Viticulture consultants to the Western Australian wine industry

Page last updated: Monday, 20 March 2023 - 9:30am

Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review.

This list provides details of a number of consultants providing viticulture and winemaking services to the Western Australian wine industry.

It is not exhaustive and should not be taken as endorsement by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development of any person mentioned or any goods or services that such a person may offer. Any omission of a consultant is unintentional.

Accendo Australia Pty Ltd

PO Box 5178
West Busselton WA 6280

Telephone: +61 (0)8 9755 7217
Email:        info@accendoaustralia.com.au
Website:    accendoaustralia.com.au

Contact

  • Kirsten Muir-Thompson BSc (Hons)
    Mobile: +61 (0)418 950 852

Services offered

Accendo Australia is a specialist environmental consultancy, focused on providing practical and innovative solutions to environmental challenges. It provides a wide range of services for agricultural enterprises and can assist in ensuring compliance with all environmental regulations/approvals, while still meeting financial targets.

It specialises in:

  • Environmental approvals and licences – including Department of Environment Regulation licences, works approvals and clearing permits
  • Environmental planning and sustainable development – including due diligence for land acquisition, land capability assessments and environmental (constraints) assessment
  • Environmental auditing and compliance reporting – including annual reporting, national pollution inventory (NPI) reporting and auditing to ensure compliance with statutory conditions
  • Management plans – including nutrient and irrigation, wastewater and revegetation
  • Environmental monitoring – including wastewater, groundwater, soil analysis and hydrogeological investigations.

AHA Viticulture

PO Box 215
Dunsborough WA 6281

Telephone:     +61 (0)8 9756 8011
Facsimile:      +61 (0)8 9756 8033
Email:             manager@ahaviticulture.com.au
Website:         ahaviticulture.com.au

Contacts

  • Jim Campbell-Clause BScAg (Hons)
    Mobile: +61 (0)418 479 476
  • Colin Bell Assoc. Degree Winegrowing, Trade Hort.
    Mobile: +61 (0)408 479 473
  • Mike Gray BSc (Hons), MBA
    Mobile: +61 (0)427 479 474

Services offered

Comprehensive service covering all aspects of:

  • Vineyard management
  • Viticultural consulting
  • Monitoring
  • Budgeting and benchmarking
  • Quality assurance systems.

ARM Nursery

PO Box 140
Capel WA 6271

Telephone:   +61 (0) 429 77 2221
Email:           Steve@armnursery.com.au

Contact

  • Steve Partridge BSc Agr GAICD

Services offered

  • ARM Nursery import and propagate a wide range of wine grape varieties for the production of high quality wine
  • ARM Nursery is the Australian agent for Mercier, who are the world’s largest supplier of wine grape varieties
  • ARM nursery also provides viticulture consulting services on varieties and clones suitable for quality wine production
  • Steve has 25 years experience producing grapes in the south west of Western Australia and has wide knowledge of all producing regions
  • ARM Nursery is based in Capel and services customers across Western Australia and interstate.

Atom Earth Pty Ltd

PO Box 455
Floreat WA 6014

Telephone:   +61 (8) 9285 1561
Email:           info@atomearth.com.au
Web:             atomearth.com.au

Contact

Services offered

Atom Earth provide mobile, on-site, analysis and reporting. Utilising portable technologies such as x-ray fluoresence and ion specific electrodes, combined with our custom developed software application we provide cost effective, instant results.

