Impact

The Spier Nursery was established to propagate and grow indigenous trees and plants that are specific to the region to re-introduce these onto the farm. Over the last 3 years, over 90 000 plant species on the farm had been planted. This includes landscaping and restoration work.

Our team of 30 permanent employees are dedicated to the propagation and re-planting of indigenous and endemic plant species, striving to source endangered plants as well as plants that are no longer found in the area. Every seed planted is a step towards restoring a critical balance of diversity and enhancing our farm’s natural beauty with indigenous plants and bulbs that belong here.

This granular level of detail in our planting efforts, from the selection of plant types like the Watsonia borbonica for treating the dam wall to the Aristea ensifolia for landscaping, demonstrates our commitment to a balanced and thriving ecosystem. Spier hopes that we will have developed biodiversity unique in this area that would be both valuable and educational for the future.

Spier’s food gardens were first planted in September 2013 and significantly expanded in 2020 under Megan McCarthy’s guidance. Guided by the principles of enriching the soil and fostering plant resilience, we cultivate fruits, herbs, and vegetables without using pesticides or artificial fertilisers.

By relying on worm compost and weekly foliar sprays, we naturally boost nutrients in our soil. Techniques like companion planting, cover cropping and crop rotation are central to our gardening, enhancing the flavour of our produce while keeping pests at bay and maintaining soil health. The presence of sheep in our orchards, ducks, and chickens in the garden helps us keep the soil alive and fertile without turning it over.

The fruits of our labour serve a dual purpose: they’re a key ingredient in the dishes served at our restaurants and also find their way to the shelves of the Spier Cowshed, as well as a select few local retailers and restaurants.

More than just a garden, this space is a hub for learning and community engagement. Through activities like self-harvests, tours, and workshops, we emphasise the value of nutrition, the importance of soil health, and the joy of sharing good food.

Our commitment extends beyond our farm. We collaborate with local initiatives like the Sustainability Institute and Woolworths through the Living Soils Community Learning Farm program and are proud to be affiliated with the Western Cape Farmers Participatory Guarantee System.

Join us for Self-Harvesting

Harvest your own produce from the food garden Tuesday – Saturday mornings between 09.00 to 11.00. From R170, advanced booking is essential. Click here to secure your spot. Comfortable shoes and a hat are recommended.

Four of wines – Field & Flutter, Veld, Good Natured and Ideology – are proudly Fair for Life certified.

Through this certification, five full-time cellar and Nooitgedacht Vineyard workers, and their communities, benefit from the Spier Fair for Life Fund. This Fund committee determines how Fair for Life premiums are invested to uplift the areas where our team members live and work.

Together, we’re building a more equitable and sustainable future for all who help make Spier’s wines possible.

Certified since: December 2025

Since 2009, Spier has partnered with Wildtrust to bring the Tree-preneur programme to the Western Cape, empowering community members to grow indigenous trees and plants that restore ecosystems and livelihoods alike.

What began with individual Tree-preneurs nurturing seedlings from home has evolved into a network of collaborative growing hubs called Tree-preneur Nodes. These nodes, in Vlottenburg, Vlaeberg, Lynedoch and Kayamandi, offer shared space, resources, and training to make tree-growing safer, more accessible and more impactful.

Under the guidance of the Tree-preneur programme manager Neil Graham and his team, 44 community members are now cultivating thousands of indigenous trees and plants. Once mature, these are used to transform Impact Spaces across our region:

• Pocket Forests: dense plantings that restore biodiversity and provide living classrooms for learners.
• Peace Gardens: nurturing green spaces that support emotional wellbeing in schools and communities.

Through this initiative, learners have been given the opportunity to immerse in nature based learning.

Situated in the water scarce region of Western Cape, South Africa, we are always working to secure our water future.

In 2007, we installed an innovative centralised environmentally friendly water treatment plant, that recycles our farm’s water. The clean water is then used to irrigate our gardens and lawns.

The treatment plant includes healing elements, such as a labyrinth, as well as elements of the work of Japanese researcher Dr Masaru Emoto.

We measure and manage our water consumption every day, which also aids in identifying possible water leaks.

