Wine, as any aficionado will tell you, is a holistic experience – you taste, smell, swirl, describe, hunt for metaphors, tell other people about it, look for the quirkiest or most picturesque cellar door, then go liking to find out how the wine was made and by whom. Wine is ultimately about connection. To the story in the bottle, to the land from which it came.

Gundog Estate is a winery with stories aplenty, and a thriving social and environmental conscience to go with it. Its cellar doors are located in an historic schoolhouse and stables in Pokolbin and Gundaroo respectively. Grapes are sourced from the Hunter, Hilltop and Canberra wine regions. Gundog is proud of its semillon, shiraz, rose and fortified wines. It is also justifiably proud of its social and environmental commitments.

Alongside its partnership with Path2Change, which aims to combat homelessness in the Newcastle region, Gundog has partnered with Fifteen Trees to combat climate change in, well, the planetary region. Gundog has come up with a range of ways to encourage its customers to get in on the action: Fifteen Trees currently plant one tree for every new membership to Gundog Estate’s Barrel Club.

Customers are also given the option to purchase a tree at checkout (online and at the cellar door). Via the Wine Club, members are also given the opportunity to purchase tree vouchers during quarterly distributions. All this equates to … more trees for our countryside.

– Tree Planting 2023 –

Site A | Scotsmans Lead, VIC | 100 trees

At Napoleon Enfield Landcare Group, they are focused on transforming a huge flood plain in the bend of the Yarrowee River at Scotmans Lead (south of Ballarat), which is public land that was once ploughed up and then abandoned to the rabbits.  This year for National Tree Day, the local community gathered (65 enthusiastic individuals) to plant 800 specially chosen local species, 24 species in total.

The aim of the planting is to bring back the biodiversity that once occupied this area. With past plantings, native grass is now flourishing and the presence of previously planted native vegetation is changing the depleted soil into a thriving ecosystem. These new trees and shrubs will grow tall helping to reduce carbon emissions into the future. The planting group will be linking this area to the nearby forests and river to give the environment a good chance to grow at its best, despite a changing climate.

– Tree Planting 2022 –

Site A | Mulgoa, NSW | 220 trees

Gundog Estate has continued their support of our native environment, this time in the Mulgoa Valley, NSW. With this small forest, Gundog Esate is building habitat for fauna and improving our collective future by greening the local landscape.

The trees are helping with the regeneration of ecological communities under threat, in particular the Shale Sandstone Transition Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion which is ‘critically endangered’. In doing so it will also increase canopy, shade and food sources for nectar-eating species such as Australian parrots.

Dominant canopy species in the area planted are Grey Gum, Forest Red Gum, Ironbarks and Wattles. The plantings were designed to increase cover and supplement the area with other tree species that are part of the ecological communities listed. Some of the species planted include; Tick Bush, White feather honey myrtle, Gossamer Wattle, Hickory Wattle, Rough-barked apple, Broad-leafed apple, White Stringy Bark, Narrow-leaf ironbark, Silky Hakea, Willow-leafed Hakea, Slender Tea-tree, Yellow Tea-tree and Forest red-gum.

Thank you for providing our trees which are now thriving as part of our long-term work to regenerate and conserve the threatened ecological communities in Mulgoa.

Katherine Clare | Coordinator | Hawkesbury-Nepean Landcare Network

Site B | Campaspe Valley, VIC | 195 trees

The trees were planted at Edgecombe in the Campaspe Shire, Taungurung Country (Northern VIC) by Campaspe Valley Landcare Group. The group comprises of members who have rural properties in a part of the state that’s been extensively & intensively cleared since the 1840s. Members are aiming to re-establish some tree cover using locally indigenous species. They are also work on revegetating public lands, such as roadsides that are currently devoid of, or have very few, trees.

Some of the species planted included; Silver Wattles, Lightwoods, Black Wattles, Blackwoods, Bulokes, Dropping Sheokes, River Bottlebrushes, River Red Gums, Yellow Gums, Grey Boxes, Messmates, Snow Gums, Red Boxes and Manna Gums.

