• Business: Mount Horrocks Wines
• Location: Clare Valley, South Australia
• Products: 2,500 cases per annum of organic wine
• Markets: Wine enthusiasts – online and cellar door and available in Sydney and Melbourne restaurants

AWARD-WINNING Clare Valley winemaker, Stephanie Toole, is one of 3,000 organic businesses across the country who has embraced organic production and manages her operation to ensure it meets the strict standards required to achieve organic certification.

Her 32-hectare winery, Mount Horrocks Wines, is home to more than seven hectares of grape vines planted over three separate vineyards, with the remaining land used for grazing and revegetation.

Every year, Mount Horrocks Wines produces more than 2,500 cases of award-winning Riesling, Semillon, Rosé, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Nero d’Avola, which is sold online, in restaurants and through the unique cellar door – an old, refurbished railway station.

After purchasing the winery in 1993, Stephanie said she had always managed her vineyard organically, however, took it one step further by becoming certified. Certification means the well-recognised Bud logo can be displayed on labels and packaging with a unique certification number to demonstrate the wine is produced organically and under strict guidelines.

“Having the Bud logo on my wine represents authenticity,” Ms Toole said.

“It gives confidence to my customers that what they’re buying is a truly authentic organic wine – not just claiming to be organic, but authentically certified organic.”

An additional benefit of producing organic wine is the health of the vineyard workers who hand tend the vines, training them individually to avoid pests and diseases and achieve a beautiful fruit quality.

“Our vineyard workers really appreciate the fact they’re not having to spray herbicides or pesticides,” she said.

“We find our biggest challenge is the weeds under the vines, however we overcome that by planting native grasses and in the winter, we run sheep.”

Once the grapes are picked, Stephanie said they are transported to the winery ten minutes away and processed immediately.

“We take a lot of care and attention in what we are doing with the winemaking and keep it as natural as we possibly can.

“We recognise customers are more conscious of how agriculture products are farmed and are looking for a cleaner, purer product that isn’t harming the earth.

“I feel like I’m giving back something for future generations.

“For my wines, being certified and having the Bud logo represents a product that is made as natural as possible and doesn’t contain any synthetic chemicals.”

The ‘Bud’ certification logo is the most trusted organic logo in Australia and is recognised by 62 per cent of shoppers and can be found on more than 32,000 products across supermarkets, bottle shops and local farmers markets.