We have embraced water-sensitive design to bring both beauty and function together in the following ways:

Stormwater Systems: Stilling basins and wetlands manage water flow while creating havens for wildlife.
Birding Paradise: Our water-wise approach has made Spier a hotspot for birdwatchers.

Every bottle of wine tells a story – not just of the grapes and the soil, but of the hands that tenderly nurture them. Our commitment goes beyond producing exceptional wines, we’re cultivating a legacy of care, respect, and ethical practices throughout our supply chain.

We are continually striving for change, with a specific focus on the following areas:

Spier is committed to leading the charge in comprehensive ethical sourcing among major bulk wine buyers through active participation in the Industry Compliance Forum, driving sector-wide improvements.

Embracing Global Standards: Aligning with international human rights due diligence legislation.

Raising the Bar: Continuous updating of our Spier Wines Supplier Code of Conduct to meet our international customer requirements and standards.

Crystal Clear: Aiming for 100% transparency and traceability in our supply chain.

Growing Together: We nurture long-term relationships with suppliers who share our values and commitment to continuous improvement

Art is as much a part of Spier as good food and wine. Art doesn’t just inspire – it moves us, and it shapes us. It offers us moments to pause and reflect – it confronts us, challenges us, and stimulates our thinking. It offers regeneration for the artist, our culture, and the visitors to our farm. We love the idea that collections of contemporary art stand as living legacies of South Africa’s heritage, with all its complexities and challenging narratives.

Guided by Dick Enthoven’s vision, the Spier Arts Trust has become the lifeblood of art at Spier. Dick believed in the transformative power of art, deeming artists as the cultural torchbearers. Today, the Spier Arts Trust helps to find and fund South African talent, nurturing emerging South African artists through projects like Creative Block.

We believe art should be accessible and enjoyed by everyone. Much of our art collection can be seen on our farm. It’s displayed in our buildings and gardens for everyone to enjoy. We rotate works and curate them in fresh ways to ensure all the artists we support get their well-deserved spotlight.

The Spier Art Collection is an extensive collection of more than 3 200 modern Southern African artworks. About 1 000 of them are on the farm for everyone to see and enjoy. Every year, we invite up-and-coming curators to work with our collection to offer new perspectives via their vision.

Curatorship is also an art, and this programme is a valuable experience for young curators. It makes it possible for them to tell new stories and present fresh narratives their way. Sometimes these refreshed exhibitions will remain on the farm, and sometimes they get to travel to other destinations and venues, which helps give exposure to the artists.

Our art collection and relationships with artists, galleries, curators and all things art-related, are managed by the Spier Arts Trust.

The Creative Block project invites established and emerging artists to work on blank blocks. Curator Tamlin Blake workshops with the artists, offering guidance and helping to guide their work. Selected works are then bought by the Spier Arts Trust for resale, creating a vital revenue stream for many artists that covers their basic expenses and enables them to continue operating as full-time artists. The project also gives artists the opportunity to expand their creativity and artistic territory, and gain considerable exposure by connecting with art collectors worldwide.

Collectors then choose several blocks and hang them together, building an impactful, collective artwork that has the potential to be greater than the sum of its parts. Because of the synergy between this process and the art of blending wine, Spier named its blended wine range after the project – the award-winning Creative Block 2, 3 and 5 wines.

The mosaic artworks at Spier were created by students and graduates of the three-year Spier Artisan Apprenticeship Programme, which ran from 2008 to 2020.

Offering three years of employment-based training in professional Mosaic and Ceramic as an art medium, the programme provided emerging artisans (the majority of which are from previously disadvantaged backgrounds) with quality training – empowering them with the necessary artistic and business skills to run their own businesses successfully after graduation.

Although the programme has concluded, the Spier Arts Trust continues to build on its legacy by finding opportunities for its 68 graduates to specialise in collaborative and experimental work with fine artists, designers and architects in the conceptualising, manufacture and installation of large-scale contemporary artworks in these exciting mediums. The alumni are still actively engaged in producing mosaic, either through opportunities that arise through Spier Arts Trust or their own marketing efforts.

