Organic winemaker says judgment a victory for certified producers

Marion Smith, an organic winemaker who was ordered by the high court last year to apologise for claiming a competitor was no longer certified organic, has welcomed Thursday’s Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment in her favour.

She said the ruling would give credibility to all SA organic and biodynamic certified wine producers and highlighted the importance of being able to demonstrate organic credentials.

Smith, of Elgin Ridge Wines, went to the SCA after the high court in the Western Cape ordered her to retract a "false statement" about wine made by Mark Stevens at Eikenbosch farm in Wellington.

However, the SCA upheld Smith's appeal and said her statement that wines made by Stevens were not organic was not false.

Smith had, for many years, worked with producers who are currently certified as organic wine producers.

In 2017, she launched the Biodynamic Organic Association, a website which aimed to act as the reference point for consumers and interested parties as to which wine producers were certified organic and biodynamic in SA.

Smith said soon after the website was launched, legal action was taken by Stevens, who felt that his label Mountain Oaks Winery should not be classified as "no longer organic" on the website, even though he had not produced a wine since 2012.

While the high court ruled in favour of Mountain Oaks Winery in 2017, the full bench of the SCA on Thursday ruled in favour of Smith and ordered Stevens and Mountain Oaks Winery to pay her costs.

Judge of appeal Fikile Mokgohloa said Stevens' complaint about Smith’s claim on her website was "contrived" because it failed to take account of a European rule change for organic wines.

Smith said the "producer in question' had not been certified as an organic wine producer under the new organic regulations, which had been introduced in 2012.

"Two years of uncertainty are finally over, and September 26 2019 marks a great day for all dedicated bona fide accredited organic producers," Smith said.

In her judgment on Thursday, Mokgohloa said prior to August 2012 wines could be labelled as "made from organic grapes", whatever the subsequent wine-making process might have entailed, because that was the acceptable standard set by the European Union.

Mokgohloa said after that date, "organic wine" could be used only if the entire process was organic, and said  Smith's website claim that Mountain Oaks wine was "no longer organic" was not false because there was no proof or acceptable certification that it met the new standard.