Certified organic grape and wine production in Australia - TM Organics

Organic viticulture is defined as the application of organic agriculture practices to produce

grapes and wine of the highest quality.
This is done by managing the vineyard holistically with a deliberate design and management of
the production system to minimise the need for human intervention such as spraying and
cultivation. In other words, the first choice of organic viticulturist is to use knowledge of the basic
requirements of the vine to provide just the right growing conditions and to manipulate the
physical and cultural conditions in the vineyard, rather than intervening with a chemical.

Certified organic grape and wine production in Australia first appeared in the 1980’s with
wineries such as Botobolar (Mudgee, NSW) and Robinvale (Sunraysia, Victoria).

As in other industries, there have always been organic producers. Some grape growers have
stuck firmly with ‘the old ways’, possibly out of suspicion or because they refused to spend
money on chemicals. They may have been lucky enough to survive because they lived in a
favourable area, or perhaps they were very dedicated growers who observed the weather
closely and relied on the ‘smaller toolkit’ which organic growers are permitted to use.

However, certified organic producers are permitted to use some ‘naturally occurring’
substances, such as sulphur and copper, pyrethrum, neem and even newer products such as
the biological caterpillar control, Bacillus thuringiensis (sold under various brand names such as
Dipel® or Novasol®). Because even these chemicals may be toxic to other life, organic
producers use even these tools carefully and as a last resort.

The first choice of organic viticulturist is to use knowledge of the basic requirements of the vine
to provide just the right growing conditions and to manipulate the physical and cultural
conditions in the vineyard.

All committed organic growers, regardless of the crop, are aware of the importance of soil
fertility and management for the health of the plant.  Good disease resistance is founded in
sound nutrition, based not just on NPK, but also upon attention to trace elements, humus, water
holding capacity and soil-water management.  Knowledgeable producers can manipulate these
things in a variety of ways, and rely as much as possible on management actions rather than
fertility or pest control inputs.

Of all plants, the vine is perhaps the best example of how small changes in soil conditions can
be demonstrated to reflect most directly upon the end product.

In organic cultivation, nutrients are provided by composted animal manures and other ‘organic’
waste or by pelletised animal manures, naturally occurring finely crushed mineral fertilisers

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Certified organic grape and wine production in Australia - TM Organics

(lime, dolomite, gypsum, potassium and phosphate rock etc.) and a range of manufactured
products such as blood and bone, liquid seaweed (kelp) and fish emulsion products. Certified
organic growers are permitted to use a selection of trace element products including substances
such as borax and natural (non-EDTA) chelated products.

Organic growers use watering regimes, careful selection and timing of cultivation, mulches and
cover crops to further manipulate soil conditions.

They are also likely to use varietal selection, location choice, trellis design and environmental
enhancement to their advantage.

Varietal selection is important to ensure vigorous growth. For example, Cassegrain (Port
Macquarie, NSW) planted Chambourcin vines, a non-vinifera variety, because they are in a
summer-rainfall area. Non-vinifera vines are not susceptible to powdery mildew.

One of the key strategies for any grower seeking to reduce chemical inputs is to understand the
influence of sunlight on the vine. Row orientation, trellis design and the use of extra lifting wires,
vine training, pruning and leaf trimming are all used to open up the vine to penetration of
sunlight. This practice is very effective at reducing the frequency of disease treatment and the
quantity of any permitted chemical used to obtain a good coverage.  Once again of all plants,
vines most obviously demonstrate the effect of good sunlight exposure to the quality and
character of the end product.

Sulphur and copper readily achieve disease control in some areas, if the basic requirements of
the vine have been provided.  Some organic producers use home made products such as
Casuarina tea or biodynamic preparations such as 501.

Most organic growers use sulphur for powdery and sulphur and copper for downy mildew.  New
products are becoming available, as alternatives to these proven, but sometimes overused
treatments. Tricodex, for example, is an Israeli made biological control for Botrytis. Organic
growers may not use genetically engineered organisms, but otherwise generally adopt the best
practice biological control options for their industry and location.

Organic growers train themselves to accept some level of pest attack and apply the concept of

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a damage threshold before any treatments.  Apart from the economic wisdom of this strategy
organic growers understand that you cannot have a biological control without a pest presence. 
Sometimes the beneficial insect (ladybird, lacewing, parasitic wasp etc) will not reach effective
control numbers until the pest population has built up. If growers reach for the spray tools too
early, they may never know what would have happened had they done nothing.

Environmental enhancement is a means of manipulating the general environment of the

vineyard to encourage natural predators. It can include management of the under-vine and
inter-row ground cover or of windbreaks and other ‘non-productive’ areas, to ensure that shelter
and food are available for beneficial organisms. It is especially important for many insects
(parasitic wasps, hoverflies etc.) that flowering plants are available during the full length of the
growing season, as the adults of these species often feed on pollen and nectar. They fly into the
crop to lay eggs that hatch into the parasitic larvae.  There are now commercially available
cover-crop seed mixes that are designed to bring nectar sources into the inter-row area.

Light spraying oils (white oil) are permitted for disease and pest control.

The best form of weed control is to have a healthy, established cover crop to smother weeds. 
Straw (or compost) mulching is used at Penfolds organic vineyard (Clare, SA) and others, but it
does have a high establishment cost. Careful mechanical control of weeds/cover crops using
discs is acceptable if based on strategic timing to reduce negative effects, such as pulverised
soil, erosion and compaction.  Under vine weeds are controlled by brush cutting, hand hoeing or
cultivation use of a Clemens under-vine weeder or similar tool. The Clemens weeder is highly
regarded as an effective under vine treatment where mulching is not effective or where frost
control is critical. Hand hoeing remains a useful strategy and if outbreaks of problematic weeds
are controlled while they are small in extent they can prevent significant work later.

Certified organic grape and wine production in Australia is distributed across the country from
Margaret River (southern WA) to the Hastings Valley (mid-coast NSW). It includes small
producers such as Highbank at Coonawarra (SA) or larger producers such as Penfolds at Clare.
It is possible to produce excellent quality wines according to organic standards, and some of the
wines produced by:

- Cassegrain (Hastings Valley)

- Temple Brewer (Langhorne Creek, SA)
- Settlers Ridge (Margaret River)
- Penfolds (Clare Valley) are an excellent example.

A number of smaller quality producers are appearing, including Random Valley (Margaret River)
and Martins Hill (Mudgee).

The export market for organic wine is growing rapidly. Australian organic wine is sold in UK,
USA, Japan and Sweden, with smaller but developing markets in other Germany and Asia.

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Not all producers of organic grapes and wine are certified, but certification is required for an
organic claim on export produce and the domestic market for organic product does expect to
see certification marks.

The Australian certification agencies that have grape and wine producers are the:

- National Association for Sustainable AgricultureAustralia Ltd (NASAA)

- Biological Farmers of Australia (Australian Certified Organic)
- Biodynamic Research Institute of Australia (BDRI), which administers the Demeter symbol
in Australia.

The stories of these and other producers can be found on our web site, together with technical
pages on how to apply organic methods to soil management; pest and disease control; and
winemaking. 

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