We have always been focused on our environmental responsibilities, and as a result Ian Napier has been constantly improving our sustainability credentials at Wombat Crossing Vineyard.
1. Water
The Hunter Valley, like many country areas has always faced challenges with getting access to adequate water supplies in some drought years - for drinking (we harvest our water from the sky) and for irrigating vineyards and gardens.
Back in the early 2000’s about 450 vignerons invested in the Pokolbin Irrigation District. Led by Brian McGuigan, John Drayton and Ken Bray they put together an idea to pipe water around the vineyard area fed from headworks at the Hunter River. Wombat Crossing Vineyard contributed to this scheme, and now enjoys (at an annual contribution cost) up to 10 ML of water that is pumped from time to time into our dam. From there we pump it to the vineyards and other property sites needing water.
We augment this by capturing water flow across our property during rain periods, guided by swales (natural earth drains) running into our dam.
We also increased the tank water available from rooftop flows during rain from 50,000L by adding about 600,000 L of water tanks that allow for both cellar door and house water, as well as watering gardens. We have never needed to externally supplement our water on site.
Since 2007 we have constantly worked towards energy sustainability as well as water independence.
2. Electricity
From 2009 we have installed incrementally 27kw of solar panel generated electricity, that is backed up over night with 41 kWh of battery storage on site. We currently have installed 112 solar panels on 4 buildings.
We will install even more this year (2024), as we have significant air conditioning load over summer for our cellar, cellar door and office as well as for our accommodation guests staying during hot days in The Burrows.
We have wood fires in our accommodation buildings where we mostly use wood harvested from our property (old vineyard posts etc).
During 2024 we will be installing a 7kw electric vehicle charging point, to allow our cellar door customers to book a charging slot, re-energise their EV, and enjoy a 1 hour tasting experience.
3. Building for sustainability
All our buildings are energy efficient and are designed to use the sun to heat in winter, and provide sun protection in the hotter months.
4. Sustainable vineyards
Mulching and activating soil micro-organisms have always been a part of our quality single vineyard annual program. This will continue and helps reduce water needs through minimising evaporation and developing the right microbial soil activity to grow great grapes and hence make great wines!
5. Sustainable winemaking and bottling.
We use our contract winemaker Agnew Wines, which has been certified for sustainable winemaking practices. We have also standardised on a more energy efficient bottle shape and lighter glass composition, standardised on 2 x 6 pack boxes which are again made by a company that announced their own investments in energy and sustainable manufacturing, and we minimise the freight distances from bottling to their warehouse (less than 1kl) and from there to our cellar (3.3kl).
Wombat Crossing Vineyard will continue to improve it’s environmental and sustainability credentials.
