Wineries in the Adelaide Hills share a unique physical environment surrounded by an abundance of native plants and animals. As one of the highest, coolest and wettest wine regions in Australia, this diverse landscape is simultaneously one of 15 National Biodiversity Hotspots, a critical watershed for the Adelaide region, and an important hub of food and wine production.

The wine growers of the Adelaide Hills are keenly aware of the region’s substantial geographic and environmental advantages as well as their responsibility to sustain and regenerate the landscape through their farming and production practices. They are committed to leading the Australian wine industry and the community more generally as custodians of the land, and the AHWR is here to help them on every step of that journey.

The AHWR supports a broad range of environmental initiatives in the Adelaide Hills, assisting growers to:

• identify and protect native vegetation on their properties,
• undertake revegetation and waterway-recovery programs,
• implement best-practice sustainable and regenerative wine growing and production techniques, and
• share experiences for the greater good of the whole community.

With the generous support of the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board, a group representing our growers came together to create four videos highlighting our region’s commitment to environmental sustainability:

Demonstrating our commitment to the environment: Sustainable Winegrowing Australia

With a commitment to the continual improvement of the region’s environmental performance, the AHWR accelerated the adoption of ecologically sustainable practices by its members with the establishment of our Environmental Management Plan (EMP) in 2012.

The objectives of this industry-leading plan are pursued through a broad range of educational initiatives throughout the year, along with the active encouragement of membership in Australia’s Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) program.

SWA is a voluntary program that was created to support growers and winemakers in demonstrating and improving the sustainability of their businesses. It covers the fundamental components of sustainability (environmental, social and economic) and provides benchmarking tools and resources to enable planning, evaluation, control and communication.