VinØ - Looking after the land
Wine Tasmania’s VinØ (“VinZero”) program has been developed to measure, improve and report on the management practices of Tasmanian wine producers across the island.
This program ensures that Tasmania’s hard-working grape growers are doing everything they can to produce very high-quality wine, without negative impacts on the environment or local community. VinØ members understand the connection with the land and people and recognise that we are custodians with a responsibility to the future prosperity of Tasmania.
The VinØ program focuses on the following key areas of vineyard and winery management:
- The health of our soils, on which we rely on for high-quality wine grapes
- Managing pest and disease pressures in an environmentally responsible manner
- Biodiversity, using natural flora and fauna to support land and vineyard health
- Measuring and minimising water use in vineyards
- Responsibly managing waste and recycling
- Looking after our valuable vineyard personnel, and the broader community
- Understanding the role that members play in biosecurity, with respect to the longevity of the sector
- Managing aspects in the winery to ensure efficiency, quality and responsibility
- Measuring, managing, reducing and mitigating our carbon emissions with an aim to achieve carbon neutral
The VinØ program provides a framework on the world’s best possible
practices across each of these critical areas. Tasmanian grape growers
use this framework to monitor, measure, report, benchmark and constantly
improve their practices.
Benefitting from the generosity of McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism Association in freely sharing its sustainability program in 2015, the VinØ content has since been adapted to better suit Tasmanian conditions by the Wine Tasmania Technical Committee and is reviewed and updated annually. The VinØ program aligns with the Australian Wine Industry Standard of Sustainable Practice - Viticulture and Winery. VinØ also recognises formal accreditation programs such as Sustainable Winegrowing Australia certification, Australian Certified Organics certification, or Demeter Biodynamic certification, acknowledging that audited certification is a higher standard than the online self-assessment tool.
Wine Tasmania acknowledges the Aboriginal people as the traditional owners of lutruwita (Tasmania), our island home. Our vines have their feet in the ancient soils of lutruwita and benefit from the water that generously falls on this island. Our grapes breathe and thrive in the island’s crisp fresh air and our vineyards are planted along our precious waterways, which moderate vineyard temperature and help to protect them from frosts. We therefore thank and pay our respects to the Tasmanian Aboriginal communities, elders past and present and recognise their deep and spiritual connection to this amazing place, lutruwita.