Australian Organic Awareness Month is the brainchild of Australian Certified Organic. Their objective is to spread the word of the importance of buying certified organic products not only for your personal health but also the health and sustainability of our environment. When you choose certified organic you’re supporting non GM, animal welfare, pasture fed, socially responsible, free range, sustainably fished, biodiversity friendly and grown free from harsh synthetic pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics.
To celebrate Australian Organic Awareness Month Gemtree Wines are giving away a full case… that’s 12 whole bottles of their certified organic wines absolutely FREE. For your chance to win this very special give away all you have to do is pop into their Sustainable Cellar Door before 30 September to enter.
Some fun facts about the sustainable practices at Gemtree that you might not know:
Their cellar door is sustainable. It was built using recycled materials, sits lightly upon the earth on stilts, looks over our organic vineyards and wetland, is equipped with energy efficient utilities, a huge solar panel system and worm farm for recycling our food scraps.
The paper stock for their labels is RafWine Bagasse, a unique ecofriendly, uncoated paper created from natural fibre‐based pulp derived from sugar cane waste.
They don’t use herbicides and pesticides on their vines. To control weeds they let sheep graze between the vines and they use an under vine mechanical weeder and slashers.
Alpacas are natural shepherds. They have 2 alpacas named Gus and Caruso, they protect the lambs from foxes. Their padded feet and gentle grazing minimise land degradation. They deposit their dung in one location and it serves as fertiliser. You can visit Gus and Caruso at the cellar door behind a fenced off dam area.
The Buttery family decided to preserve a 10 hectare section of land within the Gemtree vineyard in 1998. The Gemtree Wetlands is a haven for frogs, birds and animals with six interlinking dams and 50,000 natives. The wetlands help Gemtree grow better wine through increased biodiversity on the vineyards and you can take a stroll through the Wetlands Ecotrail which is open to the public and equipped with free BBQ facilities.
The Gemtree wines have been certified organic since 2011 and they have been using biodynamic farming practices since 2008. Being a staunch consumer and user of organic products, Melissa advocated that the removal of herbicides and many synthetic chemicals from the vineyard would produce better tasting fruit and ultimately lead to high quality wines and she was absolutely right! By introducing organic and biodynamic farming practices in the vineyard Melissa has enhanced the overall health of our vineyard ecosystem. Mike conducted extensive experimentation with biodynamic and organic wines using alternative winemaking practices and the result is the quality wines that Gemtree produces today. Great winemaking stems from the collaboration between viticulturist and winemaker, or in this case husband and wife.
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