Mount Majura Vineyard joins Wine Australia's push for sustainability standards

The eight families behind Mount Majura Vineyard are on the front foot when it comes to sustainability, winemaker Frank van de Loo leading their pitch for certification.

Mr van de Loo said the wine industry was feeling the same pressure as all those in agriculture, wine's non-essential nature making action even more imperative.

"The world has a population that needs feeding with a limited amount of arable land," Mr van de Loo said.

"If you're going to use land that could produce food crops, then you better at least be able to show that you're doing it as sustainably as you can."

Wine Australia is the government authority pushing for national certification, in an effort to replace what has until now been non-standardised efforts to grow and make wine sustainably.

Cutting back on fertilisers and pesticides, as well as regenerating soil, are some of the main requirements for certification, with collecting and sharing data an essential part of the plan.

Wine Australia estimated there were about 5500 growers in Australia, and between 1600 and 2000 winemaking businesses. The wine sector has set a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

Gauging progress will require information from winemakers and growers like Mount Majura, which collects data on energy and water usage.

Getting certified at Mount Majura also means documenting degraded areas of the land and creating a plan for improvement.

Mr van de Loo's background is in plant biochemistry, moving from CSIRO to winemaking at Majura in 1998.

He said traditionally grape growers would kill the grass underneath their vines, using herbicides, to prevent them competing for water in dry years.

Mount Majura use a slasher to mow the grass instead, which helped store water and nutrients in the soil.

It has cut a chemical from its fungicide program after recognising it killed beneficial mites and introduced ladybird larvae to eat the grapevine scale, rather than relying on chemicals.

Mr van de Loo said it was about augmenting the natural systems rather than disrupting them.

"You're trying to work with the system and be as soft as you can," he said.

Kym Anderson, executive director at University of Adelaide's Wine Economics Research Centre, said consumers wanted traceability of grapes and the industry was responding.

He said that meant QR codes for labels which were capable of providing instant information on how the wine got to be in the bottle.

As well as being an honorary professor of economics at the Australian National University, Professor Anderson also grew grapes for 20 years in the Adelaide Hills.

He said "the big three" wine companies operating in Australia, Pernod Ricard, Treasury Wine Estates and Accolade Wines, were in a position to pass consumer's sustainability demands down to growers.

Prof Anderson said China's 2001 tariff on Australian wine exports had created a "glut situation", whereby tanks of red wine ready for export were still sitting full.

When it comes to the wine industry's footprint, Prof Anderson said how water intensive it was to grow grapes varied hugely across wine regions, being highest in the hot irrigated regions along the Murray River and lowest in the coolest regions.

For Australia as a whole, grapes used more irrigated water than other fruits and vegetables. However, they used less than dairy and much less than sugar, cotton and rice, he said.

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Prof Anderson said how vulnerable growers were to the effects of a warming planet varied significantly from region to region.

Cooler climate growers in places like Tasmania or the bottom of Western Australia tended to use less irrigated water, whereas rising temperatures around the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers would mean more demand for water and therefore a higher water prices for growers, he said.

"We're in a stage now where the price of grapes in hot areas will be about one-eighth of what they were at the peak two decades ago," Prof Anderson said.

"They'll get paid about $150 a tonne this coming vintage, just enough to cover the cost of harvesting."

While those under fixed-price contracts may be protected, those that were not would do everything they can to get paid, he said.

"If they're not under contract, well, just bad luck," Prof Anderson said.

"It's going to be a pretty tough vintage coming up in 2023."

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