Wine is, actually, a kind of chemical soup. A listing of all the chemicals occurring naturally in wine would consist of dozens of entries. When all these chemicals are in proper balance, the result is a good tasting wine. But added chemicals have come to play a dominant role over the past decades—from vineyard to bottling line.
The Organic Movement
The organic farming movement, which is moving into high gear these days, is devoted to the elimination of added chemicals throughout the process. It’s an uphill battle, but they appear to be winning.
Pesticides are giving way to introducing low-growing plants between vine rows that host beneficial insects that keep the pest insects in check. Chemical fertilizers are being replaced by natural composts and natural “teas.” In some cases spent must (wine solids) is returned to the vineyard. There’s even a renewed effort to ferment the grape juice on natural yeasts instead of inoculating the must with commercial yeasts.
Two Questions
- Is it practical to eliminate all added chemicals and still produce quality wine?
- Are organic wines perceptibly better tasting than those produced in the typical commercial manner?
The answer to the first question is a resounding "yes." But those wines are likely to be more expensive due to more careful and labor-intensive vineyard management. The loss of fruit from pests will be greater in an organically farmed vineyard. And the winemaker will be kept “on point” at all times since there will be no blanket chemical solution in the winery to problems such as unfriendly microbes, oxidation or runaway volatile acidity.
The Role of Sulfur
Of all the chemicals in a winery’s arsenal, sulfur dioxide (SO2) is the most useful and important tool. A precursor to sulfuric acid, SO2 is often added in powdered form to the fruit in the vineyard immediately after harvesting to protect against microbial contamination and spoilage. It’s used in the winery as a preservative and antioxidant. And it is used to keep volatile acidity, which makes the wine smell of vinegar, in check. Large scale wineries probably could not function without it. As a result, when SO2 has been added to grapes or wine, the label in the U.S. and E.U. must contain the world “contains sulfites.”
Sulfites are a natural product also, and if their concentration in the finished wine is less than 10 ppm, the warning is not required. However in actual practice, U. S. wines can have as high a count as 350 ppm; E. U. wines must not exceed 210 ppm. In practice, wines typically don’t exceed 50 ppm and if they do, the sulfur smell is detectable in the wine’s aroma.
So organic wine production presently lies in the province of small, quality-oriented wineries.
Are Organic Wines Better?
As for the second question, again, our answer is a qualified "yes." Organic wines, particularly biodynamic wines tend to be superior, but not always. Biodynamic farming is expensive and time-consuming; only a small, but growing, number of wineries in the U. S. are using its techniques. It’s much more extensively used in France, where many of the world’s most prized wines are made in this manner. Critics of biodynamic farming credit the often superior resulting wines to more careful viticultural practices.
In the U. S. the biodynamic Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Archery Summit is quite distinctive from the rest of their very excellent product line, as is Pacific Rim’s biodynamic Riesling. But there are some naysayers, too. One Sonoma County winery adopted biodynamic methods for its entire product line and critics lamented a fall in quality from its former offerings. So the jury may be still out on the benefits of organic and biodynamic wine production, but the move towards sustainable and organic winemaking is moving ahead at an accelerated pace.
Alan Boehmer - Alan Boehmer has conducted regular wine seminars and wine tours since 1967. Originally based in Los Angeles, he served as a consultant for ...
