While I’ll never be accused of being truly green myself, I love the way Nashville has grabbed hold of the organic movement. I think it’s great that locals who have never owned a pair of Birkenstocks are opting to use the reusable bags at the grocery store rather than paper or plastic. And, I see Middle Tennesseans filling those bags with veggies from the ever-growing organic sections without making a show of it. It’s clear that eco-consciousness has gone urban, and the trend has extended to the city’s taste in wine.
Just as organic produce sections have appeared in grocery stores, the selection of organic wines has grown rapidly across the region, as has demand. However, stand around one of the display racks for an hour or so and you’ll quickly realize there are many questions about the difference between all the types of wines offered under the organic umbrella. For example, what does organic really mean in a wine? What does a label with “made from organically grown grapes” mean? What’s up with the sulfite hubbub? What is a biodynamic wine, anyway? It’s clear the public has questions, especially those without previous granola street cred. Here are some answers.
First, let’s talk about sulfites. Sulfites act as a preservative in wine. They’re both naturally occurring and used as an additive to stabilize wines, thus preventing oxidization and spoilage due to bacterial infections. Sounds pretty important, eh? Well, organic wines don’t use sulfites and, as such, run the risk of having their flavors change quickly once they’re bottled, thanks to the above-stated factors. However, this doesn’t dissuade these winemakers, because making an organic product is the most important thing to these guys. Remember that for later.
Now let’s look at what makes a USDA-certified organic wine. Strictly speaking, these wines must be made from 100 percent organically grown grapes, and, as I said before, have no sulfites added. However, it’s important to understand that a certified organic wine doesn’t just mean that the grapes were grown without use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and the like. It also means the wine was made in a certified organic winery. The designation takes a whopping three years for the winery to get. This means it must be constantly cleaned without using your typical sanitizers, and these cleanings must be logged in a book for spot inspection at any time by the governing agency. As you might imagine, all of this increases the initial cost of doing business. Serious eco-heads make these wines—but these guys are eclipsed by the biodynamic wine makers.
Biodynamic wines adhere to all the above-mentioned organic requirements, but they go further in attempts to “heal the Earth.” This is like organic plus. Plus astrology that is. Yes, astrology. Some of these folks make growing and harvesting decisions based on the phases of the moon and planet positioning, just like in the old-time farmer’s almanacs. They believe everything outside the vineyard affects the vineyard, so to biodynamic producers it’s just as much about the now non-planet Pluto (wonder if that classification change ruined anyone’s vintage?) as it is about your neighbor using pesticides on his plants. What I will say for this group of producers is that their passion for proving their views aren’t complete bunk usually shows through in the wine. I have had some (no pun intended) “out of this world” biodynamic wines....