Duxton Vineyards: Sustainability accreditation awarded

One of the nation’s largest wine producers has received sustainability practice accreditation. See what this means for the industry.

Duxton Vineyards has recently secured sustainability accreditation. PICTURE: Supplied.

One of Australia’s largest wine producers has been granted a standard of sustainable practice certification, using techniques and regenerative practices often seen on smaller-scale wineries.

Spread across the Mildura and Sunraysia regions of NSW, Duxton Vineyards is one of the country’s largest vineyard holders, with more than 25 varietals planted across 2460ha of land.

The wine making enterprise, which produced about 5 per cent of the nation’s total grape production, has recently secured Standard of Sustainability Practice in Viticulture and Winery certification, with wine from 2022 vintage onwards eligible for certification.

Duxton Vineyards general manage Wayne Ellis said sustainability was of benefit both to the people producing the wine, and the environment.

“We focus on the environment, sustainability footpath … it’s not a marketing slogan for us, it is what we do,” Mr Ellis said.

“We don’t look at this one scale. We’re big, but it is just good practice. It’s good for the earth, and we get a benefit back.”

Practices deployed across the Duxton Vineyards enterprise include organic soil preparation, mechanical slashing, and midrow cropping with offcuts mulched back into the soil.

“It’s a cradle to the grave approach,” Mr Ellis said.

“The harvested grapes we’ll mulch them and the by-product – the seeds and skins once it’s gone through the final phase, we put that back onto the farms.”

Duxton Wines also offloads by-product to a business that takes food grade acids and ethanol from the skins and seeds, sterilises the seeds, and puts it with organic material such as manure which is then fed back into the ground.

“This allows us to generate a good crop with minimalistic intervention. It’s not driving the plant to do something it doesn’t want to do,” Mr Ellis said.

“We’re quite large, one of the top handful of landholders in the wine industry. Most are owned by corporate wine businesses.

“At our core, we’re a grower.”

For Mr Ellis, acting in a sustainable way is not just a business requirement, it’s something he’s proud to do, for the sake of his children’s future.

“The reality is the planet we live on we’ve not necessarily respected. It’s close to our heart, and we’re making a huge effort to change that position, because we really think we can.”