compared to last year, is an increase of 42% year on year.

Keith Lay marketing director of Ehrmanns is delighted, but not surprised by these results. "Stellar is a great example of a brand that ticks many of the boxes for today's consumers, who increasingly take environmental and ethical issues into account when making purchase decisions, as Stellar's wines are not only organic but Fairtrade too.

"The winery has also successfully developed a range of no added sulphur' wines; ticking another box for wine-lovers who believe they have an intolerance to sulphur."

Stellar is situated in Trawal, Namaqualand 275 km north of Cape Town on the road to Namibia. Its dry arid climate provides the perfect conditions for producing organic grapes, which are grown without the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilizers.

A brace of ducks are employed' to keep pests at bay and only compost and organic materials are used in the growing of the vines. The winery also makes use of the arid climate as well as its vast refrigeration capacity and the resourcefulness of its in house engineers, to make modern organic Fairtrade wines.

The largest organic winery in South Africa, Stellar is privately owned by the Rousouw brothers and was awarded Fairtrade status in 2004. Its workers own 26% shares in the winery and 50% in Stellar Agri, a table and wine grape farming operation. Organic status is certified by Control Union Certifications as compliant with EU requirements for organic agriculture and production.

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