The Islander Estate Vineyards has become the first winery on Kangaroo Island to receive Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) certification.
SWA is the national program for grapegrowers and winemakers to demonstrate and continuously improve their sustainability credentials in the vineyard and winery through the environmental, social and economic aspects of their businesses.
The new certification covers The Islander Estate Vineyards’ four Kangaroo Island vineyards and winery operations, formalising the growing practices employed on the property for the last 15 years.
“Our isolated location and existing growing principles made The Islander Estate Vineyards a natural candidate for Sustainable Winegrowing Australia certification,” co-owner Yale Norris says.
“We haven’t had to make significant changes to the way we grow or make wine.
“The certification is our commitment to ongoing improvements in sustainability that are independently audited by SWA, giving our customers the reassurance that we are doing our utmost to protect both this land and the wines we produce from it.”
Norris says the breadth of the Sustainable Winegrowing Australia program was a key part of its appeal.
“We were attracted to SWA because while environmental management is a key pillar, it encompasses social and economic performance alongside environmental stewardship, and the program is about continuous improvement,” he says.
“It sets the vision for where we want to be, not just confirms where we already are.”
Founder Jacques Lurton, a fifth-generation Bordeaux winemaker, says that when he first searched Kangaroo Island for the ideal property to establish The Islander Estate Vineyards in the late 1990s, the Kohinoor Hills property was the natural choice as much for what it lacked as for what it offered.
“Kangaroo Island’s water boundaries provide a natural biosecurity barrier that protects it from many pests and diseases found elsewhere,” he says.
“And the island’s GMO-free status provides reassurance to purchasers of agricultural products.”
The 280-hectare estate, with just a fraction planted to vineyard, offers an environment naturally suited to minimal-intervention farming with an exceptional combination of north-facing aspect, ideal elevation, significant tracts of native vegetation and established dams to provide rainfall water catchment.
“The decision to plant a small, densely planted vineyard within such a large property was deliberate,” Lurton says.
“High-density planting creates a microclimate that naturally reduces disease pressure and encourages the abundant wild yeasts, which contribute to The Islander Estate Vineyards distinctive winemaking style.
“The varieties planted were selected specifically to suit the island’s unique maritime climate.”
For the past 15 years The Islander Estate Vineyards has farmed without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, growth regulators or GMOs.
This new SWA certification provides independent auditing and verification of these viticulture principles.
The Islander Estate Vineyards was established in 2000.
An estate-style winery was built on-site to allow winemaking alongside their primary vineyard.
The wines have a focus on refinement, mid-palate complexity and long, elegant finishes.
The flagships ($150) are The Investigator Cabernet Franc, The Cygnet Shiraz and The Independence Malbec.
• Subscribe to the beautiful printed edition of WBM – Australia’s Wine Business Magazine here.