WINE NOTES

Not so long ago, it was considered a little bit crazy to go organic… how times have now changed, and rightly so.

“The nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.” This powerful statement by Franklin D. Roosevelt seems more prescient than ever with a recent UN speech claiming the world’s topsoils could be degraded within 60 years. It’s increasingly clear that current conventional farming practices are not sustainable long-term. This is a message organic farmers have been trying to communicate for some time, and it’s one falling on evermore receptive ears with sales of organic produce booming.

Wine is following the trend, with organic wine sales growing. Of the world’s nine million hectares of vines, 10 per cent are now organic or biodynamic. New Zealand currently has about six per cent of vineyards certified and many more producers practise organic cultivation without certification. Villa Maria, one of our largest producers, has around 35 per cent organic vineyards and is aiming for 100 per cent.

So, what exactly is organic wine? No synthetic chemical fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides are allowed in organic vineyards. Instead, producers must work with nature, using integrated pest and disease management (for example, combating an insect pest with its natural predator), encouraging soil health and biodiversity, and choosing naturally derived products. Biodynamic practices go further, managing the vineyard as a holistic organism, using special plant, animal and mineral preparations to nourish the soil, and working with the rhythmic influences of the sun, moon, planets and stars.

New Zealand’s first organic vineyard was Gisborne’s Millton Vineyard. Back in 1984 everyone thought they were crazy, and James and Annie Millton had an uphill battle to convince people of the method in their madness. James comments, “We’ve spent the last 35 years proving to everyone that they were right... we are crazy. But now it seems everyone wants to be crazy too and it’s just what this planet needs.”