Vineyard in Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Photo: John Krüger

The South Australian wine community gathered at the National Wine Centre last night, for the South Australian Wine Industry Association (SAWIA) SA Wine Industry Dinner and Excellence Awards, emceed by Ali Clarke.

The theme for this year’s SA Wine Industry Dinner was ‘connect, honour and reflect’.

SAWIA is the peak body representing grape and wine businesses in South Australia, where the local wine industry contributes close to 2 billion dollars to the state’s economy.

The SAWIA Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of the wine industry in environmental practices and in work, health and safety practice. The awards aim to raise the profile of SAWIA members that ‘go above and beyond the basics’, by demonstrating leadership and significant improvements for the industry.

GT Viticulture, Australian Vintage Limited and Dan Falkenberg from Eden Hall Wines were crowned the winners in the Environmental Awards categories, while Pikes Wines, Pernod Ricard Winemakers and Christian Daehn-Alabi from Treasury Wine Estates were the award recipients of the Work, Health and Safety Awards categories.

“By sharing success stories in environmental, and work, health and safety management, our wine community can collectively innovate and improve performance,” said Inca Lee, chief executive of SAWIA.

“The South Australian wine industry is setting a benchmark, and these awards continue to inspire our SAWIA members.”

SAWIA Environmental Excellence Awards

Small to Medium Business Category Awarded to GT Viticulture

GT Viticulture have approached sustainability holistically throughout all areas of operation with significant initiatives in biodiversity protection and enhancement, efficient waste and recycling management, sustainable tourism, renewable energy generation and community engagement. The panel was impressed by both finalists and determined that the significant initiatives to improve the local environment, made GT Viticulture a standout winner.

Large Business Category Awarded to Australian Vintage Limited

Australian Vintage have embedded ESG practices throughout their business through pursuing, implementing and achieving B Corp standard certification. As part of this process, it has gained certified member status within Sustainable Winegrowing Australia for all their production sites and 93% of their grape intake and is on a trajectory towards net zero by 2040 aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative and is powered by 85% renewable energy. The diversity of projects and the scale of improvements realised collectively was significant and sets a strong example for industry.

Individual Champion Awarded to Dan Falkenberg from Eden Hall wines

At Eden Hall Wines, Dan Falkenberg has driven the journey from conventional to regenerative viticulture through focusing on biodiversity, innovative pest and disease management and building soil health. He is a recognised leader in his peer and local community and has voluntarily shared and contributed his knowledge and experience to a wide range of forums in Australia and overseas.

SAWIA Work, Health and Safety Excellence Awards

Small to Medium Business Category Awarded to Pikes Wines

Pikes Wines have implemented controls which addressed a number of hazards common to the wine industry, making the working environment safer, easier and more productive. Through the construction of a new chemical shed, they eliminated manual handling and improved chemical management and storage, thus providing significant safety benefits.

Large Business Category Awarded to Pernod Ricard Winemakers

Pernod Ricard Winemakers introduced the ThinkSafe initiative in 2017 sharing a common goal with staff for a workplace free from incidents. In 2023, they took further steps by engaging an external auditor and launching an engagement initiative led by a team of workers, supervisors and managers. With up to 500 individuals across South Australia being involved in inspections and discussions, a number of practical safety improvements were identified and implemented resulting in their highest safety audit compliance rate.

Individual Champion Awarded to Christian Daehn-Alabi from Treasury Wine Estates

At Treasury Wine Estates, Christian initiated his own wellbeing program focusing on stress reduction, relaxation, stretching, movement and mental wellness. Driven from the ground up, these initiatives have seen increased participation in wellbeing activities, delivered across South Australia and more recently virtually around Australia. The panel was impressed by Christian using his personal passion and knowledge to support the wellbeing of his colleagues across the business.

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