The Dying Slave
Between the Spier Hotel and the Werf, you’ll encounter the nine soaring columns that together make up The Dying Slave. The design for this mosaic was done digitally by Marco Cianfanelli, using a photographic source, based on Michelangelo’s image of a male slave in the ecstatic throes of dying. Mosaic panels were placed on both sides of the columns, with one side of the column featuring a “positive” image and the other a ‘negative’ (inversion) of the same image. This 42.6 square metre mosaic artwork consists of almost 225,000 pieces of tesserae (mosaic pieces). Ten mosaic artists worked for five months to complete it.

Uthomi
In 2019, a mosaic sculptural fountain designed by Mozambican artist Lizette Chirrime was installed near Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery. Celebrating and showcasing Chirrime’s talent for combining colour and abstract form, it offers a vibrant playground for the imagination. The artwork forms the fountain floor, and its mosaic surface is flush with the surrounding surface, encouraging visitors to engage with the installation and water.

Spier History Trails
In 2020, the Mosaic Kraal also became home to Spier History Trails. Overlaid on the path spanning the precinct’s length, the work pays tribute to the multitude of unacknowledged people that have lived and worked here over the past millennia. Their names might not have been recorded but the flow of their daily lives, and the animals they tended, have left their indelible tracks throughout the memory of the farm. The design, by an anonymous artist, was painstakingly translated into mosaic using natural stone and Venetian smalti (opaque glass paste).

The Spier Mosaic Kraal
Situated between the Wine Collection Point and Spier Tastings, the Spier Mosaic Kraal features the works of 16 contemporary South African artists. It is South Africa’s first permanent outdoor exhibition of mosaic. 20 images from the Creative Block project were interpreted as mosaic artworks by the Spier Artisan Apprenticeship Programme’s apprentices. The images were chosen for their extraordinary visual impact, their ability to be successfully interpreted using the medium of mosaic, and the challenging characteristics that would enable the apprentices working on them to gain the skills needed to become expert mosaicists. Together the artworks illustrate the variety and vibrancy of mosaic as a medium – a contemporary African reinvention of this ancient art form.

We believe art should be accessible and enjoyed by everyone, and we take pride in bringing art to life in various shapes and forms to spark conversation and support the South Africa’s arts community.

Each year, the farm comes alive during Autumn for Spier Light Art — a month-long nighttime adventure featuring a remarkable array of interactive artworks that use light, sound and video displayed across our farm. South African artists and designers are funded partially or completely by the Spier Arts Trust.

Internationally acclaimed theatre director and playwright, Brett Bailey, has for many years, conceptualised and brought to life performances by leading local cultural talents on the farm. Some of the spectacles include Constellations, a series of fireside performances; Talking Heads, an innovative intellectual speed-dating concept; and Summer Dream, a surreal and magical spectacle.

At Spier, we consider everything that comes onto the farm and carefully consider whatever leaves it. We work closely with the Stellenbosch Municipality to achieve our zero waste-to-landfill target, and conduct ongoing in-house training through the It’s Sorted staff programme.

We are constantly looking at innovations around our wines and produce packaging. Based on annual production figures in the year measured:

19 600 kg pa Plastic reduction: By glueing wine boxes, we have eliminated plastic packaging tape in production.

10 600 kg pa Paper recycling: We partner with Re-a-Liner Pty Ltd to recycle all glassine release liners (backing paper) from our locally produced wine labels.

115 002 kg pa Glass reduction: By changing six products to lighter-weight bottles in 2022, we have saved this amount of glass from our waste stream every year.

Biodegradable produce packaging is used for all our farm vegetable produce sold on our farm.

We are always looking to pioneer new workplace practices that not only address structural inequality but also enhance the working experience for all our team members. Our goal is to create fulfilling roles at every level of our business, fostering a culture of inclusivity and support. Some of these include:

On-site clinic: Our on-site clinic stands as the cornerstone of our comprehensive healthcare service and handled 769 consults over the past year. Here, occupational and clinical care come together to nurture the wellbeing of our Spier family.

Committing to a living wage: At Spier, we believe that addressing inequality through fair wages is not just a moral imperative; it is essential for building a future where everyone can thrive together.

Building financial resilience: By partnering with a service provider to offer instant advances, we enable employees to access funds quickly without the crippling interest rates associated with predatory lending.

