Vineyard uses camels to produce organic wine
257 views · Published 26 December 2018 · 6:03 · Indexed 15 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(21 Dec 2018) LEAD IN The Val d'Argan vineyard in Morocco is North Africa's only producer of organic wine. They use camels to plough the land and have been certified organic since 2003. STORY-LINE Ahmed Eddibi pours a cool white wine into a large glass at his vineyard. But this isn't regular wine - it's organic, or bio wine. Eddibi's Val d'Argan vineyard, 30 kilometres from Essaouira and 460 kilometres from Rabat, is the only vineyard in North Africa to produce it. Val d'Argan was founded 25 years ago by Charles Melia, a 70-year-old Frenchman who has been a winemaker in Chateauneuf du Pape since 1977. When Charles Melia started his project the area was only 4 hectares of vines... but now it spreads across 52 hectares. "The wine is produced by organic farming methods. It contains small quantities of added preservatives which reduce the damage to the health of the consumer. There is also a reduction in the use of insecticides containing chemicals, and this to preserve the nature, the soil here and the water too," explains Eddibi. To be kind to the environment, the wine producers use camels to plough the land rather than machinery. Workers also use old fashioned tools such as axes, as well as their hands, to remove weeds. They don't use pesticides that contain chemicals and irrigation is done with a drip system. "We use an ecological system which respects the environment," explains Eddibi. Charles Melia chose the village of Ounagha for Val d'Argan because the region is similar in terms of latitude to California, which is an excellent wine region. The vineyard produces 150 tonnes of grapes, of 14 different varieties, annually - all of which are used in the production of organic wine. They buy grapes from elsewhere to make conventional wine. Each year Val d'Argan, produces 1200 hectolitres (90,000 bottles) of organic wine and 400 hectolitres (70,000 bottles) of conventional wine. The popularity of organic wine worldwide is growing - but it does not yet match that of conventional wine. However Val d'Argan exported 1,400 bottles of organic wine to the Ivory Coast and 600 bottles to Mauritius in 2017. And this year it will send another 1,440 bottles to Denmark, 1,400 bottles to the US and 420 bottles to Germany. "I cannot say that the demand for organic wine is very much greater than that of conventional wine," admits Eddibi, but he adds that: "The demand for organic wine is increasing every year, because of course, consumers have started to pay attention to their health and to look for products that do not harm their health." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/af2182e72a2f78733a20597379b35f56
