Meet the environmentally focused label crafting gentler wines

Among the wine shelves at your local Dan Murphy’s or here online you’ve most likely spotted the floral screwcaps and minimalist label of Tread Softly. The design of their labels is the first hint of Tread Softly’s focus on crafting wines that are lighter in style and alcohol, but also lighter on the environment.

Tread Softly makes light and fresh wines through innovative winemaking and by sourcing premium fruit from some of the best cool climate wine regions in South Australia and Victoria. The vibrancy of their wines has earned them a growing fan base and even a Decoded Awards finalist medal for their cracking pinot noir.

At the heart of the brand is a focus on being environmentally conscious that touches all aspects of the label. From more sustainable packaging, right through to a tree planting initiative, the entire Tread Softly range has been designed to leave minimal impact on the environment.

Tread Softly is just one of the many wine labels from Fourth Wave Wine, a dynamic stable of wine brands that focuses on contemporary and high quality winemaking. We sat down with Ross Marshall, Fourth Wave’s Managing Director, to hear more about Tread Softly and its distinct focus on lighter styles Australian wine. 

Q. Why did you decide to make a lighter style wine? 

Australia can make really robust, full flavoured wines from warmer climates that are much-loved styles. But there are many customers seeking lighter and fresher wines that cooler climate Australian regions can deliver — lighter in body, flavour, and sometimes alcohol. 

Q. What’s the process for making a wine that’s lower alcohol? 

We craft wines from varieties that are naturally suited to delivering bright fruit flavours at reduced alcohol levels. The majority of that work is done in the vineyard. Achieving flavour ripeness through vineyard and canopy management on selected varieties and picking the fruit earlier results in naturally lighter alcohol in the finished wines.

Q: Alongside the regular Tread Softly range you also produce a Yarra Valley range. What can you tell us about that specialty range?

The Yarra Valley range represents our ambition to craft the finest lighter in alcohol wines possible. These are hand-made wines from high quality, premium fruit parcels from one of Australia’s most sought-after and recognisable cool-climate wine regions. They’re crafted to achieve bright, fresh fruit-driven flavours in that naturally lighter in alcohol style.

Q: Your prosecco comes in a bottle but also in a can, how did that come about?

Wine in a can has been more prominent here in Australia over the last couple of years. The can makes the wine more accessible by offering a smaller, single serve format. That opens up many more occasions for customers to have a glass of wine if they don’t want to open a whole bottle of sparkling.

Q: Alongside the goal of making lighter wines, Tread Softly also has a goal of leaving a lighter impact on the environment. How are you achieving a more sustainable wine label?

We’re certainly a more sustainable wine brand. Tread Softly seeks to reduce environmental impact by using more sustainable vineyard and winery management, along with other initiatives like recyclable and lighter packaging. We also plant one native Australian tree for every six bottles of wine sold, which so far is over 280,000 trees! We do this through a restoration program in the Yarra Yarra biodiversity corridor of Western Australia to help return it back to its natural Australian bushland state.