Torbreck wins sustainability award for its focus on preservation

Torbreck Vintners chief viticulturalist, Nigel Blieschke, Marananga, was recognised at the 2023 Syngenta Growth Awards which highlighted the achievements of growers, advisers and innovators.

The winery crushes about 1000 tonnes of grapes a year and sells about 80,000 cases and yet, for many years, it has flown under the radar, according to Nigel.

"The winery began in 1994 and we were then owned by Hungry Jacks before we were bought by an American tech billionaire in 2008," he said.

Since then, the winery has gone from strength to strength, as it returned to the fundamentals of wine making using some of the Barossa Valley's oldest vineyards.

"We have gone through a rejuvenation of the vineyards, in those earlier years, the vineyards did not have a lot of investment," Nigel said.

Nigel has worked in the wine industry for 30 years - 25 of those in the Barossa and knows the soil profile fairly well after working at multiple wineries.

"I also studied soils and land management before getting into viticulture," he said.

"In the past eight years, I have been getting the vines back into shape and gone through a phase of replacing 40 hectares of vineyard using ag tech and infrared technology, to understand the variability across the vineyards."

The award recognised Nigel's effort in building soil organic matter and organic carbon levels, to improve the soil health of their 'weakest' growing areas.

"We have eliminated cultivation and have pastures, and use sheep to graze," he said.

"We have eliminated as much herbicide as possible by using the sheep, it has saved two passes of herbicide in winter."

They also use organic fertiliser and fungicide, combined with about 9000 cubic metres of under-vine mulch in the past eight years, to help preserve 100-year-old and dry-grown vines.

"Out of about 100 hectares we still have 30ha of dry-grown vines. We aim to grow vines which do not use a lot of water - for better resilience, " Nigel said.

Pruning techniques have also been a focus at Torbreck.

"Our pruning techniques are designed to minimise trunk disease and we are seeing better yields with higher quality fruit," Nigel said.

"By getting the vine in balance, we have been able to increase the amount of wine made from a single vineyard.

"We put a big focus on cutting and retraining vines back into shape."

Nigel and his team "talk a lot about vineyard science" and its driven by their passion for regenerative farming.

"We have 100-year old vines which need preserving - this can only be achieved through science and understanding the environment they grow in," he said.

"We also design young vineyards around the soil through utilising soil and electromagnetic surveys. We then understand the variation and design the irrigation around it."

From Lyndoch to Ebenezer, Torbreck exports to 54 countries and its biggest domestic market is NSW.

"We are really focussed on preserving the parts that make the Barossa special - the oldest vines in the world and dry-grown, sustainable vineyards."

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