The importance of Biodynamic, Certified Organic and Sustainable grape growing as it relates to quality wine production
In my fifteen year career in the wine business I have tasted my share of wines and have visited hundreds of vineyards. In recent years I have begun to understand the importance and correlation between sustainable vineyard practices and a wines quality. There seems to be three main growing methods that are emerging outside of conventional growing practices that produce a superior wine: Biodynamic, Certified Organic and Sustainable.
Here is a very good Wikipedia explanation of “Biodynamic” agriculture. It is a method of organic farming with homeopathic composts that treats farms as unified and individual organisms, emphasizing balancing the holistic development and interrelationship of the soil, plants, animals as a self-nourishing system without external inputs insofar as this is possible given the loss of nutrients due to the export of food.
Regarded by some as the first modern ecological farming system and one of the most sustainable, biodynamic farming has much in common with other organic approaches, such as emphasizing the use of manures and composts and excluding of the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include the use of fermented herbal and mineral preparations as compost additives and field sprays and the use of an astronomical sowing and planting calendar. Biodynamics originated out of the work of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the spiritual philosophy anthroposophy.
For a wine to be labeled “Organic” and bear the USDA organic seal, it must be made from organically grown grapes and give information about who the certifying agency is. A wine in this category cannot have any added sulfites. It may have naturally occurring sulfites, but the total sulfite level must be less than 20 parts per million.
Wines labeled Made with Organic Grapes – or Made with Organically Grown Grapes
The wine in this category must be made from organic grapes, but it can include added sulfites.
The Confusion about Sulfites
What seems to further complicate the subject of organic wine is the subject of sulfites. Sulfite or sulfur dioxide is used as a preservative in wines. It has strong antimicrobial properties and some antioxidant properties. The health effects or consequences of sulfites are debatable though a small percent of the population does suffer a sensitivity reaction to them. A wine can make the claim,“Sulfite Free” or “ No Added Sulfites – Contains Naturally Occurring Sulfites”, but if sulfites are added and the total sulfites in the wine are above 10 parts per million, it must make the statement, “Contains Sulfites.” A wine that makes the claim Sulfite Free must have no detectable sulfites. There is some controversy about whether it is really possible for a wine to have no sulfites, but no detectable sulfites means that current ATF analysis is not sensitive enough to detect the presence of sulfites at such low levels. No Added Sulfites means that the winery did not add sulfites to the wine but there may be naturally occurring sulfites in the wine that occur as a byproduct of fermentation.
According to the NOP labeling laws. Any of the NOP categories could claim to be Sulfite Free or have No Added Sulfites, but the 100% Organic and Organic categories must meet one of these criteria. The Made with Organic Ingredients and Some Organic Ingredients categories may or may not have added sulfites.
The last category that I want to touch upon is wines labeled “Sustainable”. This is an ever growing movement that has its strongest hold and support in Oregon. Oregon started the “Oregon Certified Sustainable Wines” label or “OCSW” you can go to their website for details on what the certification requirements are at http://ocsw.org/. In talking to many wineries and vineyard managers this is the most popular choice because it does not have the severe restrictions of Certified Organic and Biodynamic methods yet is a form of agriculture that in practice has many of the same beliefs but It is far more flexible or sustainable if you will. Many vineyard managers and winery owners have not gone Certified Organic or Biodynamic because of the fear of losing everything if something were to threaten their vineyards and that could not be regulated with Certified Biodynamic or Organic methods. They have said to me numerous times “We want to be able to keep out options open.” One vineyard manager put it to me this way, “How viable is the Certified Organic label and how sustainble will your business be if you lose your entire vineyard.” Point well taken.
In Conclusion:
According to the law, all organic claims must be stated on the label so you have to read labels carefully to know what is in the bottle. Also, be careful of the way that stores advertise and shelf the various wines. It may not be the same as what the bottle labels state. I still believe that Biodynamic and Organically Certified wines have a long way to go in terms of overall quality but wineries and vineyards that have long track records using these methods will always be the safer bet. If you have any questions or would like recommendations please post a comment.
Cheers,
Jim Wiskerchen
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
What a great article. Having worked in wine sales myself, there is so much confusion about organic and sulfites and wine in general that the task of educating the public can be quite daunting at times.