Four Winds Vineyard in Murrumbateman, NSW, has released an Australian-first ‘circular wine’, using larvae from the humble fly to fertilise the vineyards.
The illustration of a black soldier fly on the label is the first indication that a brand new Shiraz from Four Winds Vineyard is not your average drop.
In fact, the winery has conscripted the humble fly or, more precisely, millions of its larvae, to produce Australia’s first ‘circular wine’ in collaboration with Hyatt Regency Sydney and Australian food waste innovator Goterra.
Food waste from the Hyatt Regency is consumed by the larvae and recycled onsite into a rich frass – or fertiliser – which nourishes the vines that produce the grapes that return to the hotel in the form of the new The Circular Vintage series.
The inaugural wine – Four Winds Vineyard 2025 Circular Vintage Shiraz – is being poured for the first time today in the Hyatt Regency’s restaurant and lounge bar.
A Circular Vintage Riesling will be introduced in September.
In the circular production process, organic waste from the Hyatt’s kitchens goes directly into Goterra’s specially built Modular Infrastructure for Biological Services (MIB) unit in the hotel’s basement.
Resembling a shipping container the size of a single car space, the MIB is filled with millions of black soldier fly larvae that eat their way through the food scraps, excreting nutrient-rich frass.
The fertiliser is used on Four Winds Vineyard’s vines while the maggots, having doubled their size daily during a seven-day feeding frenzy, are used as protein for poultry and pet food.
Four Winds Vineyard CEO Sarah Collingwood says the circular wine project made perfect sense for the family-run vineyard, 30 minutes’ drive from Canberra, which won the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for its 2023 Shiraz in the 2024 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards.
“We loved the idea of being able to return nutrients to the soil rather than having them end up in landfill,” says Ms Collingwood.
“For us, this was about finding a practical way to close the loop between food, farming and wine and we’re incredibly proud to put our name to The Circular Vintage series, which shows that innovation and quality can go hand in hand.
“The Circular Vintage Shiraz is a typical cool-climate Shiraz with distinctive white pepper and spice characters.
“We are equally excited about the Riesling, which has been hand-picked recently and has the delicate citrus and floral flavours you come to expect from a Canberra District Riesling.”
Goterra CEO Olympia Yarger, who originally partnered with Hyatt Regency Sydney in 2024 to install the robot-controlled maggot farm as a way of sustainably managing the hotel’s food waste, said the beauty of the process is that nothing is wasted.
“This is the first time our system has been used to support wine production,” Ms Yarger says.
“Using insect frass to nourish vines creates a solution that benefits the vineyard, the hotel and the environment, and opens the door for new thinking across the wine industry.”
Hyatt Regency Sydney executive assistant manager Nitin Kumar, who established strong connections with local winemakers during his previous tenure at Park Hyatt Canberra, said Four Winds Vineyard stood out as a producer that shared the hotel’s commitment to quality and innovation.
“Partnering with Four Winds Vineyard on an Australia-first initiative like this allows us to showcase wines with a story that resonates well beyond the glass,” Mr Kumar says.
Photo: Goterra frass, which is as fertiliser in the vineyard.