Howard Park Wines certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia

Howard Park Wines celebrated being certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia with a day of native tree planting last week.

Twenty of the Howard Park team spent the day with the gardening team to plant 350 native trees along the Wilyabrup Brook on the property, the first step in regenerating the wildlife corridor from one end of the property to the other.

“As a second-generation family business that works in harmony with the land, we know first-hand the challenges a changing environment has on the wines we produce, and our philosophy has grown and evolved in response to that. Ultimately our aim is to leave our sites and beautiful region in a better state than how we received it,” Howard Park Wines General Manager & Marketing Director, Natalie Burch says.

“The vineyard and the winery teams are passionate about finding new and innovative solutions to work with the natural resources available to us more sustainably. The SWA initiative provides us with a wonderful framework to set that up successfully.”

SWA is the national program for grape growers and winemakers promoting those producers dedicated to working with the land in a more holistic and environmentally friendly way. Since its establishment in 2019, 1,107 members have joined the organisation and 276 members have been certified in the program across the country.

Howard Park WInes focussed on a number of areas to achieve the certification, including better record-keeping systems in the vineyard and winery, tighter biosecurity controls, reviewing and managing inputs like plastic waste, and formulating these changes in its new Sustainability Action Plan.

“The day of planting was a fantastic exercise to mark our ongoing journey in the sustainability space. Going forward, we will continue to improve how we interact with these important sites and increase the quality of plants and trees in the area to encourage the regeneration of native species. This will only help build a more resilient ecosystem and greater species richness in the area,” Burch said.