Vineyards Are Not Natural: The Struggle With ‘Organics’
The wine world needs to have an honest, thoughtful conversation about farming choices and craft that into a message that consumers can understand.
On my latest wine trip, the producers I visited had one thing in common — they all produce spectacular wine, which I love to drink. They also seemed to fall into one of two categories: those who farm organically (certified or practicing included) and those who do not. A more distinguishing feature than their farming methods or resulting wines was the way they spoke about their choices in the matter.
Roughly a third of the producers were not certified or practicing organic, and all but one of them expressed what felt like embarrassment over their non-organic interventions. They tended to co-opt “green” language like the word “natural” to describe their decidedly un-natural interventions.
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