Involvement in Sustainable Winegrowing Australia has provided a framework to focus more consciously on sustainable practices and achieve continual improvement in a structured and time-efficient manner.
This case study outlines challenges and innovative solutions in water and wastewater management at the Yarra Yering winery since it joined Sustainable Winegrowing Australia.
Yarra Yering was established by Dr Bailey Carrodus in 1969 at the foot of the Warramate Hills in the Yarra Valley. Crushing up to 200 tonnes of estate-grown fruit only, the Yarra Yering winery is small with minimal staff. As such there is little spare time to commit to maintaining management systems that do not contribute towards running the business efficiently. Sustainable management of time and resources is core to the operations at Yarra Yering and a key driver for business decisions and initiatives.
Yarra Yering has been a vineyard member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia since 2020 and a winery member since 2021. Sarah Crowe, the CEO and winemaker since 2016, is committed to achieving certification for both the vineyard and winery.
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia benchmarking data
In 2018/19 Rymill vineyards ranked in the lowest 12% of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia member vineyards nationally for water use per hectare and in the lowest 17% of member vineyards in Coonawarra (Figure 1).
Since 2017/18, Rymill has achieved a 30% reduction in total on-site GHG emissions and shifted its ranking from being in the highest 28% of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia members in Australia in 2017/18 (a ranking of 72%) to a ranking of 52% in 2018/19 (Figure 2). This reduction in energy use has been achieved through a combined result of reduced irrigation application and grazing sheep in the vineyard.
Rymill vineyards ranked in the lowest 12% of member vineyards nationally for water use per hectare
The business case for sustainability
To monitor the financial impacts of the changes in management, Rymill has implemented an advanced vineyard cost management system which is now in its second year of use. Annually reviewing and re-assessing vineyard inputs and costs of production on a block-by-block basis allows the business to assess alternative activities, which may have a net positive impact on yield, fruit quality, cost of production, and environmental impact. The system allows the identification of underperforming blocks for short-, medium- and long-term attention and Rymill has used it to prioritise blocks for immediate attention in 2020.
The implementation of a whole-of-business sustainability action plan, including priority activities to reduce energy and water use, is expected to result in a healthier and more resilient vineyard able to deal with the pressures of climate change and other influences on the business. Over time it is expected that improved overall vineyard performance will increase the longevity of the vineyard business and reduce its environmental impact.
Acknowledgement
This case study was undertaken as part of the ‘Valuing nature in viticulture’ project in collaboration with The AWRI, the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology and National Australia Bank, and with the cooperation of Shannon Sutherland, General Manager and Winemaker, Rymill Coonawarra.
