The Ride Inside

There has been a recent trend in the wine making community of trying to produce wines with as little chemical intervention as possible. While I am totally for these methods, there are many other things that we should worry about first, rather than how much sulfite is in our wine. There are also some words like “natural” ,”organic”, and “biodynamic” that get thrown around and people really don’t know what they mean. So here it is.

Organic: The word organic literally means, ” of, relating to, or derived from living organisms” or “of, relating to, or containing carbon compounds”. This is not really an entirely descriptive word, however. There are different standards in different countries for what “organic” means, so you don’t really know what your getting. In simplest terms it means that the grapes were farmed without the use of man made chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Wines labeled “organic” are not always sulfite free. Sulfites occur naturally in wine and the addition of sulfites might be allowed under some laws . In America, added sulfites are not allowed if  you want your product to be organically made.

Natural: “being in accordance with or determined by nature” . Hearing this expression in describing a product rubs me like course sandpaper. In most cases, nothing but a great marketing ploy by some witty ad agency leading people to believe that eating any amount of “natural” food is healthy and don’t mind paying extra for the classification. For example… I constantly come across the phrase written on olive oil jars, “Made from 100% Natural Olives”.  Doesn’t olive oil have to come from “natural” olives?  I can’t imagine making synthetic olive trees.   Or even a better question…what is a “non natural” olive? With wines, it is a similar mystery. There is no certification for “natural” wine. Some producers use the term, perhaps, to distinguish themselves from those of “organic” or “biodynamic” wine making methods. If wine is made from grapes then it is “natural” unless one wants to venture into the woods and find a wild vine bush with decaying berries on the ground that have started to ferment, fill a cup and drink the juice.   Then you can  note the hints of formic acid(ant juice) and bouquet of musca domestica . Now that’s “natural” and “includes protein.”

Biodynamic:  The definition, ” a method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a closed, self-nourishing system”. Pretty complicated it seems  and  some what equivalent to relying on astrology and horoscopes in the wine industry. Winemakers look to the moon and stars for cues of when to plant, fertilize,

manure-like substance being put into a horn

and harvest. Bull horns are stuffed with flowers, herbs, manure and rocks which are then planted somewhere in the vineyard. Its almost voodoo-like if you ask me. In my opinion, the quality of wine would be attributed to the passion of the winemaker and the attention to detail that goes into biodynamic farming, rather than the mysterious practices. Its strange, but for some reason I am all for it.

Heres the bottom line. I am totally for sustainable and “green” agricultural practices. I will buy these wines not because I want to be healthy but because I simply want to experience something different and as an added benefit, support the green movement. Should more wines makers move to this direction? I think that wine makers should try to produce the best possible wines in the cleanest and environmentally responsible way without sacrificing quality. Wine like all other products is a commodity. Higher demand for a particular kind of wine will have higher costs. If the demand is for organically produced wines, then the reduced yields will generate the higher costs. Instead of having a crop of 15,000 kilos with the use of traditional techniques, you may now have a crop of 9,500 kilos. This reduces supply, which also will increase costs.