Individual Learning Spend: employee receives funds to spend on their personal development. This allocation can be used for a wide range of purposes that contribute to an individual’s overall well-being and advancement.

We believe in the power of young people to shape our future. We are tackling the challenge of youth unemployment head-on, and our approach is rooted in care, practical support, and real-world opportunities.

We have crafted targeted programmes that open doors for young people in our community. Our team takes the time to understand each young person’s unique strengths and dreams. We focus on building practical, marketable skills that set our youth up for long-term success.

Through these efforts, we’re not just offering work experience, we’re nurturing careers, fostering independence, and contributing to a brighter more inclusive future for our community, farming, and the wine and hospitality industries at large.

Work Experience: Offering young people, the chance to gain practical work experience in various sectors.
Skills Development: Providing training and mentorship to enhance employability.
Job Creation: Partnering with businesses to create job opportunities for youth.

Measuring Our Footprint: We’re proud to be recognised as a Carbon Hero of the South African fruit and wine industry for our consistent reporting.

Expanding Our Scope: We’re not just looking at our own operations. We’re mapping our entire supply chain’s carbon footprint and collaborating with our suppliers to reduce emissions together. We measure scope 1 and 2 emissions and have set our sights on Scope 3 (expanded to include our transport of goods and services since 2024) to better understand our impacts.

Spier helps entrepreneurs — many of the former employees — to launch and successfully run their own small businesses.

The range of support Spier offer these start-ups includes mentorship, finance, equipment and facilities. Purchasing guarantees at launch also provide the entrepreneurs with the income they need to get their businesses up and running.

HELPING LOCAL START-UPS THRIVE

Spier helps entrepreneurs, many of the former employees, to launch and successfully run their own small businesses.

Primo Vino Packaging and Reworks
Employing 10 people, Primo Vino reworks and repackages Spier wines to meet different customers and markets’ requirements. Established in 2009 by Shaun Theunissen, a former Spier employee, Primo Vino operates from Spier’s Buitepost warehouse where all our exports, warehousing and local distribution is centralised.

Mentoor Transport Company
Caswill Mentoor was a driver and messenger for Spier when, in 2009, he approached Spier to partner him in his own transport company. Spier facilitated the formation of Mentoor Vervoer, a black-empowered joint-venture between Caswill and one of our established transport contractors, Louw Vervoer. The business has since evolved, with Mentoor Vervoer and Louw Vervoer now operating independently. Mentoor Vervoer continues to provide transport services to Spier, alongside a number of other customers.

Mountainview Tank Services
Owned by Reynold Visser, Mountain View Tank Services provides a bulk wine transport service, taking wine to our bottling plant supplier from either our own cellar or from the cellars of our bulk wine suppliers. With a secure service commitment from Spier, Visser secured bank finance, acquiring his own vehicle for the start-up.

Klein Begin On-site Laundry Service
Spier built the infrastructure then called for tenders from the community to run an on-site laundry. Klein Begin employs five people from the region and launders large volumes from the Spier Hotel and restaurants.

WAS Laboratory
Merecia Smith, a former Spier employee, has launched WAS Laboratory, the Western Cape’s first black-owned wine analysis laboratory. Spier has provided a loan for the purchase of new equipment as well as free rent, electricity, water and internet for her first two years of operating. We are also assisting with accounting and administrative services to allow Merecia to focus on her lab work. Over the next few years, mentoring from Spier staff will help her gain the business know-how to operate independently.

Our commitment to soil health is at the heart of our farming practices, having implemented low impact methods across our own farm and that of 4 suppliers, totalling 68% of our production.

Embracing Low-Till Farming
Since 2015, we’ve implemented low-till practices across our vineyards and pastures in order to increase our soil’s water capacity – an improvement that is crucial in our water-scarce region.

Cover Cropping
We’ve introduced a diverse mix of cover crops between our vine rows, including legumes, grains, and Brassicas. Multi-species cover crops enhance soil biodiversity and attract beneficial insects. Different soil types require different mixes, assisting with feeding the soil microbiome that facilitates carbon fixing and releases micronutrients to the vines. Our cover crop programme has increased soil organic matter across our vineyards.

