Wine Australia

ANDREAS CLARK, CEO

SUSTAINABILITY IN THE AUSTRALIAN WINE SECTOR

Wine reflects the place where the grapes were grown, so much so that the term terroir was coined to encapsulate all of the different elements that influence the characteristics of a wine.

Australia’s grape and wine producers have embraced advances in viticulture and winemaking practices that protect the environment for future generations.

Sustainability is part of our community’s approach to continued improvement of our practices. Wine Australia’s role is to invest in research and development that will drive our sector’s continued prosperity in the face of the challenges that it may face, and to encourage best practice. Among the areas we are investing in are the opportunities that will improve performance to become more sustainable, differentiated and more competitive.

In the winery, current practices include improved water use and wastewater management, energy efficiencies and recycling. For example, after the grapes are pressed and the juice extracted, the remaining skins and seeds (called ‘grape marc’) are processed to produce high value natural food colourants, grape seed oil, tartaric acid, grape spirit and finally, mulch that can be applied on the vineyard or other land to increase humus (organic content).

Australia’s grapegrowers have adopted practices to improve their sustainability, including: • increasing irrigation efficiency • modifying irrigation practices to better respond to events, such as heatwaves and frosts • changing soil management practices to retain moisture and encourage improved soil health • changing vineyard management practices to reduce chemical use • modifying vineyard understorey management to improve soil health and increase soil biodiversity • planting alternative varieties and using rootstocks that are drought and pest tolerant • modifying canopy management practices to minimise heat and disease pressure, and • adopting delayed pruning practices to manage harvest dates to assist in the winery at vintage.

Wine Australia’s investments also provide the sector with the information it needs to manage the challenges of short-term climate cycles and long-term climate change, to ensure that grapevine resources are preserved, endemic pests and diseases are better managed and freedom from exotic pests is maintained.

This includes the development of new varieties and rootstocks that are best suited to our vineyards, sustainable management of pests and diseases to reduce chemical usage, enhanced technologies and processes to improve vineyard efficiency and practices, and building better understanding of short- and mid-term climate trends to drive vineyard management responses.

To demonstrate our sector’s sustainability credentials, a new single national program for the Australian grape and wine community that brings together two previous programs has been announced and will commence on 1 July 2019. Sustainable Winegrowing Australia provides a unified sustainability framework for all Australian grapegrowers and winemakers to demonstrate their individual sustainability credentials, benchmark performance and identify opportunities for improvements.

Sustainability is part of our community’s approach to continued improvement of our practices. Wine Australia’s role is to invest in research and development that will drive our sector’s continued prosperity in the face of the challenges that it may face, and to encourage best practice.