Sustainability

Sustainable vineyards and winery

Elderton Wines is a certified member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, with our vineyards and winery achieving certification. This is a voluntary program that requires us to meet best practice standards for all elements of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. It is an exciting step to take and helps support and prove we are operating as best as we can to care for the vineyards and region for future generations.

To find out more about the program visit their website.

COVER CROPS BETWEEN ROWS

We have expanded the area of cover crops dedicated to permanent swards, to build up more organic matter in the mid-rows. This is extremely valuable in holding water and to provide nutrients for vines to access in spring. The cover crops can also help control problematic weeds so we don’t need to apply synthetic herbicides.

Solar Power

A major solar panel grid was erected on the winery in September 2010 and was one of the largest solar projects undertaken by a winery in Australia. We doubled it's size in 2014 and again upgraded in 2019. The system, with 120kW of solar power generation, helps to reduce the winery’s carbon dioxide emissions by at least 55 tonnes annually.

Water recycling

Elderton is water self-sufficient 11 months of the year, through harvesting of rain water from the roofs of the winery buildings. Also, the winery’s effluent system recycles 100 per cent of the water that travels through the system, to a quality level that can be used on the vineyard. We expect to recycle around 5ML of water annually.

Revegatation

At Nuriootpa and Greenock we have been planting native species on boundary edges and in unplanted sections of the vineyards. Our first phase of native vegetation plantings was June 2021, establishing 350 plants of various native species. These provide shelter for a range of beneficial insects that help keep pests down in the vineyard. Along with this, the plants act as habitats for many other insects, birds and bats, broadly improving the biodiversity of the area.

Early on, in conjunction with the Barossa Council and the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board, Elderton regenerated the banks of the North Para River where it flows through our Estate in Nuriootpa.

Good bugs in the vineyard

There are some minor insect pests out there (scale and blister mite) which don’t cause an issue in small numbers but can get out of hand and cause a lot of indirect issues. We released lacewings and parasitic wasps into the vineyard to build up the numbers in the area to control the pests without needing to apply insecticides.

UNDER VINE MULCHING

We are expanding our use of straw mulch in the vineyards. We spread the mulch thickly under the vines to help conserve soil moisture and maintain cooler soil temperatures. It is hugely beneficial in the hot and dry years. We have seen immense building of vine health on the blocks at Greenock where we have been mulching.