Certification schemes in the Australian organic wine industry

Organic production is booming worldwide including in the wine industry, where going organic is less costly and more rewarding than many other sectors. Yet, while the popular media contrasts conventional produce with organics, insiders know that several competing organic standards exist from which suppliers and consumers may choose. In Australia, these include Australian Certified Organic (ACO), National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NAASA) and Bio-Dynamic Research Institute (BRDI/Demeter) as well as several smaller schemes. In this paper, we first outline the background to the emergence of Australia’s organic wine industry and then review the implications of going organic for soil health, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity protection, wine quality and employment among other factors. We then present data extracted from a recently compiled database of Australian organic wineries, drawing attention to the large number of uncertified wineries making organic claims, identifying the major organic wine certification bodies and the wine regions with the largest number of organic wineries, and tentatively identifying a potential demonstration effect with a local decision to ‘go organic’ diffusing through the local wine producing community.