It’s true that chemicals such as pesticides, weed killers, fungicides and fertilizers used in the fields do cling to the grapes and seep into the fruit’s pulp and trace amounts can make it to your wine glass. Typically, as many 18 different chemicals are used on non-organically grown grape crops during the growing cycle. The process of fermentation however breaks down a good portion of them. Still, the use of chemicals does impact health indirectly by disrupting ecosystems and communities. The runoff can contaminate groundwater and harm people and wildlife.

Organic wine consumption has grown by double digits over the past several years, some years as high as 28% (in 2005 to $80 million) with good reason.  One reason is sulfites, which do occur naturally in wines during fermentation, but most producers add more to prolong shelf life. In the US, non-organic wines can contain up to 350ppm (parts per million) of sulfites. This can be enough for those estimated .04% of the population or about a million people that are allergic to them and even those with a low tolerance for sulfates to have adverse reactions such as redness and flushing of the face, burning sensations, hives, cramps, headaches or heartburn.   Organic wines have no sulfites added but can have a natural accruing sulfite count somewhere under 100ppm in all finished products.(I am not sure what the actual number is, I’m finding different ones) Most organic wines contain less than half of that.  There are more and more people coming into Station Plaza Wine and asking us for sulfite free wine. This does not really exist, but they swear that organic or low sulfite wine does not give them that adverse reaction. So we looked into it and expanded our organic selection and it seems to be working well.

Sustainable farming is thought to be the next best thing to organic. This is the practice of using as little outside interference as possible and does not require the added cost, filing and dealing with the buerocracy that the certified organic label inteals. Take Shafer Vineyards in Napa Valley, for example. Shafer makes some of the most highly regarded wine in America, and they use owls, songbirds, hawks and bats in place of insecticides and rodent poisons.(So does Disney fyi) They recycle their water, make their own compost and have converted to 100 percent solar power. Sustainable? Absolutely. Certified organic? Nope. Ninety percent of the wine produced in the America is made from grapes grown in California.  If you drink California wine you can check this list from the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance of wineries and vineyards who have made a commitment to sustainable winegrowing.

Biodynamic winemaking has been called voodoo on the vines or a holistic approach to organic winemaking. It is fascinating! It follows the teachings of Austrian anthroposophist Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925), and moves beyond the organic philosophy into a realm quite beyond. The principles of biodynamics are based on Steiner’s spiritual philosophy, which includes understanding the ecological, the energetic, and the spiritual in nature. It is holistic and lovely and takes agriculture to a new level, one where even the position of the moon and planets are considered! I thought that biodynamic wines must certainly be very niche, but they are becoming increasingly more main stream. There are nearly 400 vineyards making biodynamic wines; many well-known and prestigious winemakers included. Not all of them are boasting about it, but many say that wine produced from these practices are nothing short of stellar (We’ll put a few videos about it on this Blog and Facebook fan page soon).

Believe it or not, the list of biodynamic wines is growing. Quintessa, Robert Sinskey practice biodynamic farming and Frogs Leap, Viader and Opus One are converting over or have some biodynamic wines.  Check out Fork and Bottle for a list of 529 Natural and Biodynamic Wine Producers