No.
2:
Organic/
Biodynamic
Wines
|
What does ‘organic wine’ mean?
All life-forms on Earth are organic and since wine is a
biological, living product it is, by definition, organic. That
great defining body, the EU, only uses the term in relation to
grapes, not wine, so has left it to individual countries to define
(wherein lie some interesting anomalies), insisting only that all
wines using the term ‘organic’ on the label must be certified by
one of the national certifying bodies (in the UK that’s the
Soil Association).
Hilary Wright in her book The Great Organic Wine Book uses
the definition:
- ‘wine produced from
organically grown grapes, with minimal chemical intervention in the
winery’
where she defines ‘organically grown grapes’ as those ‘grown
without the application of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or other chemical sprays’ and ‘minimal...intervention’
as ‘minimum mucking-about, low sulphur levels, and...no fining or filtering’.
The Oxford Companion to Wine defines organic wine as an:
- ‘imprecise term for wine
made from grapes produced by organic viticulture [(a system of
grape-growing which is based...on an attempt at rational management of the
living part of the soil)] using a
minimum of chemicals during wine-making’.
Most definitions seem to agree on two common core elements:
organic grape production and a ‘hands-off’ wine-making regime.
Organic farming (‘agriculture biologique’ in France) was legally
defined in 1981 as ‘farming which uses no synthetic chemical
products’ and is based on several basic concepts:
- a primary concern for the
soil - to increase soil microbial activity and avoid adding anything
which
is not directly derived from nature
- protecting the natural
environment - eg, avoiding soil erosion, or polluting water courses
- promoting a trend towards
polyculture - ie encouraging biodiversity
- respect for consumer’s
health - deliberate avoidance of poisons or harmful residues such as
pesticides.
Formal certification
In reality, there are only a small number of formally certified
organic wine producers. An example is Bonterra, in California who,
according to their website at http://www.bonterra.com, were one of
the first major brands to be granted a UK Soil Association
certificate at the start of 2002. They have been producing organic
grapes for many years and have ‘developed [their] own philosophy
based on what [they] know works’.
But there is a much larger number of producers who although they
practise organic or near-organic production methods, prefer not to
seek certification. There are many reasons for this reserve:
- a wish not to be regarded
as one of the ‘hippy-and-sandals’ brigade by the public, who
might thus
not take them seriously
- a perception that organic
wine is more expensive than non-organic wine of the same quality (it
probably doesn’t help that much organic wine until recently has
not been of terribly high quality)
- a desire not to be
interfered with by know-it-all inspectors (winemakers can be a proud
lot!) or to be
deluged by the inevitable paperwork
- conversion over to organic
practices can take time - many years - to achieve fully and in the
mean
time the vineyard must survive, ecologically and economically.
Whatever, most of the world’s quality wine producers are
however moving increasingly towards organic principles because in
the longer-term it is a sensible and sustainable thing to do which
is very consistent with their already established quality practices.
But they aren’t yet labelling their wines as such because without
certification they can’t. Such wines Hilary Wright calls ‘eco’
wines.
Eco wine production
There are several ‘eco’ paths which can be followed:
:
the mainly French concept of ‘rational struggle’ against pests
and disease involving
organic principles up to the point where, practically, spraying is
the ultimate solution. It embodies a
total commitment to the soil, but is pragmatic rather than fanatic
integrated pest management:
managing pest populations below a harmful level (not to
eradicate
them), by monitoring weather conditions, pest and predator life
cycles and local ecological patterns
in order to determine what the minimum level of intervention
would need to be
integrated production of
wine: a controlled wine
production methodology used mainly in South Africa since 1999.
biodynamics:
a system of cultivation developed in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner,
which uses only
natural preparations according to the Earth’s natural cycles and
rhythms in order to promote the
healthy growth of the whole plant and vineyard. This is described in
more detail below.
