A growing demand from consumers for environmentally sustainable wines has led one entire region to introduce a sustainable winegrowing program, writes Christine Salins.
McLaren Vale, in South Australia, launched a program in April last year enabling growers to be monitored on a range of factors, including water and fertiliser use and soil quality.
The program, McLaren Vale Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, has had an impressive uptake with around 90 growers signing up, representing more than a third of the region’s harvest.
The results have exceeded expectations according to the chairman of the McLaren Vale Grape, Wine & Tourism Association, Peter Hayes, who expects other regions will likely follow suit.
Growers behind the initiative to brand McLaren Vale as an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible region have noted a growing consumer demand for sustainable wines, an observation supported by the former chief executive of the Winemakers' Federation of Australia, Steven Strachan.
Before his departure from the role in the middle of last year, Strachan was reported as saying that while it would take time to assess the impact of the McLaren Vale initiative, he had little doubt that it would be a success because the “marketplace is really starting to indicate they want these initiatives in place."
Aimed at helping growers improve vineyard sustainability, the McLaren Vale program uses a combination of data reporting and self-assessment through a workbook of viticultural practices and third-party audits. The content is written by local growers and peer-reviewed by experts nationwide.
Growers self-assess their vineyard operation in areas such as soil health, nutrition and fertiliser management, pest and disease management, biodiversity management, water management and waste management.
They can then ascertain how well they are performing, both in terms of best practice as well as against their peer group.
With an oversupply of grapes pushing prices down in recent years, winemakers have had to contend with tight profit margins. Understandably there are fears that any push for environmentally-sustainable wine will add to production costs.
But Hayes thinks the move will ultimately safeguard the future of McLaren Vale.
"There's no doubt costs, but the benefits very much are the industry retains its credible role in society … it is seen as a leader in considerate agricultural production," he said.
“We expect other regions will follow our lead and adopt the program, tailoring it to their region.”
Hayes said the program had a triple bottom line approach relating to economic, social and environmental considerations and was “very much an improvement-driven program” rather than a report-driven one.
It was independent of farming systems so conventional, organic and biodynamic grapegrowers alike could benefit from being involved.
In the first assessment of the program, in October, 23 percent of respondents identified as using certified or uncertified organic/biodynamic farming systems.
A further 51 percent identified their farming system as “low-input conventional with IPM (integrated pest management) principles”.
“Along with specific measures of vineyard practice and environmental performance, MVSWGA has generated very useful and powerful data to produce an overview of viticulture in the region,” Hayes said.
“This data, over time, will be extremely useful for us in terms of understanding the region and our members, uncovering marketable trends, and as a tool when attempting to influence policy that affects the region.
“A conscious decision was made to ensure that the system offers the opportunity to improve business performance in addition to encouraging – and offering a pathway to – environmental best practice.”
Angove Family Winemakers, which opened a cellar door in McLaren Vale in late 2011, acknowledges both sustainability and market opportunity as its reasons for converting its vineyards to organic.
Its historic Warboys Vineyard in McLaren Vale is certified organic and biodynamic while about a quarter, or 40 hectares, of its Nanya vineyard in Renmark is organic.
Angove’s global brand manager, Richard Angove, said the program “underpins with real measures the sustainability of growing grapes in McLaren Vale”.
“The region’s aim is to be known as the most sustainable wine growing region in the world and with the measures that the Sustainable Winegrowing program provides, the hope is that this provides a factual basis to support the claim,” he said.
“The engagement of the community with the program has been fantastic and brought the community together. As a vineyard owner in McLaren Vale it was natural for us to get involved in the program from the outset.”
Angove appreciates the fact that the program is being continually improved and that it fosters a “philosophy that you can always do things better”.
“We score quite highly in the program, however there is always room to improve,” he said.
One of the country’s oldest family-owned winemakers, the company is in the process of converting another 100 acres of its Nanya vineyard to organic.
Angove cites a number of reasons for going organic – sustainability and concern for the environment, healthier soils and ultimately better wines.
Organically grown vines have healthier root systems and stronger immune systems than conventionally farmed vines, and they tend to recover from stress better and perform better during tough growing seasons.
“We have been growing grapes organically for over 10 years and have seen the benefits that these practices have to vine balance and health.”
The company believes it is the responsibility of each generation to ensure the sustainability and quality of the vineyards for the next generation.
“I always think we are so lucky to have vines that were planted over 70 years ago to harvest and make wine from and that the only way someone in another 70 years can do this will be for us to look after the soil and environment and pass on the knowledge of how to do it,” Angove said.
"Our long-term aim is to chip away and go 100 percent organic.”