Thanks to the donors. It would be a far more difficult job without your kind help, in fact very restrictive to proceed at all without your help.

Graham Connell | Member | Campaspe Valley Landcare Group

Gardening Australia recently featured this group in a segment on the importance of biolinks between properties, reserves and waterways. In this segment (8 min), Graham speaks to Millie Ross from the ABC show.

– Tree Planting 2021 –

Site A | Gundaroo, NSW | 300 trees

Matt and Geoff have been progressively planting trees on their Gundaroo Property in NSW to help restore the land which was previously devastated by intensive farming, and they are aiming to bring it back to its natural state. They want to create a safe environment for native wildlife to flourish.

They sincerely thank everyone who has contributed by donating trees.

Site B | Meander River, TAS | 500 trees

Planting of the trees has taken place with family members on the beautiful banks of the Meander River. Ian and Janette Mitchelson plus helpers managed to plant out all 500 trees over the course of a couple of weeks. They are very grateful and appreciative of these trees.

Site C | Ross Quarry, TAS | 700 trees

Site D | Condobolin, NSW | 220 trees

Condobolin and Districts Landcare were lucky to receive 220 mixed native tubestock for planting in our region. A number of different sites were chosen for these plantings which comprised of both public land (Gum Bend Lake) and on private land in the area.

A local youth group helped to plant seedlings in the new bird habitat area of our recreational lake. This area has been created to give birds a safe area to rest, breed and forage for food. The plantings will stabilise the banks of the lake and create vital habitat for the birds and other wildlife. The tubestock, once grown, will facilitate numerous benefits to our native wildlife such as bees, gliders, birds, insects and bugs, but there will also be many benefits seen in land productivity through soil stabilisation, wind and shelterbelts to surrounding land and livestock. The list goes on.

All species planted were native to Australia, some being endemic to our region also.

Thank you to the supporters of Fifteen Trees for supplying these seedlings to our community. We are ever so grateful and look forward to seeing them growing into strong, healthy plants.

Sarah Cranney | Local Landcare Coordinator | Condobolin & Districts Landcare

Some of the species planted at this site included: Wyalong Wattle, Weeping Myall, Lemon-scented Bottlebrush, River Oak, Lemon scented Gum, Red Flowering Gum, River Redgum, Yellow Gum, Grey Box, Christmas Hakea and Honey Honey Myrtle.

– Tree Planting 2020 –

Site A | Lukintyre, NSW | 500 trees

This year, we planted 500 trees on behalf of Gundog Estate and their customers at the Luskintyre Wildlife Corridor, NSW.

Luskintyre Landcare is an incorporated association that formed in 2019 with several landholders on private properties. Their aims are to regenerate the riparian zone of the Hunter River across their properties, encourage more regenerative agriculture and create wildlife corridors to enhance biodiversity. With the assistance of Gundog and Fifteen Trees, this site will extended over the coming years and continue to expand the habitat corridor with 5000 or more plants in the ground by 2023.

Stacy Mail | Landcare Coordinator | Lower and Mid-Hunter

– Tree Planting 2019 –

Site A | Westgate Park, VIC | 200 trees

Our ongoing supporters give our sustainable enterprise stability and the capacity to plan, and we are so happy to have Gundog Estate on board. This year, we planted 200 trees right under the Westgate Bridge, VIC.

The committed winemakers behind Gundog Estate aim to leave their land in better shape than it was when they walked on to it. By partnering with Fifteen Trees, they are also doing the same for the earth. A refined and earthy cheers to that!

Article by Sarah Hart.

Sarah is a self-taught artist whose passions include the stories and experiences of women and narrative driven creative work. Her aim is to delight, to reveal glimpses of everyday beauty, and to celebrate flights of the ordinary. Sarah works across a range of media, with an abiding interest in pen and ink, mixed media and the human form.