Why Organic?

"Making flavour naturally"

We farm both organically and without irrigation. Our vineyard has always been certified organic, however not all of our wines have been because we have often purchased Conventional Grapes from other growers in the New England.

Basically, we see the Organic System as being a better way to farm. It is harder, that is for sure, and in the middle of a wet season with worries of Downy Mildew and with rampant weeds there are more than a few days that I would like an easy fix to some of our problems.

I guess at the end of the day I want anyone to be able to enjoy the vineyard without pesticide worries, including myself. We have young children and is it great not to worry about them poking around the farm shed or the vineyard. It is also a relief to know that nothing we do will cause cancer for myself or the family when we are older.

On the wine side, growing organically means that our vines are harder, the yields are reduced and hopefully as a result we have more intense and different flavours. When a plant is healthy and grown without synthetic fertilizers, it produces root exudates into the surrounding soil in order to get the minerals it needs. These exudates encourage soil biology, which in turn feed the plant with the minerals it needs in the form of complexed carbohydrates and proteins. In a conventional synthetic fertilizer regime the minerals the plant needs simply enter as salts. It is these other complex molecules entering the plant in a natural system that we hope add character to our wines.

The key in an organic system is to develop Humus in the soil and a highly active soil biology. You may well hear a lot of talk about Biodynamic Farming and the impressive results some vineyards are having with that system. We do not use Biodynamics because we are Christians and I have some problems with the spiritual nature of Biodynamics. Biodynamic practitioners often claim it is an advanced form of organic farming, it is not. At Wright Robertson of Glencoe we use an alternative system based on good science from a company called Petrik. Petrik is a system of building soil organic matter in a much more scientific way. Have a look at www.petrik.com.

In the past I have been an organic auditor with the body we are certified with, Australian Certified Organic. Please feel free to ring or email me if you have any questions about organic production.