  • Soil, tissue, sap, fruit and water analysis
  • Macro nutrients, micro nutrients and heavy metals
  • Total elemental concentrations from Na to U in one test
  • EC, CEC, OM, SOC, SAR, ESP, pH, TDS,  Na % of TDS
  • Non-destructive, multiple samples
  • Collating the comprehensive data that leads to informed management decisions 
  • Client portal for recording and assessing site specific data over time and assessing the efficacy of management practises
  • Eliminating the turn around time and damage risk to samples associated with traditional lab testing
  • Face to face with your lab, providing answers on-site, in real time 

Coterra Environment

Level 1, 98 Colin Street
West Perth  WA  6005

Telephone:   +61 (0)8 9381 5513
Email:           info@coterra.com.au
Website:       coterra.com.au

Contacts

Services offered

Coterra provides specialist environmental, hydrological and wastewater services to the wine industry including:

  • Environmental approvals including DWER Works Approvals and Licences, and land use planning approvals.
  • Design and approval assistance for winery effluent treatment and disposal systems.
  • Water source and water balance investigations.
  • Land acquisition due diligence assessments in relation to site suitability.
  • Vegetation surveys and Native Vegetation Clearing Permit applications.
  • Environmental, flood, drainage and nutrient/irrigation management plans.
  • Compliance reporting for existing environmental and hydrological approval conditions.
  • Environmental monitoring, including wastewater and groundwater monitoring.

Additional services offered by Coterra are listed on the website.

Down to Earth Agribusiness

Unit 3/8 Owen Tucker Lane
Margaret River WA 6285

Telephone:   +61 (0)8 9758 7074
Facsimile:     +61 (0)8 9758 7960
Email:           admin@dtearth.com.au
Website:       dtearth.com.au

Contacts

  • Carl Borrello
    Mobile: +61 (0)417 987 966
  • James Crespin
    Mobile: +61 (0)438 923 327

Services offered

Established in 1998, Down to Earth offers a comprehensive range of services to the viticulture industry. Its team of viticulturists and supervisors can model a management system to suit your requirements including:

  • Vineyard consulting
  • Pest and disease management
  • Fertiliser and irrigation regimes
  • Crop yield estimates and maturity sampling
  • Vine development monitoring
  • Cultural and biological control practices (IPM)
  • Coordinating the harvest to specification of winery/winemaker.

Large teams of experienced and professional vineyard staff are available to carry out day to day operations including planting, training, canopy management, pruning and harvesting. Down to Earth also has a large range of machinery available to carry out vineyard establishment and maintenance including an undervine sweeper and mulcher, trucks, leaf pluckers, ATVs, herbicide and fungicide units, a post rammer, seeder and a fleet of tractors.

Environment and Agricultural Testing Services

5/4 Mummery Cres
Bunbury WA 6230

Telephone :  +61 (0)8 97217170
Email:           Info@eatswa.com.au

Contacts

  • Rachel Lancaster BSc (Horticulture), PGrad Dip (Agribusiness) or Steve Partridge BSc (Agriculture), GAICD
    Mobile 0428 77 1937

Services offered

  • Environment and Agricultural Testing Services (EATS) is owned and operated by two agricultural scientists with extensive experience in horticulture / agriculture and environmental management
  • The business operates well equipped laboratory facilities and provides collection, testing, analysis and independent interpretation of soil and water samples
  • EATS provides one off and regular on-going testing to meet regulatory requirements.
  • EATS undertakes annual compliance reporting for Wastewater, ground water, and soil
  • Research and development for horticulture
  • Contaminated site investigations
  • Acid Sulphate soil testing, Acid Sulphate soil management plans and closure reporting
  • Development of nutrient management irrigation plans.
  • Horticultural consulting services.

Frank Smith - Wordsmith

PO Box 255
Darlington WA 6070

Telephone:    +61 (0)8 9299 7363
Facsimile:      +61 (0)8 9299 7363

Contact

  • Frank Smith
    Mobile: +61 (0)411 116 363

Services offered

  • Freelance writer, editor, proofreader and public relations consultant.

Geographe Viticultural Consultants

RMB 240
Ferguson Valley WA 6236

Telephone:     +61 (0)8 9728 3020
Email:             geovit@westnet.com.au

Contact

  • Ryan Gibbs BSc Viticulture & Oenology
    Mobile: +61 (0)427 922 755

Services offered

Geographe Viticultural Consultants operates in all Western Australian wine regions and aims to provide practical, technically sound advice at realistic prices. Services can be tailored to individual client needs and includes all aspects of:

  • Viticultural consulting
  • Vineyard management
  • Vineyard budgeting
  • Pest and disease monitoring.

