Organic, Biodynamic, and Natural Wines

Little in the world of wine causes as much consternation, confusion, and controversy as organic, biodynamic, and natural wines. These are terms that are meant to point to a supposedly purer method of making - and sometimes drinking - wine, removed from industrial scale production. Yet the terms are often misleading, wrapped up in obscure language and arcane rules, causing opinions on both sides to be based on prejudice rather than information.

There is a clear, if perhaps unquantifiable, demand for wines which have been made with as little interference or environmental impact as possible - and there are plenty of wines that meet that demand. Yet few advertise their credentials, because the terms organic, biodynamic, or natural are either so precise that producers refuse to be constrained by the rules or because the terms are too imprecise to mean anything. 

Over the last few months, I've visited a number of Californian wineries who are understandably proud of their sustainable farming practices, yet refuse to label their wines in ways which would promote those practices. This is partly because each winery wants to do their own thing without having to follow exact rules, because there is too much bureaucracy to bother getting certified, and because many consumers are put off by terms such as organic and, especially, biodynamic as there is too little understanding about what they mean.
 

Organic

The aim of organic winemaking is to be environmentally conscious, by integrating winemaking practices with the surrounding ecosphere and avoiding the use of pesticides. Many of the principles should come naturally to any small or traditional producer - unfortunately those who often can't afford to wade through all the paperwork to label their wines organic. 

For a wine to be classed as organic, the winery must be certified by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, whose rules are enshrined in EU law. Rules are strict, and wineries have to annually apply for accreditation. Being next to a non-organic winery can be enough to prevent being accepted as organic and if a winery lapses from its organic status, it has to wait another seven years before it can apply again. 

Farming the same way as previous generations, many traditional European wineries are organic even if they are not certified as such, and over a quarter of Oregon's wineries follow sustainable farming practices. But it's almost impossible to tell if a wine is organic, or which organic principles a winery follows, because it makes so little financial sense for a winery to become officially organic. Despite so many wineries practising organic winemaking, there are less than 2,000 accredited around the world, many of them in France.  

 

vegetarian/vegan

This is perhaps the most specific element of a wine that customers most ask about, and it's the one easiest accounted for. It surprises me that wineries don't label their wines as such because it comes down to one simple thing: whether the fining used to clarify a wine is from egg whites (used in red wines) or fish bladder (for whites). The wine does not have to be organic to be vegetarian or vegan, though it probably helps. 

Biodynamic

Based on a system by the maverick thinker Rudolf Steiner, biodynamics is a combination of hocus-pocus and common sense. Notoriously, biodynamic practices include burying a cow's horn full of manure in a field; other strict rules include undertaking certain elements of farming only at specific times of the day or month "by considering all aspects of lunar cycles, solar cycles, star constellations and the movement of other planets," according to When Wine Tastes Best, a biodynamic, and beautifully presented, app which advises when you should or should not drink wine. 

This spiritual, holistic approach may be easy to mock, but the general principle of adhering to nature's cycles is a sensible one. Vines are plants which rely on the surrounding environment, so wineries will leave forests uncultivated next to vineyards, plant fruit trees and keep bees, which are vital conduits in the ecosphere, and allow natural pests to flourish to protect the vines. 

Many famous wineries and expensive wines are biodynamic, though not all boast of it, leading me to call these wineries biodynamic in all but name. In California, these include Frog's Leap and Littorai. However, others fully and proudly adhere to the biodynamic philosophy. In Burgundy, one of the most exclusive wineries in the world, Domaine Romanée-Conti, has been biodynamic since 2007, while in Western Australia, Cullen Wines shifted to being biodynamic after being certified organic in 2003. 

The most obvious reason a winery doesn't call itself biodynamic is the cow horn, but there's also contradictory guidance on the use of sulphur which causes winemakers to pick and choose the elements of biodynamics they like. Sulphur is allowed to be sprayed on vines as they grow, but it isn't permitted in the winemaking process, where sulphur dioxide has long been used as an anti-oxidant preservative. 

Despite the overly spiritual approach of biodynamic winemaking, I have more sympathy for it than for organic, which is more prescriptive and makes life difficult for the small producers it should be helping. However, the minute you try to explain the principles to someone, they immediately switch off at the sound of cow horns and lunar cycles. It feels time that Steiner's early-twentieth-century philosophy is updated to twenty-first sensibilities, making it more appealing and accessible without sacrificing its core ideology.

Natural wines

The most controversial of all these categories. On one side are those who maintain that there is no such thing as natural wine for wine can only come from the vine due to human interference; on the other are the supporters who insist that these are wines that nature intended and how they used to be made before modern technology got in the way. 

Unlike the above categories, there's no strict definition of what natural wine means: it's more of a philosophy to follow as and how the winemakers choose. Although this has the advantage of giving a winemaker a certain freedom, it means no one knows what exactly to expect from a natural wine. 

The real reason natural wines cause such controversy, however, is that, unlike organic and biodynamic wines, they can taste foul. This puts natural wine in the same category as sour beer: under the watchful expertise of a skilled winemaker, something truly unique and expressive can be created. With less watchfulness and less expertise, it's basically fermentation gone wrong.

I visited Terroir, a natural wine bar in San Francisco to test the quality of a few natural wines. Many bottles of great wine from Champagne, Alsace, and Jura stared down from the shelves (although some were organic or biodynamic, rather than defiantly natural). Natural wine is a cause led in particular by the French, stubborn traditionalists that they are, though there were also impressive bottles from Barolo. None of these quality wines is labelled as natural: they're just expensive expressions of terroir. 

a wine glass doesn't stop it tasting like cider

There's no doubt that any wine promoted as 'natural' should be approached with caution: it's likely to be cloudy and may have a very short shelf life. The three wines I tasted summed up the highs and lows of natural wine. 

Donkey & Goat Rousanne 2012 El Dorado AVA, CA A cloudy green colour that looked like a farmhouse cider: many natural wines are unfiltered to keep the haziness 'natural' to wine before bottling. Stinky apples on the nose, like a farmhouse cider. And on the palate, you've guessed it. I was too polite to ask if they'd poured me a cider by mistake. 

The manifesto of this San Francisco producer sums up natural wine well: no cultured yeast or bacteria, no plastic, no nutrients, enzymes or enhancers, no machines for crushing, little (to no) sulphur, no new oak, no prophylatic racking schedules (not exactly sure what this means, but it's clearly a bad thing), and no stablization. I'm pretty sure the wine could have done with some of these treatments. 

Simion Grenache Gris 2012 Rhône Much better, though the aromas were too individual (code for stinky and earthy) to appeal to the everyday drinker. However, this was a quality, if overly sweaty, wine that was characteristic of the grape. Its dominant fruit were apples, which I put down to a coincidence. (I can't find anything on this producer, which suggests I may have written the name down wrong.)

Tripoz Crémant de Bourgogne NV From a certified biodynamic producer in Burgundy, this sparkling wine was by far the most appealing and sophisticated of the three. Beautiful cinnamon-biscuit aromas, though dare I say it a little too appley. 

The three categories of organic, biodynamic, and natural often overlap, making trying to define a winemaker's methods more difficult and confusing than it needs to be. Of course, attempting to create a global system adhered to by all winemakers which successfully defines sustainable wine producing practices is all but impossible. However, each of these three categories have flaws which seem to hinder, rather than help, the cause of sustainable farming. What it of course comes down to is what's in the bottle; of all these wines, I'd always seek out a biodynamic producer as likely to be the most interesting as well as the highest quality. Anyone for some Romanée-Conti?