Tell us in a few sentences about your experience as a viticulturist, how did you arrive here?
Born into a family operation of grape growing, my parents planted the first grapes in 1995 in the Orange region, growing grapes for many wineries. In 2014 my parents started their own wine brand of See Saw Wines.
I have always worked in the vineyard through school holidays and uni holidays, I then came home full time in 2018 to manage two of the vineyard properties.
Why did you decide to apply to be an EcoGrower, was there something specific that influenced your decision and/or had you attended a previous EcoVineyards session?
I have attended an EcoVineyards soil day which had a lot of good information and speakers. The main reason for joining is we are always looking for ways to be better and always interested in what others are doing which I believe being a part of the EcoGrowers group there will be a lot to be learnt.
Has there been a defining moment or catalyst for you to move towards more ecologically driven viticultural practices?
We have always been driven towards more ecological viticulture practices as we believe less disturbance is the best way to go and minimum intervention will be the end play in viticulture practices.
Can you provide a brief overview of your project ideas, and what you wish to achieve over the 3 years and why is this important to you?
Our project idea is to fence off a gully area in a paddock that is surrounded by vineyard and plant it up with native shrubs to attract more beneficial insect and wildlife. This is important as the area can’t be used for grazing or vineyard so would be best suited as a planted area.
Are you just starting to learn, or have you been enhancing biodiversity on your property and is this an extension of what you are currently doing?
A bit of both, we are always trying to do a bit but time and money does constrict it so this project will be good to get a bigger area under way.
Where do you see grape growing in the future, do you feel there is an urgency to change current practices? If so, why?
Very different as the whole industry knows if you want to be still doing it in 20 to 50 years, we will have to continually keep changing.
What else would you like to share with the broader EcoVineyards community, what gets you excited about the future?
Just the amount of knowledge that is and will continue to develop to improve grape growing practices.