Organic Wine Facts

The Tamburlaine Organic Wines approach, which we describe as ‘contemporary organics’, applies modern best practice in vineyard management ensuring the lowest environmental pollution and carbon footprint, without accepting pesticide residues.

AUSTRALIAN ORGANIC AND BIODYNAMIC STANDARD

Southern Cross Certified Organic (SXC) is the national body which ensures compliance by farmers or producers when products are labelled as organic. After three consecutive years of audits vineyards are certified as ‘A-grade’. Each year, organic farms are then re-audited at least once.

KEY BENEFITS OF ORGANIC WINE:

1. Sustainable farming

Organic farms are as productive and always more sustainable than non-organic. Many agrichemical sprays leave residues in the plants/ fruit as well as in the surrounding environment and groundwater.

2. Biological soil health

Biological soil health is at the heart of sustainable productive farms. The absence of harmful agrichemical sprays increases healthy soil microbe activity, optimising plant health.

3. Beneficial insect, fungi and bacteria protection

With organic farming methods, the beneficial fungi and bacteria are protected (the ‘good bugs’), rather than killed off with pesticides and herbicides. This means that plants are naturally more resilient to fungal disease and insect attack (‘bad bugs’).

4. Consumer benefits / low SO2

Organic eliminates agrochemical residues in wine, meaning we don’t consume them. Organic certification on labels is your only guarantee of this. Read on to find out more about the use of sulphate preservative in wine.

5. No GMOs

Genetically-modified plants and non-biodegradable farming inputs are prohibited in certified organic wine production. While more ongoing research is needed on the long-term effects of genetically modified corn, canola and soy, etc., residual synthetic herbicides with carcinogenic side effects are certainly a cause for concern as traces of them are carried over into food we consume.

BIODYNAMICS ‘Biodynamic’ is a term first used by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the early 1900s. It described an holistic approach to agriculture, involving the management of farms as total systems, less reliant on external inputs. Any biodynamic farm must first comply with organic rules. Where biodynamic principles and prescribed homeopathic preparations are part of the farming program, then the term biodynamic is used. Tamburlaine utilises some biodynamic practices and preparations in our organic vineyard programs.