Vineyard Initiatives

Sustainable Wine Growing

Sustainable Winegrowing in New Zealand was established as an industry initiative for grape growers and wineries. The standards use best management practices to be environmentally and economically sustainable and guarantees quality assurance. All our vineyards are certified with Sustainable New Zealand.

For more information on the programme visit www.nzwine.com

Greening Waipara Project

The Greening Waipara project is based on using native plants around but also in the vineyard. We are currently experimenting in tandem with Lincoln University research to determine the benefits – weed suppression, soil health and carbon footprint implications.

Around 20 New Zealand species have been planted such as:

• Kanuka (relative of Manuka), Cabbage Tree, Lancewood etc around the vineyard.
• Maori jasmine at the start of the rows.
• Bidibid, Muehlenbeckia, Scabweed, etc between the grapevines.

Some of these plants enhance the population of natural enemies of pest species leading to better pest control without heavy reliance on insecticides. For example the pollen of Maori Jasmine flowers is very rich in fructose which is a food source for parasitic wasps which in turn control the population of leaf roller caterpillar which is a major pest in our vineyard.

Some other plants such as the Bidibid grow like a carpet on the ground acting as a weed suppressant, decreasing the use of herbicide. These ground cover plants can also reduce and even suppress the population of the microscopic spores of grape diseases such as Botrytis and Mildew.

More information on the programme can be read at www.waiparawine.co.nz
 

New Zealand Riesling Challenge

The New Zealand Riesling Challenge is a unique offering to the wine-drinking public. The concept behind the Challenge is simple: one block of Riesling Grapes from Waipara, the winemakers’ favourite and New Zealand’s most flexible grape. Waipara Hills Winemaker, Simon McGeorge, participated in the inaugural competition with a medium off-dry Riesling style. The grapes from our Mound Vineyard were used for the winemakers competition. For more information about the competition please visit www.rieslingchallenge.co.nz