Specialising in cool climate wines, Delatite Wines are located on a rise, looking toward Mt Buller in north-east Victoria. It is a small family run winery. Established in 1982 by Robert and Vivienne Ritchie and it is now run by their son David, with the assistance of winemaker Andy Browning. The 26 hectare vineyard sits between 450 and 500m above sea on slopes that vary in gradient and outlook (from north-east to north-west) whilst the predominant soil type is red ironstone.
A bottle of Delatite wine comes with history of caring for the land.
In the vineyard, they follow Rudolf Steiner’s Biodynamic principles as they believe in growing grapes and making wine in as natural a way as possible with minimal additions. The only fertilisers used are reactive rock phosphate, fish/kelp/fulvic acid, BD 500, cow and sheep manure concentrate and compost teas. No herbicides, insecticides or systemic/curative fungicides are used.
In the past, David has personally planted many thousand of native trees in the surrounding country-side. It is a pleasure to continue this tradition on David’s behalf.
The vineyards of Delatite Wines
We organised David’s trees (150 trees) to be planted in the neighbouring hills of Flowerdale. The trees were planted by Steve and Heather Joplin on their property. Both Steve and Heather have been long time members (and indeed coordinators) of the Flowerdale Landcare Group. As stewards of the land, they have great passion and determination to see this area (that has been mis-managed in the past) thrive with native trees and wildlife. And now they are into beekeeping!
The tree planting team
As the owners of the property, we have an interest in beekeeping. A decision was made to undertake a project named Trees for Bees. In this project, we’ve been replacing the non-indigenous Tasmanian Bluegums with indigenous Red Box, Yellow Box, Grey Box and Red Stringybark. We have also been planting ground flora and sub-canopy species. These species will provide a diverse range of local plant species for local wildlife and great nectar sources for the bee hives.
The corridor effect will be increased by shifting a fence further into a paddock, taking in relatively unproductive grazing areas. As this project is taking place relatively late in the planting season, the need for watering the seedlings to assist establishment is likely. An 800 litre fire appliance on the back of our ute has served the purpose.
Thank you Delatite Wines for contributing to our work here in Flowerdale.
Steve and Heather Joplin | Members | Flowerdale Landcare
Once again a huge thank you to David and the team at Delatite Wines for your generous purchase of 150 trees for one of our favourite places in Victoria. And thank you to Steve and Heather for taking such good care of our native environment. David, perhaps next year we can both head out to plant with the Joplins (and share some wine and honey).
Sláinte (Irish for cheers) – Colleen
According to Sustainability Victoria, the average Australian lifestyle produces 15,000kg of carbon per year. If that sounds like a lot, it is! Over its lifetime, a tree can collect and store 268kg. This means, we each need to plant 58 trees per year to bring our individual carbon production down to zero. A little tricky for most of us to do in our own backyards, and this is where ‘A Subscription for the Planet’ comes in. (Feature image from Mt Worth Landcare).
Individual actions really do matter! Individually we can really only make small differences to the world around us, but collectively our numbers add up. And if enough individuals are involved then forests can be grown!
