If nothing else, the Copenhagen Summit has given us all cause to reflect on what is happening to our climate. The Summit has encouraged us to consider how we, as individuals and businesses, can work together to reduce the impact, and severity, of what seems to be a minimum increase in temperature of two degrees Celsius by 2050.

The modern Australian wine industry, generally speaking, is guilty of unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly practices. This often starts in the vineyard, where water has been used to produce wine we don't need. And when I say "don't need," I really mean it; as an industry, we are currently producing 20 to 40 million cases a year more than we are selling, adding to our 100 million case (almost 1 billion litre) surplus. The grape growers along the Murray Darling Basin have been targeted as some of the most significant contributors to this problem, in an area which has proven (through the destruction of the river system) to be unsuitable for such high yield, water intensive, farming.

The problems continue to the winery, where our equipment draws on copious amounts of energy produced in coal fired power plants. Though perhaps more significantly, it is how we package our wine that is having the greatest impact on the environment. High quality glass bottles, which are generally produced in Europe and exported to Australia, have a huge environmental foot print which is created not only through the manufacturing process, but also through extensive transportation and distribution networks. Several top international wine journalists, including Jancis Robinson, have refused to review any wine in heavy glass bottles in an effort to encourage producers to explore more sustainable options.

So, in the Hunter Valley, with predictions of much warmer winters, severe heat, and more frequent and destructive weather events, we are looking at ways to significantly reduce our impact on the environment and prepare for climate change.

For Wandin Valley, this means changing over to new light-weight, environmentally friendly bottles, reducing our dependency on irrigation through vineyard management practices, and exploring renewable energy options for the winery, such as Solar power. We are also examining the viability of our current plantings to ensure the varieties that we cultivate will continue to thrive under the predicted climatic conditions.