Viticulture is the science, production, and study of grapes. It deals with the series of events
that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for wine making, it is also known as viticulture.
Organic viticulture production covers all types of grape growing prior to picking. Section 4 of
the Australian Certified Organic Standard covers the basic requirements that viticulture producers
need to adhere to. Annex 1 of the standard is a list of generic materials that can be used in organic
viticulture production. There is also a list of Registered Allowed farming inputs that can be found
on the ACO website which have been reviewed and deemed compliant to the Australian Certified Organic
Standard, these products can be used in organic farming systems as per label directions.
Once the grapes have been picked and taken to a certified winery for processing this is then covered
under processor wine making.
The use of copper and sulphur based inputs is quite common in organic vineyards to control Downey and
Powdery mildews. It is important operators verify compliance of all inputs with the certification
office prior to use.
