And in Cape Town they seem to like coffee flavoured wines more than in Johannesburg. Coffee flavoured wines were voted in to the top three positions by the consumers at the Cape Town WineX show in September.

The results are just out in Johannesburg and the best wine on show was also the Diemersfontein (Coffee) Pinotage, pipping De Toren Fusion V 2007 into 2nd place.

The most exciting though of the results were that at both shows we had both of our wines voted into the top ten red wines in South Africa.

It is even more significant is that our De Toren "Z" has now appeared in the top ten red wines for 2 years in a row.

With this vote of confidence in the wine, it is not hard to understand that there will soon be a shortage in supply of this wine, forcing us to strictly allocate the supply as well.

We have already offered our readers a pre-release opportunity to get this vintage in your cellar prior to release. If you missed this offer please Click Here to order.

Consumers around the world are becoming more aware of how their choices affect climate change, and there is often a perception that food products that have travelled vast distances have a higher impact on the environment than locally produced foods because of the fuel spent in transporting them.

But transport emissions and "air miles" are only part of the picture, and it is important to look at the overall impact the product has on the environment through its entire lifecycle. It is this impact that has become known as the carbon footprint.

"Carbon offsetting" is the process of balancing carbon emissions used in farming and wine making by reducing the equal amount of carbon elsewhere to counterbalance the carbon emissions from energy using activities. If we can offset the total carbon footprint and reduce the amount of carbon produced by our activities we become a carbon neutral producer. Offsetting carbon emissions can be achieved through using renewable energy, energy efficient materials like low energy light bulbs, recycling bottles or using lighter bottles and other packaging or even planting trees.

The Spekboom is a shrubby leaf succulent plant, indigenous to arid areas in South Africa, also known as "elephant's food". This remarkable plant has the impressive ability to absorb large amounts of CO². A hectare of Spekboom can absorb more than four tons of carbon annually, roughly the same as a moist sub tropical forest of the same size. We have calculated that by planting a Spekboom at the end of each vineyard row we would have planted what is equal to one hectare of Spekboom using 40 tons of CO² annually. Using the Spekboom and reducing the amount of our own carbon emissions we can truly say that we are on the way to producing "greener" De Toren wines. We are currently cultivating our own saplings and will start planting in the winter!