Organic principles versus conventional methods
| Area
|
Organic
|
Conventional
|
| Vineyard:
|
Focus on the soil
Ploughing encourages deep rooting
Retention of weeds/cover crops: (1) dock helps
combat powdery mildew and tap roots break up
soil (2) as green manure, such as clover or rye help fix nitrogen and plough in at end of season
Use of vegetable or animal manures
Good vine management: open and clean canopy
to prevent fungal infections, introducing pest predators, such as parasitic wasps, or
interrupting pest life cycle, such as pheremone
traps
Harvesting: after monitoring for optimum time, often at night to reduce temperature and often
by hand to lessen berry damage
|
- Focus on the vine
Chemical fertilisers encourage
roots to remain near the surface (point of application)
- Use of chemical
weedkillers to remove weeds
- Use of artificial chemical
fertilisers
- Use of chemical
pesticides and fungicides; often indsicriminately and
to excess
- Harvesting: by
machine where possible, with use of sulphur if white and
high temperatures
|
|
Winery:
|
Low intervention: let the wine speak for itself
Careful control and use of sulphur well below
limits, or even none
Fining and filtering: generally not done or to a
very limited extent - most wine will fall bright
of its own accord if left
No specific intervention to deal with tartrates
Good vineyard management
Natural winemaking
Preference for naturally occuring indigenous
yeasts
|
-
Control and manipulation: making a winemaking statement
- Excessive use of sulphur, often to a point where it can be tasted in/smelled on the wine
- Many agents can
be used for fining, such as dried ox blood, egg whites
or casein, isinglass (fish bladders) and bentonite, and in order to get the
wine to market quickly filters are used to varying degrees
- Cold
precipitation of tartrates
- Correction for high acidity/
underipeness
through addition of chemicals (acid/sugar)
- Treatments to stabilise wines eg
pasteurisation
- Use of cultivated
yeasts to produce specific wines or wine styles
|
Biodynamics - beyond organic: supporting and working with nature
Biodynamics was defined in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner a Yugoslavian
brought up in the Austro-Hungarian empire who pioneered a
philosophical approach to science called athroposophy. According to
the website of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association (at
www.biodynamics.com):
- ‘Biodynamics is a science
of life-forces, a recognition of the basic principles at work in
nature, and
an approach to agriculture which takes these principles into account
to bring about balance and
healing...an on-going path of knowledge rather than an assemblage of
methods and techniques’
Francois Bouchet, biodynamic counseller for Domaine Leflaive
since 1989, describes it as follows:
- ‘Biodynamics develops all
living species thanks to specific preparations, made from yarrow,
camomile, nettles, dandelion, valerian, compost and silica, which
are veritable energy catalysts.
It’s through the whole plant that the organism is invigorated, as
much by deep rooting as by the
leaves that capture solar energy. The resulting wine represents the
balance between the terroir and
the atmospheric environment.’
The key principles are:
- an holistic rather than a microscopic view of plant life and its
growing
environment
the book of nature
- careful observation of nature leads to understanding so that
specific actions
can be created to bring about a new emphasis and balance
cosmic rhythms
- understanding the gesture and effect of light and energy reaching
the plant from
the sun, moon, planets and stars - leading to the preferential
timing of actions such as ground
preparation, sowing, cultivating and harvesting
plant life and the soil
- recognition that the soil is alive and its vitality affects the
quality and health
of plants: humus and composting are a fundamental part of
biodynamism
new nutrition
- the aim of quality not quantity, through natural and strong
connections with healthy
and living soil rather than through artificial chemicals
biodynamic preparations
- homeopathic recipes applied at certain times of the year, ‘medicines
for
the Earth which draw life from the cosmos’
unit of agriculture
- farms and vineyards, optimised in size, form and living content so
that
preservation and recycling can support the endeavour in a
sustainable fashion
biodynamic economics
- the philosophy of a community of workers and helpers giving mutual
support and deriving mutual benefits.
Some biodynamic techniques:
- using natural compost made
in various ways
- spraying the vineyard with:
a diluted solution containing
quartz crystals to intensify the light; a mild nettle solution
to perk up circulation of the sap; a gentle valerian ‘tea’ to
bring heat to the vines
- other homeopathic
preparations made from oak bark, camomile, achillee, deer bladders and horsetails, buried
for up to six months before use to energise them and
render them humic
- all work on, and treatment
of, the vine is done according to
a calendar, devised by Marie Thun, which charts the solar and lunar cycles and rhythms. For example, hoeing or
ploughing at different times of the year, month or day - eg morning hoeing vitalises the vines whereas hoeing in the
afternoon tends to aid water retention
- cosmo-telluric
applications, such as geo-acupuncture - standing stones in the
vineyard are held to
restore balance and vines around them are said to become healthier
and stronger
- encouraging populations of
predators of vine pests and using natural organisms to ameliorate
damaging effects, or placing capsules of sex hormones (pheremones)
around the vineyard to disrupt
the mating and breeding patterns of particular pests.
Conclusions
Organic wine is now very much an established phenomenon - as a
quality product and as a valid and sustainable philosophy and
approach to wine making. Whether or not a wine is labelled as such a
growing number of quality producers follow the principles. The
effect of this is that more and more we are seeing the benefits in
the taste of wines, in its beneficial affects and in the
preservation of the environment, and the traditions and terroir of
wine regions and vineyards.
References/further information
Books/magazines:
- The Great Organic wine
Guide, Hilary wright, Piatkus
- Wine Companion, Jancis
Robinson
- Decanter articles: The
Green Party, by Monty Waldin, March 2002; A Man of Principle:
Nicolas Joly,
by Beverley Blanning MW Feb 2002; Biodynamic Woman:
Anne-Claude Laflaive, by Stephen Brook,
Sept 1998
Web sites:
www.bonterra.com, www.leflaive.fr,
www.biodynamics.com, www.soilassociation.org,
www.rudolfsteiner.com, www.winespectator.com/wine: article Organic Panic by Molly
Ferrell
|
