Navigating wine shelves can be daunting, especially if you throw in terms like Organic, natural and Biodynamic.
We know there are a lot of myths and misconceptions around what these mean so we have done our best to separate fact from fiction and decode the terms!
Firstly what exactly is organic (and biodynamic) wine?
While the exact set of guidelines required differs from country to country, the universal conditions or Organic wines are a set of regulations that dictate what can be used in the vineyard and winery and in what amounts.
The winery has to abide by these regulations on the use of herbicides, pesticides and chemicals in the vineyard for a number of years before they can gain the certification.
Biodynamic wines are often seen as the ‘next level up’, they build on this principle by taking a more holistic approach to farming, placing equal importance on the plants, soils and overall ecosystem. Here winemakers will encourage biodiversity in vineyards and use the lunar cycle to dictate when certain tasks in the vineyard take place.
Biodynamic winemakers also use a series of 9 preparations made from herbs & minerals in the vineyard in the place of conventional fertilizers & pesticides.
And Natural wine?
This is a really hard one, technically natural wine has no legal definition but most often people mean one of the following things when they use it.
- The wine has been made in as much of a ‘hands off approach as possible’
- Wines are unfiltered and or unfined ( they have the cloudy bits left in) this can result in wines that are cloudy, but some may just use gravity to settle out and particles and the wine can still be very clear
- Natural/ wild yeasts have been used, some wines are made with commercial yeast which are bought in ( much like the packets you would buy to make bread at home) these are often chosen because they work in a predictable way and have the desired flavours and will ferment the wines to desired alcohol. Natural or wild yeast occur in the air, on the skins of grapes and all around us ( the fruit left in your fruit bowl too long eventually goes fizzy… this is the work of wild yeasts) Using wild yeasts in wine can create unique flavours to that particular area and winery. Some wine makers will allow these natural yeasts to start the fermentation before adding a chosen yeast strain to get the complexity but also the predictable outcome they want.
Some common myths….
1.Buying organic certified wines is the way to make sure you’re drinking sustainably
In both Organic & Biodynamic viticulture there are governing bodies who make sure the rules are met and award certificates, this comes with a cost and often this is prohibitive for smaller producers.
Many smaller producers will make wines in a way that is essentially organic but might not have the funds or set up to go through certification.
There are also a number of wineries, particularly in more peripheral climates where cold and damp weather makes vineyard pests a particular issue that choose not to be certified so they can reserve the right to use a small amount of treatments if and when they need it to prevent issues spreading and potentially loosing a large amount of the grapes.
We really believe in only working with winemakers who put environmental sensitivity at the front of everything they do, and many of our producers would say they subscribe to an ethos of regenerative viticulture rather than strictly to either Organic or Biodynamic practices.
Regenerative farming, or viticulture in the wine world aims to rebuild soil strength and fertility through the use or companion and cover crops and increasing biodiversity.
Best of all, it’s free! It’s a way of life rather than something that can be awarded which enables all the smaller artisanal family producers to get back in the spotlight! It is so important to us that all our producers share our ethos of sustainability at the heart of everything they do but we are also huge advocates for championing the smaller guys and introducing you to their wines and stories.
2. Organic wines don’t give you headaches!
This is up there with the most common myth we hear from customers, and as much as we all wish avoiding a hangover was as each as this its sadly not true!
A lot of myths circulate around sulphites being the cause of headaches and unfairly so!
A few people do have a sulphite allergy, and they will know about this, they will be very used to avoiding many common food and drink items that contain higher levels than wine, including canned soft drinks, crisps, charcuterie and dried fruit. Sulphites are used in many foodstuffs including wine as a preservatives, if you are unlucky enough to have this allergy it presents as asthma like symptoms rather than headaches and can be very serious. If not, sadly it’s probably the alcohol you need to blame!
3. Organic wines taste better/ worse than conventional wine
This is definitely not true, It’s like saying you hate all wine made from a certain grape or country, there are so many components that determine the taste of a wine from the climate to the soil, winemaking practices, oak ageing. We believe the winemakers who care about what they are doing and are environmentally conscious also care about making really tasting wines!
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