Steve Lubiana is a fifth-generation winemaker, growing up in South Australia’s Riverland where his father was a winemaker, and where Lubiana cut his teeth. “In 1955 my parents started a winery my father took over from his father in the Riverland in SA making bulk wine. I didn’t want to make bulk wine, I wanted to do premium wine… especially sparkling. I looked around Australia and it was obvious that Tasmania was the best place to grow grapes to make sparkling wine.”
A move to Tasmania in 1990 saw him and his wife, Monique, plant vines in 1991 in Granton, Derwent Valley. “I found this piece of land, chose the site for its soil, for a frost-free location, dry, autumn conditions, disease free site but warm, some continentality, but not too much,” says Lubiana. “I was keen on the poor soils to control vigour, especially in cool climate.”
A strong focus on the Apple Isle’s key grapes – pinot noir and chardonnay – was the prime motivation, but over the years there has been considerable diversification. The site had new plantings added in 2010 and ’19, with some vines also grafted over the years. The current composition is pinot noir, chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling, sauvignon blanc, syrah, merlot, malbec, malvasia and blaufränkisch across 28.3 hectares of vines. Most of the vineyard is planted at a density of 4,500 vines per hectare, which is still dense by Australian standards, but there is also a close-planted 1.3-hectare block at 11,000 vines per hectare that was established in 2019.
“We’d taste the wine and think this may need more acidity, but we don’t go: ‘Let's add tartaric to it’. We go back to the vineyard and find how we improve acidity; how do we get acidity in that wine… in the vineyard! ‘This wine is a bit light in colour…’ How do we make more colour in the vineyard? It’s not out of a packet… Need more tannin? Always going back to the vineyard to make the wine in the vineyard.”
When Lubiana moved to Tasmania, he was already interested in biodynamics, having studied Rudolph Steiner’s seminal work, Agriculture, after early exposure to the principles. “I found a chart my grandfather had used, or even made… It was a rough hand-sketched chart of winemaking cycles in regard to the phases of the moon. As a child, that really interested me and I thought it was pretty unreal, then I saw a Four Corners thing in 1985/86… Alex Podolinsky talking on biodynamics, and it clicked with me; it made sense.”
Some initial trials with both organics and biodynamics were foiled by a lack of financial resources, with the wrong or inadequate equipment at the time. But though they then resorted to conventional practices, Lubiana notes that they were nearly “halfway there” on their biodynamic journey in 2010, when they went fully immersive, beginning the process of becoming officially certified. That was no easy task to begin with, but full certification came in 2013 – becoming Tasmania’s first official biodynamic vineyard – and he has never looked back.
“We have been alone in the world of certified biodynamics for many years now,” says Lubiana. “Though recently a northern vineyard, Marion’s, has gained certification. Not many vineyards have the passion or drive to execute or strive for full certification. The reason being it’s time consuming, expensive and mostly unrecognised.”
In accordance with biodynamic principles, no synthetic chemicals are used in the vineyard or winery. The classic preparations for nurturing soil and vines are used, and planting, pruning, harvesting etc. are conducted in tune with the lunar calendar. “Our philosophy is a choice,” says Lubiana. “We’ve decided to be certified biodynamic because it protects the soil, creatures, vines, employees, customers and us, the owners, from harmful chemicals. A win all the way around.”
The benefits of biodynamics also extend well beyond that, says Lubiana. “The soils are deeper and more fertile with increased biodiversity. And they also trap more carbon. The vines are tougher, more resilient, and are better able to resist negative climatic conditions. The grapes have thicker skins, which make them more disease resistant and creates more flavour, and there is better balance and increased age-ability of the wines. This year, we are one of the only disease-free vineyards in Australia: exceptionally clean fruit, with only using soft chemicals – so there’s the proof.”
