Treasury Wine Estates’ latest climate adaptation response in its Barossa Valley vineyard has delivered promising results.
Planted in 2008, the global luxury wine producer’s South Australian ‘Koonunga Hill’ vineyard consistently produces Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for some of Penfolds most-loved wines including the celebrated Grange and St Henri Shiraz.
The new enclosed vineyard canopy protecting the 14-hectare planting of grapes joins other adaptation strategies helping Treasury Wine Estates respond to a changing climate including long-range weather forecasting, smart irrigation, and water recycling. The $1 million investment was inspired by the success of similar canopies used in citrus horticulture and part of a broader focus on sustainability, including responses to changing environmental conditions including temperature increases and extreme weather events that are expected to create drier conditions in the Barossa Valley by the middle of this century.
Above: Director of Wine and Grape Sourcing for Treasury Wine Estates, Anthony Catanzariti, under the 14-hectare canopy at Koonunga Hill vineyard in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.
Director of Wine and Grape Sourcing for Treasury Wine Estates, Anthony Catanzariti, said “The Koonunga Hill canopy is a significant investment in climate adaptation in one of Australia’s most significant growing regions. As a key sourcing region for some of our best-known luxury Shiraz and Cabernet wines, having the right viticultural practices to farm to the changing conditions will shore up the supply of high-quality grapes for years to come.”
The early results are promising – with earlier ripening, and vibrant and more intense colour on fruit harvested from under the canopy compared with outside the canopy.