Naturaliste Vintners

Corner Bussell Highway and Hairpin Road
Margaret River WA 6285

Telephone:           +61 (0)8 9755 1188
Email:            bruce@naturalistevintners.com
Website:        naturalistevintners.com

Contact

  • Bruce Dukes B.Sc.Agric. UWA; M.Sc. Vitic.Enol. UC Davis
    Mobile: 0427 554 917

Services offered

Naturaliste Vintners consulting services specialise in the integration of viticulture with winemaking. its objective is to optimise the quality of fruit for its intended purpose so that winemaking can proceed with minimal intervention, while achieving optimal wine quality. It has 20 years of postgraduate experience in viticulture and subsequent winemaking, which gives a broad-based and integrated understanding of the entire process.

The objective is to significantly improve the quality of grapes and wines by applying holistic and systematic management techniques, which focus on critical control points in viticulture and winemaking. it has a custom crush winery in Margaret River, which has a strong record of success in national and international arenas.

Pearse Viticulture Pty Ltd

34 Villers Street
Cowaramup WA 6284

Email:        pearse.viticulture@bigpond.com

Contact

  • Bruce Pearse
    Mobile: +61 (0)417 930 672

Services offered

Bruce Pearse has over 40 years experience with viticulture and wine production in the cool climate regions of Western Australia. Experience has been in both family and corporate-owned vineyards and wineries. Bruce can provide practical advice on all aspects of vineyard site selection, development and management, soil health and vine nutrition, sustainability, winery design and operations, bottling operations and troubleshooting and winery environmental management.

Peter Gherardi Consultancy Services

PO Box 53
Margaret River WA 6285

Telephone:    +61 (0)8 9757 3142
Facsimile:      +61 (0)8 9757 3180
Email:            pgherardi@westnet.com.au

Contact

  • Peter Gherardi
    Mobile: +61 (0)417 092 506

Services offered

With 30 years experience in the wine industry, Peter Gherardi Consultancy Services provides a professional viticultural and oenological service to the grape growing and wine making industry. It covers all aspects of vineyard development and management, the technical aspects of grape growing and wine making, together with an independent assessment service for losses due to natural or unnatural causes. For those contemplating the purchase or sale of a winery or vineyard, a professional and confidential brokerage service is also offered.

Retallack Viticulture Pty Ltd

125 Sheoak Road
Crafters West, South Australia 5152

Telephone:     +61 (0)8 8339 3324
Facsimile:      +61 (0)8 8339 4331
Email:            mary@viti.com.au
Website:        viti.com.au

Contact

  • Mary Retallack B.App.Sc, P.Grad.Dip (NRM), B.Ed, Grad.Dip (Viticulture), P.Cert (Arb), CPAg, GAICD, ARLF
    Mobile: +61 (0)408 393 324

Services offered

Retallack Viticulture is an independent viticultural consultancy offering advisory services in all aspects of wine growing throughout Australia. We specialise in providing strategic business advice to the Australian wine community and provide a prompt and reliable service.

Mary Retallack is a third-generation viticulturist, who has worked in a wide range of practical, extension and consultancy roles both within Australia and overseas, over the past two decades.

Retallack Viticulture offers clients a tailored service, finding innovative solutions to difficult problems, and specialises in:

  • Problem solving and vineyard technical advice
  • Vineyard business reviews and future planning
  • Independent assessment of fruit quality and condition
  • Loss assessment (frost, fire, spray drift, mechanical damage)
  • Expert opinion reports
  • Assisting wine growers to map the strategic direction of their business
  • Strategies for adapting to climate change and extreme weather events
  • Sustainable (low input) viticultural practices including enhancing biodiversity and incorporating insectary plantings
  • Review of vineyard performance and condition of capital infrastructure
  • Benchmarking vineyard cost of production
  • Development of business plans and review of business financials.