“I found a chart my grandfather had used, or even made… It was a rough hand-sketched chart of winemaking cycles in regard to the phases of the moon. As a child, that really interested me and I thought it was pretty unreal, then I saw a Four Corners thing in 1985/86… Alex Podolinsky talking on biodynamics, and it clicked with me; it made sense.”
Lubiana estimates that they spend more than ten times more money on the vineyard than they do in the winery, noting that it is usually empty and quiet. “You don’t have to spend much time in the winery when you have good fruit, as there is little to remediate. All the grapes are hand-picked and hand sorted, every single bunch… Sometimes we can sit back with arms folded when hand sorting and watch it go past… as all the fruit is good, we’ve done everything right in the vineyard.”
That classic mantra of wine being made in the vineyard is taken very seriously at Stefano Lubiana, with additions replaced with a tweaking of processes amongst the vines. “We’d taste the wine and think this may need more acidity, but we don’t go: ‘Let’s add tartaric to it’. We go back to the vineyard and find how we improve acidity; how do we get acidity in that wine… in the vineyard! ‘This wine is a bit light in colour…’ How do we make more colour in the vineyard? It’s not out of a packet… Need more tannin? Always going back to the vineyard to make the wine in the vineyard.”
Like with many organic and biodynamic vineyards, weeds present the biggest ongoing challenge for Lubiana, and the strategy is manual and mechanical. “We use machinery to blade the soil as well as other machinery to interrupt weed growth,” he says. “In the last couple of years, we’ve been planting clovers under the vines to outcompete weeds. This trial seems to be working. We have also increased our flock of sheep to eat down more grass over winter, and we still do hand weeding in problematic areas. We try to weed when we can in the barren phase of the moon; the idea is to prevent seed germination. We can’t wait for weed robots to come onto the market!”
The midrow cover crops are made up of a diverse range of species to encourage beneficial insects, while four beehives are placed strategically on the property. “We encourage soil fungi with the use of biochar and compost with zero synthetic fungicides,” says Lubiana. “We rotate sheep on the property to eat grass rather than mowing. The winery is solar powered which provides solar energy to the vineyard during the day. We are also starting to notice the vines require less irrigation. Although it is a very dry growing area, this is due to improved water holding capacity from our practices.”
Treated pine posts have not been used since 2010, with new plantings and any replacements now made of steel. Winery wastewater is treated and reused, while all grape waste and marc (the matter left over after fermentation) is composted and spread across the vineyard. The estate’s restaurant, Osteria Vista, is supplied by their own vegetable gardens, along with other produce grown or reared onsite, with food waste composted or fed to the chickens. Most packaging waste is recycled, including plastic pallet wrap, while inhouse packaging is all recycled/recyclable and/or biodegradable, with Biogone pallet wrap, tape and pallet toppers used. The supplementary grid power is mitigated by 100 hectares of native vegetation on the property.
And while climate change has not largely had the negative effects in the cool of Tasmania, rather hitting warmer mainland sites more heavily, Lubiana believes that biodynamics plays a crucial role in moderating any potential issues. “We think biodynamics offers a buffer because it encourages deep root systems and builds carbon in the soil that acts like a blanket, keeping the soil cool in summer and warming it up with the air it holds over winter,” he says.
“The vines are more resilient… with the heat, on hot days they bounce back… rain events… with waterlogging, they seem to handle that. There are patches of the vineyard that should be suffering but they appear to be kicking on. Natural resilience, it’s not a number like five times more resilient, but there is an increase, and it is significant… Natural grape acid is in abundance, and we detect no change in precision or transparency in the finished wines. We have no complaints.”
That precision of expression is something that Lubiana notes has only increased with biodynamics, and that it has likely been the biggest change since conversion. “In our wines, we see obvious varietal characters, transparency between layers of fruit flavour, balanced natural acid and superior elegance on the finish,” he says. “No quick, harsh stop. A soft gentle ending to each mouthful! In other words. Our wine makes itself. Rarely is an adjustment required and because we slow wine-make, filtering is more or less done by gravity.”
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