The Australian wine industry has another innovation under its belt, with Canberra district winemaker Four Winds Vineyard this week releasing Australia’s first "circular wine"’, using insect‑derived fertiliser created from food waste through a partnership with ag‑tech company Goterra and one of Australia’s largest hotels, Hyatt Regency Sydney.
The system converts food waste from the hotel into fertiliser used in the vineyard rather than sending the waste to landfill. Grapes from the vines nourished by the fertiliser are then turned into a new Circular Vintage series being served by the hotel.
Pretty neat.
The innovation offers a practical alternative model for vineyard nutrient management at a time when fertiliser supply and input costs are under increasing pressure thanks to an orange ballroom-building clown.
The initiative applies circular‑economy principles with a shiraz the first release, to be followed by a riesling.
Food waste from the Hyatt Regency is consumed by flies and recycled on-site into a rich frass, or fertiliser, which then nourishes the vines that produce the grapes that return to the hotel in the form of Four Winds Vineyard’s 2025 Circular Vintage Shiraz.
The waste from the Hyatt’s kitchens goes directly into Goterra’s specially built modular infrastructure for Biological Services (MIB) unit in the hotel’s basement.
Four Winds Vineyard CEO Sarah Collingwood says the circular wine project made perfect sense for the family-run vineyard, 30 minutes’ drive from Canberra, which won the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for its 2023 Shiraz at the 2024 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards.
“We loved the idea of being able to return nutrients to the soil rather than having them end up in landfill,” Collingwood.
“For us, this was about finding a practical way to close the loop between food, farming and wine and we’re incredibly proud to put our name to The Circular Vintage series, which shows that innovation and quality can go hand in hand.
“The Circular Vintage Shiraz is a typical cool-climate shiraz with distinctive white pepper and spice characters. We are equally excited about the riesling, which has been hand-picked recently and has the delicate citrus and floral flavours you come to expect from a Canberra District riesling.”
Hyatt Regency Sydney executive assistant manager Nitin Kumar, who established strong connections with local winemakers during his previous tenure at Park Hyatt Canberra, said Four Winds Vineyard stood out as a producer that shared the hotel’s commitment to quality and innovation.
“Partnering with Four Winds Vineyard on an Australia-first initiative like this allows us to showcase wines with a story that resonates well beyond the glass,” Kumar says.
“The Circular Vintage Shiraz is a typical cool-climate shiraz with distinctive white pepper and spice characters. We are equally excited about the riesling, which has been hand-picked recently and has the delicate citrus and floral flavours you come to expect from a Canberra District riesling.”
Hyatt Regency Sydney executive assistant manager Nitin Kumar, who established strong connections with local winemakers during his previous tenure at Park Hyatt Canberra, said Four Winds Vineyard stood out as a producer that shared the hotel’s commitment to quality and innovation.
“Partnering with Four Winds Vineyard on an Australia-first initiative like this allows us to showcase wines with a story that resonates well beyond the glass,” Kumar says.
"We're literally serving our guests wine grown from their breakfast," said Sven Ullrich, the hotel's executive chef.
"It sounds wild, but it's actually the most natural thing in the world, returning nutrients to the soil instead of sending waste to landfill."
"It sounds wild, but it's actually the most natural thing in the world, returning nutrients to the soil instead of sending waste to landfill."
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