When it comes to managing vineyards in a Phylloxera Infested Zone (PIZ), few speak with as much lived experience and clarity as Steve Faulkner, viticulturist at Oakridge Wines in Victoria’s Yarra Valley.
With a career spanning some of Australia’s most prominent wine regions – Rutherglen, Mornington Peninsula, Mudgee and now Yarra – Steve has not only honed his craft in diverse climates, but also built a practical approach to biosecurity that balances vineyard performance with sustainability.
“It’s all about the dirt,” Steve says, acknowledging he’s often corrected to call it soil. “You’ve got to understand how dirt and plants interact. And then you need to understand how the grapes react in the environment. But the biggest thing for growing grapes is time – seeing seasons inside and out.”
Time has also given Steve perspective on the costs – human, financial and operational – of managing phylloxera.
It was in Rutherglen that Steve first saw the long-term impacts of phylloxera on vineyard productivity and costs. Today, his perspective is grounded in daily experience managing six vineyard sites across the Yarra Valley, some with phylloxera, and others uninfested.
“The word I use is paranoid,” Steve says. “You have to be thinking about everything that you do and what can possibly transmit one of these little insect buggers between our sites.”
Oakridge’s old vine Chardonnay block, planted in 1990 and still phylloxera-free, is managed like a Phylloxera Exclusion Zone (PEZ), despite being just 10 minutes from infested blocks. Equipment must be washed with pressurised hot water, heat treated, and carefully transported between sites.
“That can take a day or two. And that’s just for one piece of machinery,” Steve says. “But if it makes one of the best Chardonnays in the country, you have to protect it.”
Footwear is a big biosecurity consideration. “My staff go through up to two pairs of boots a year with the amount of bleach foot baths we do. And if we’ve got labour hire crews, they go through them too,” he said.
The cost of complacency
For Steve, the key to breaking industry apathy – especially in regions and states currently free from phylloxera such as South Australia – is a frank conversation about the costs involved in managing it.
“A heat treatment at a DPI-accredited shed is $375. Then you’ve got to truck the machine there and back. A single movement of a tractor can be $700-plus. And that’s every time you need to move something between sites,” Steve said.
That’s why Oakridge invested in its own on-site heat room, at a cost of $200,000. Even so, they still face significant ongoing expenses and hidden wear and tear on equipment due to heat exposure, including reduced tyre life and perishing door seals and interior plastics.
“People need to understand this stuff before they’re living it,” Steve says. “Because you’re basically shelling out money for nothing – money you could have saved with some preventative steps.”
His message to those in Phylloxera Exclusion Zones is simple: “Biosecurity begins at your farm gate. No one’s going to protect your farm but you,” Steve said.
“It’s about having a standard of cleanliness that you insist on every time. Bleaching your shoes between vineyards is the bare minimum. And it’s pretty affordable.
“People say, ‘I can’t bleach my shoes, they’re too expensive.’ And my response is, ‘This vineyard’s worth more than your R.M. Williams, my friend.’ And there are plastic over-booties available for these cases, so there’s no excuse.”
The role of rootstocks
The Yarra Valley is currently grappling with the slow advance of the G1 genotype of phylloxera, first detected in 2006. Oakridge has developed a progressive replanting program, phasing in phylloxera-tolerant rootstocks while still maintaining production from existing own-rooted vines.
“It’s a strategic plan,” Steve says. “We ask, can we get five more years out of this block? If yes, what do we need to do now so that when it declines, we’ve got something ready to replace it?”
Choosing the right rootstock is part of the solution, and Steve sees it not as a limitation but an opportunity for site-specific management.
“You’ve got to know your site really well – what areas are drier, saltier, wetter. Some rootstocks bring maturity forward, some delay it. That could help spread out harvest during compressed vintages.”
An integrated mindset
Steve’s philosophy blends sustainability with business. He champions biological farming, grounded in the soil food web, where microbial life and nutrient cycling underpin vine health and flavour.
“If you dig a shovel of soil and count 25 worms, you never need fertiliser again,” Steve says. “It means your soil is alive and functioning like nature intended. But to get there, your practices have to build it, not destroy it.”
This also extends to Integrated Pest Management (IPM). “It’s not about believing one school of thought. It’s about saying, ‘Which of these options are the best for this season, in this situation?’”
Similarly, Steve rejects the idea of rigid routines. “It’s not about doing the same recipe every year. It’s about being strategic – knowing what you’re doing and why.”
Steve represents the new breed of viticulturist – technically sharp, sustainability-driven, and grounded in real-world experience. In the face of phylloxera, he’s building business resilience not just with rootstocks and treatments, but a mindset of vigilance and respect for the land.
“We can’t keep doing things the way we’ve always done them,” he says. “We need to be more thoughtful, more responsive and more prepared.”