But the good stuff goes in.
We do sustainable. Because damned be the day we can no longer ask the earth for the grapes that give us the good drop. So Temple Bruer demands a standard that shores up our bright, clear agricultural future by saying no to the use of any synthetic chemicals throughout our grape-growing, and later wine-making processes.
We are proud to tell that this can be done and we are doing it, with yields comparable to the district average – particularly so at Langhorne Creek. Our nutrients hail in part from compost but also by growing cover crops of legumes (for nitrogen) and cereals (for organic matter). As we’ve mentioned, we then try our best to simply leave it to do its thing, to honour the process by keeping it simple and reducing cultivation as much as possible. To that end, the cover crop is rolled or slashed and thrown under vine.
At our viticulturists discretion, we mulch under the vine row and at other times, we cultivate. Fungal diseases are handled using Ecocarb (an organic alternative to fungicide) and vegetable oil and insect pests are food for predators. The native vegetation surrounding our vineyards provide habitats for many of them.