Margaret River, Western Australia

 The south-west coast leads the way in defying inclement weather conditions with its sustainable biodynamic winemaking

- SAMANTHA PAYNE

There is no denying destructive weather patterns across the country have affected farming. Winemakers are not immune to the impacts of climate change and have adopted methods to combat this, from changing which grapes are planted where, to planting more resilient varieties and adopting agricultural practices to withstand the rougher seasons.

A benchmark example of a region adopting sustainable viticultural practices is the Margaret River, 270 kilometres south of Perth and home to some iconic biodynamic and organic wineries.

Heralded as the "high priestess of biodynamics" in Australia, Vanya Cullen of Cullen Wines comes from a long line of climate advocates. "It's come from an ancestral energy, which cares about the land. A lineage who fought for human rights and the environment," says Cullen."We grew up fighting bauxite mining on the cape in Margaret River. My parents fought to save Lake Pedder in Tasmania."

She describes how this history is woven through Cullen's biodynamic agricultural practices. "Mum found Hungarian shipmast locust trees and planted them as possible replacements for chopping down jarrah trees for vineyard posts," she says. "[We have] endless examples of living for and with the environment and connecting to country as the Wadandi say. It was inevitable that this started and continues with minimal chemical inputs. We are organic, biodynamic and carbon positive. We concentrate on emissions reduction and offset emissions through carbon sequestration."