Article written by Cathy Marston
© Cape Times Friday 17th June 2011
Fifteen years ago, Avondale was a run-down farm with fruit trees and some vines. When John and Ginny Grieve of health food brand Vital bought it, the original idea was simply to make some nice wines and so the first vintage hit the shelves in 1999. It was youngest son, Johnathan, leaving the world of fine art behind to turn farmer, who began to restore the vineyards to health and prosperity and strangely enough a devastating mountain fire in 2000 offered him the opportunity he needed to start from scratch. By this stage, Johnathan’s research was leading him more and more down the path of organic and biodynamic farming, convinced that this was far more than an ‘airy-fairy, save the planet’ philosophy, but was actually a sound and sustainable business model for the farm and the future.