For a full list of services, please visit viti.com.au

Riverside Viticulture Consulting

516 Lindberg Road,
Kalgup WA 6280

Telephone:     +61 (0)448 779 708
Email:             the-stans@bigpond.com

Contact

  • John Standish BAppSc (Viticulture) distinction

Services offered

John Standish has established, worked in and managed vineyards in both hot and cool regions throughout the South West of Western Australia for the past 14 years. Although professionally qualified he is able to provide step-by-step hands-on advice that encompasses all stages in the growth of a vineyard. This includes site selection, vineyard establishment, personnel training, equipment and machinery options and wine grape production. He has specific interest in working with those new to the industry or who have small, difficult or neglected vineyards.

RPS

PO Box 170
West Perth WA 6872

Telephone:    +61 (0)8 9211 1111
Facsimile:      +61 (0)8 9211 1122
Email:            david.sim@rpsgroup.com.au
Website:        rpsgroup.com.au

Contacts

  • David Sim  +61 (0)457 554 425
  • Steve Rolls +61 (0)428 926 757

Services offered

RPS provides specialist environmental management services to the wine industry including:

  • Assistance in gaining statutory approvals for vineyards, wineries and vegetation clearing
  • Preparation of approvals documentation including Notices of Intent, nutrient and irrigation management plans, winery effluent management plans and revegetation plans
  • Sizing, documentation and approvals of winery effluent disposal systems
  • National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) reporting
  • Hydrogeological investigation
  • Water management (ground and surface water)
  • Contaminated sites issues
  • Land use planning.

Windy Vines and Grazing

Manjimup

Contact

Services offered

At Windy Vines and Grazing, our mission is to provide viticultural clients who want a premium product, that doesn’t compromise their ethos, with an inexpensive professional and premium service. Bryce’s attention to detail will put theory to tailor-made, practice with over 25 years’ worth of in-depth practical knowledge, guidance, and advice. Bryce won’t just articulate how; he will demonstrate and provide reliable support from the stepping-stones of the client’s ideology to the production of a premium quality commercial product that can be consistently assured for years to come in the clients’ market(s).

  • Vineyard Management
  • Viticultural Consulting
  • Fruit and Vine Evaluations and Reporting
  • Disease management
  • Chemical and compliance reporting and recording
  • Education and Training
  • Vineyard planning, development, and expansion
  • Vineyard labour
  • Equipment Hire and Maintenance

Wine Business Solutions

35 Brady St
Croydon NSW 2132
Telephone:    +61 (0)2 9744 8332
Facsimile:      +61 (0)2 9475 0447
Email:           info@winebusinesssolutions.com.au
Website:        winebusinesssolutions.com.au

Contact

  • Peter McAtamney, Principal +61 (0)414 226 117

Wine Network Consulting

Office 4, 5-7 Green Street
Healesville VIC 3777
Telephone: +61 (03) 5962 2427
Email: winenet@winenet.com.au
Website: www.winenet.com.au

Contacts

Services Offered

Wine Network Consulting provide advice and specialised services to wine businesses and vineyard owners, across Australia and internationally. Our team of consultants have extensive experience in a range of fields and areas, with a strong understanding of site-specific needs and the ability to deliver tailored solutions.

  • Vineyard Establishment & Advice
  • Vineyard Management
  • Independent Expert Advice & Reporting
  • Sustainability Audits
  • Operational Advice
  • Winemaking Advice & Assessment
  • Winery Design & Engineering
  • Vineyard/Winery Mergers & Acquisition
  • Business Growth & Planning
  • Recruitment

 

Contact information

Richard Fennessy
+61 (0)8 9780 6219

Author

Richard Fennessy