Restoring Rabo de Labo and Varandas
In 2018, Wolf's Own Estate started the journey to revive Rabo de Lobo and Varandas to their former glory and establish them as ecologically sustainable vineyards that are centerpieces for eco-tourism in the Alentejo region.
Wolf's Own Estate's vineyards origins are traced back to some of the foundations of wine growing in the Ervidel parish. It was important for the new owners of Rabo de Lobo and Verandas, Anthony Ross and Michelle Moss, to restore the magic of vineyards and perserve the proud heritage of the region.
Environmentally sustainable farming
South African-born Anthony Ross spent his childhood at the feet of his oupa (grandfather) as he tended to the family-owned Orchard in Vereeniging, outside of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Oupa Ross had a simple philosophy. Everything in the orchard had a job: from the crops and where they were planted, the animals that were natural pest control and fertilisers as they roamed the estate. Literally everything had a role to play in the running of the estate, right through to his grandson.
Under his oupa’s watchful eye, Tony learned the art of grafting plants to organically cultivate robust, sustainable and high yielding crops that would survive the harsh African climate to grow to nurture and support the ecosystem surrounding it.
This same philosophy flows through everything Wolf’s Own Estate does.
Zero-waste
A job for everyone and everything
Wolf's Own Estate is designed to be fully zero-waste. As we continue to restore and rejuvinate the vineyards, orchards, and farmhouse and buildings, we are replacing the old, warn-out infrastructure with eco-friendly solutions that will give us a zero carbon footprint.
Carbon neutral eco-farming in real terms
Eco-farming embraces revolutionary approaches to agriculture that offers the possibility of commercial scale, net-zero-impact production. It outperforms traditional systems in production levels while enabling increased energy savings, production stability, and market response.
In real terms, it means we’ve had to think differently about how and what we plant and produce to take advantage of what Mother Nature does best.
We have a wide variety of crops and animals, taking advantage of every inch of the land while eliminating the need for synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. It maximises food production and variety by operating more like a self-maintaining ecosystem than an industrial farm.
While most farms produce only one kind of crop, Wolf’s Own Estate uses a polyculture system with many crops and livestock growing at once.
Plants, crops, animals, and insects are strategically interwoven to connect waste, water, and energy flows and capture the benefits of varied space and light conditions. Animals range freely and live naturally, while the design of the crop layout limits the need for repetitive human labour.
Where art and science come together
As Wolf’s Own Estate continues to revitalise Rabo de Lobo and Varandas it’s a combination of art and science as we design the estate as a self-sustaining eco-farm.
How we plant things, where we plant them and what is planted along-side them is critical to this success. We have designed the estate to last a minimum of 30 years, largely because it relies on perennial crops that do not need to be replanted every year. This means we can continue to invest that an investment can be made in its physical structure and appearance, ensuring that it provides a positive aesthetic contribution to the built environment.
The science part how we’ve designed Wolf’s Own Estate is referred to as creating “clusters” which means we plant groups of interacting plants and species that use space and nutrients to maximum effect.
These clusters work a bit like interchangeable Lego blocks. There are many combinations that can be mixed and matched. For us the clusters we create depend on what wines and spirits we want to create and support the local market high value products that usually have a limited local supply like herbs, mushrooms and berries.
Everything we grow has multiple uses
While the vines obviously produce the grapes for our wine and brandy, we grow shade-loving plants underneath the vines. This maximises the irrigation in place for the vineyard as well as preventing unwanted weeds from growing underneath the vines.
Rather than fencing our properties with unsightly mechanical screens and barbed wire, we find ways to strategically plant crops that create natural barriers and windbreaks to support the eco-system on the estate.
Our orchard, aside from producing the fruit for our legendary limoncello and orangechello, creates a natural windbreak for the Rabo de Lobo vineyard (and the citrus also keeps the mosquitos out!).
The juniper berries, used in our Sloe Gin, grow on the east side of Rabo de Lobo Vineyard also bind the soil while providing a natural windbreak and supressing the weeds.
Even the blackberry bushes grown on the southern border of the Rabo de Lobo vineyard have a few different uses. Not only do they grow the blackberries we use to make our delicious farmhouse jams and blackberry liquors, they are a highly effective natural aphid trap that catches the green flys trying to find their way to the farm house. The bushes also provides a natural a wind break and barrier to the traffic pollution from the main road the vineyard border.
A story about the birds and bees
We actively look for ways to reduce the use chemicals and commercial fertilisers. They're not good for us or the environment.
For us, the answer literally comes back to the birds and the bees.
Wolf's Own Estate is home to a flock of Indian Runner Ducks that are employed as our residential pest control and fertilisers.
These little guys roam free across the estate patrolling the vineyards, orchard and farm house vegetable gardens keeping the insect population under control. They're also naturally fertilising the vines and crops while they're out on the hunt for the bugs and snails.
After a busy day feasting and fertilising, they make the evening processing back to their duck house.
But that's not what all these guys do at Wolf's Own. The Indian Runner Ducks are prolific egg layers. Their eggs are always on sale at the Farm House, local Erivdel famers markets and are used in our Fresca de Lobo products to make ice-creams and curds.
Over 5 million honey bees call Wolf's Own Estate home
We have 100 bee hives that guard the boundary of the Rabo de Lobo Vineyard keeping unwanted visitors out of the vineyard and gardens.
Aside from centaury duties, our bees also keep busy supporting a healthy eco-system on the Estate. They help pollinate the vineyard, orchards and farm house garden.
A delicious added bonus on the hard work of our bees is the delicious honey. Their honey is used in our Fresca de Lobo products such as ice-cream, confiture, and curd.
Wolf's Own Estate honey, bees wax products and propolis are available for purchase at the Farm House, local Erivdel famers markets or online.
Carbon Neutral Distillery
Even our Wolf's Own Tripled Distilled Brandy was born from our mission to create a zero waste eco-farm.
We started a distillery to guarantee that we can turn leftovers into a highly valued product. We use leftover wine and products from Rabo de Lobo for our distillery as well as offering the facility to nearby farms.
Wolfs Own Estate Online
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