Compost
We produce over 1,000 tonnes of compost annually from our own farm waste. This compost is enriched with beneficial microorganisms and applied to our vineyards and gardens.

High-Density Grazing
Livestock play a crucial role in our soil health strategy. We practice high-density grazing, mimicking natural herd movements.

Monitoring and Adaptive Management
We conduct regular soil and leaf analysis to monitor nutrient levels, organic matter content, and microbial activity. Our team uses this data to make informed decisions about soil amendments and management practices.

We’re not stopping here. Our future soil health initiatives include:

Expanding our cover crop diversity to include more indigenous species.
Collaborating with specialists to build soil microbiome diversity and create a more resilient ecosystem conducive to carbon fixing.
Sharing our soil health knowledge with other farmers in our supply chain, spreading the benefits beyond our farm boundaries.
Developing and applying more precision farming methods to optimise resource use and build resilience for the future.

The Living Soils Community Learning Farm, launched in 2019, is a testament to the power of collaboration and collective impact in addressing some of our most pressing challenges. This innovative project brings together Spier, Woolworths Trust, Community Inclusive Justice NPC, and the Sustainability Institute in a shared vision of regenerative agriculture and community empowerment. Together, we’re cultivating a space where:

Regenerative farming practices flourish.
A new generation of farmers grows in skills and confidence.
Local communities find solutions to food insecurity.
The farm isn’t just a place of production, it’s a living classroom and demonstration site.

By turning our farm into a living classroom, we show how food can be grown while enhancing soil health and biodiversity. Our journey began with careful land preparation, introducing beneficial microorganisms and nutrients before planting a diverse range of vegetables. The results have been inspiring in produce generate, as well as the growing number of graduates: 9 graduates in 2022; 15 in 2023; 16 in 2024;17 in 2025 and a further 20 are taking the course in 2026.

Collectively the partners believe that this approach to nurturing new farmers could be a blueprint for addressing food security and youth unemployment. We are growing hope, opportunity, and a thriving future for all.

Housed in The Shed at Spier, the Living Arts Foundation (LAF) connects, uplifts and empowers the Lynedoch Valley community through arts, creativity, physical movement and personal development.

The LAF facilitates psychosocial support for community members, enhancing well-being, developing skills, and creating positive transformations in themselves, their families, and their communities.

THE PROGRAMMES

Stellenbosch Gymnastics: This programme uses gymnastics to nurture self-awareness, self-respect and self-discipline among those who practice the sport and promote general mental and physical well-being.

The After Image Studio: The LAF’s visual arts initiative is a space where art sessions, workshops and courses enable community members and children to use art to develop self-awareness and a sense of well-being. In a safe and nurturing environment, they are supported to express themselves creatively to process their emotions and work through the difficulties they are experiencing.

The Crafter’s Corner: Our pottery studio facilitates weekly community classes for women residing on nearby farms. Here they create ceramics available for sale at various outlets in greater Stellenbosch.  The Crafter’s Corner also offers clay mindfulness workshops which serve as a therapeutic tool for community members.

Mozart’s Balanced Riding: This programme offers vaulting – gymnastics on horseback – to children. This safe and exhilarating introduction to horses and horseriding has a multitude of therapeutic benefits. These include improvements in low muscle tone, concentration, coordination, self-esteem, depression, anxiety, mental handicaps, school performance and spatial awareness. As the children work with the horses and other kids, they hone empathy (as they are required to think about the safety of others) and learn how to take turns and offer each other support.

Flying Fitness Aerial Silks Studio: This programme is where community members (both children and adults) can experience aerial silks. Silks is commonly known as a circus artform where an aerial acrobat performs daring tricks hanging from two pieces of material draped from the ceiling. The studio has taught hundreds of people to climb, twist and invert their bodies in enchanting sequences. The programme improves self-esteem and reduces anxiety (it has been especially helpful in helping people to overcome their fear of heights). Aerial silks also aid upper-body and core strength, overall flexibility, and decompression of lower back and spine. Regular performances, which are not compulsory, offer a wonderful opportunity for students to present their skills and for the community to come together to cheer on participants. Practice sessions foster camaraderie and confidence among those who attend.