When a vineyard buzzes with life, you feel it. It’s there in the flutter of delicate insect wings, in the rustle of tiny beneficial predators, and in the fleeting glimpse of bees and microbats as they go about their day.
Words: Katie Spain
We know that great wine starts in a healthy vineyard and a healthy vineyard needs a thriving ecosystem. The benefits happen below the earth’s surface, where soil microbes play a crucial role in maintaining healthy soil and plant life. It’s like magic, only there’s no cure-all magic wand to wave.
Making the right decisions for the environment requires producers (and us drinkers) to dig deep and think. The real wizardry happens in the everyday choices made by growers, producers and businesses.
The Australian wine industry follows the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia program, where growers and winemakers are making a positive difference for the planet.
South Australia leads the nation with the highest percentage of wineries and vineyards certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia.
- 77% of South Australia's total vineyard is covered by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia membership (2025).
- 80% of South Australia’s total winery crush is covered by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia membership.
McLaren Vale is an eco-champion and one of the most environmentally sustainable wine grape growing regions in Australia. Why? The region leads the way in organic practices, water management and climate-appropriate plantings. In the 1990s, it became Australia’s first wine region to self-impose water restrictions on its underground resources. Now, it is home to the first and largest recycled water network in Australia. That kind of foresight doesn’t happen on a whim. It takes leadership and community-wide camaraderie.
In 2011 McLaren Vale introduced a sustainability program to maximise grower and regional overall sustainability and minimise environmental impacts. It caught on and in 2019 the McLaren Vale Grape Wine and Tourism Association worked with the Australian Wine Research Institute to develop the single national sustainability program now known as Sustainable Winegrowing Australia. This allows many of our producers to track and improve their environmental performance – from vineyard to bottle.
Nearly 40 percent of McLaren Vale is certified organic and/or biodynamic, the highest of any wine region in Australia. Some producers shout it from the rooftops while others quietly get on with it, hand-in-hand with Mother Nature.
In the Barossa, environmental programs include the ‘Creating Resilient Landscapes in the Barossa’ (which boosts improved biodiversity, soil health, water infiltration, and a reduction of vineyard temperatures through modern vineyard techniques).
Doing the right thing isn’t one-dimensional. It can encompass everything from cover crops to improved soil health, solar panels on wineries, improvement of irrigation management (and vine management in the form of mulch, canopy management, rootstocks, and sunscreen – yes, for the vines), and biodiversity projects that bring native flora and fauna back to the vineyard is also part of the ongoing climate change game plan.
When we imbibe, we do so with intent and where possible, strive to make educated and thoughtful decisions that align our morals with what’s in our glass.
Climate change is (and should be) front of mind.
From sea to sand, limestone to forest floor, our regions are united by a commitment to innovate with purpose for a better future.
South Australia leads the nation with the highest percentage of wineries and vineyards certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia.
