Organic wine - Only for nutters, hippies or people with special dietary needs?

The notion that organic is somehow an inferior way of producing wine just won't go away. As James Halliday noted in his book 'An introduction to Australian wine' (HarperCollins 1999):

"It is possible to make wine without chemical additives of any kind ... The irony is that additive free wine is more likely to be harmful at worst, due to the fact that bacteria will grow more readily in sulphur free wines, or simply less pleasant at best ... "

The real irony is that until the rise of industrial scale agriculture over the last hundred years or so all wine was chemical additive free and organic. But, cheap shots at the great man aside, his quote reflects the view that while buying organic may make you feel better or give you bragging rights, it's a bad decision on product quality and economic grounds.  

L to R: David Bruer, Michael
Bruer and Peter Shields

So is he right? Well, like all big questions the answer is yes, no and it depends. 

As is the case across the wine industry as a whole, there are good and bad organic wines. In fact buying a wine solely because it's organic may not be a smart decision. Just as the Prius, despite it's much hyped green credentials, isn't the best car on the road, being 'organic' doesn't guarantee a great wine.

The secret, according to David Bruer from South Australian producer Temple Bruer, is to focus on creating a quality product. This view is supported by his son Michael who argued that they use an organic approach because it produces quality grapes and wine in a cost effective manner. Additional benefits such as increased soil quality and a wider market are welcome but secondary.

So if James were to write that book today he should probably say:

"It is possible to make wine without chemical additives of any kind and it can match the quality of wines produced using chemical additives".

Given this fact why aren't organic wines widely available in Tasmania?

Part of the problem is that 'organic' has been linked to the wider environmental debate, which has muddied the water to say the least. As we all know, Tasmania continues to have a well publicised and prolonged argument in which the 'environment' is pitched against 'economic growth and jobs'. The length and the acrimonious nature of this debate has been fuelled to a large degree by the concerted efforts of both major political parties to ferment conflict within the community in general and between business and environmental groups in particular.

Aside from the fact that this behaviour is shameful it has made the discussion of the benefits, or otherwise, of organics more difficult. Thankfully there are signs that this is changing as more people get sick of the politics and start thinking about solving real problems. 

Concern over issues such as chemical resistance and increasing costs has led a number of Tasmanian viticulturalists and wine makers to investigate organic alternatives. Peter Shields (Kilbowie Wines) is one and he recently organised a seminar promoting the application of organic methods to managing a vineyard. Participants heard from David Bruer, who has been operating an organic vineyard since the 1980's, discuss organic approaches to pest and disease management. These technical sessions were interspersed by a tasting of the Temple Bruer range of organic wines.

Participants looking at
Peters' vineyard

Obviously the seminar was designed to convince people of the effectiveness of organic approaches, so what arguments did David and Michael make?:

Synthetic chemicals are becoming less effective as targeted bugs and weeds develop resistance. Often this is because the chemicals are focusing on only one way to 'kill'. The manufacturers seem to have forgotten the basis of evolution. Plants and bugs are simply finding other ways to survive. Organic approaches don't rely on this narrow focus and so make it harder for target organisms to adapt;

Organic treatments are cheaper than their chemical counterparts. Often they're made from everyday ingredients. As an example one of the featured products consisted of water, oil and bicarb;

Organic methods produce flow on benefits like increased soil fertility and reduced chances of chemical injury at no extra cost;

The economics are favourable. Resistance to chemicals means that increasing amounts are having to be applied. This, coupled with favourable retail pricing has meant that Temple Bruer is making the same margin as their competitors;

Other wine regions are embracing the use of organic techniques. David mentioned that the New Zealand wine industry is planning to be fully organically certified within 3 years. This has obvious implications for Tasmania; and

Most importantly, organic vineyards can and do produce high quality grapes. David pointed out that their goal of 'creating grapes so good that the winemaker only has to add yeast' has been achieved and as a result while the recent economic downturn has adversely affected their competitors Temple Bruer has seen a small rise in sales.

We apply organic approach to the vegies grown here at winepunters HQ so we have to declare a bias toward it but what impressed us was the practical example Temple Bruer are setting and the success they have achieved in applying organics to a commercial operation. No chance of the 'well it only works at the hobby level' argument winning here.

Whether or not all the participants were convinced the seminar itself was interesting to us and helpful to others. As we were leaving we overheard a couple tell David "we were going to walk away from our organic vineyard but now you've convinced us to persevere".

Wasps! Thanks Europe

David and Michael did a good job arguing the merits of organic vineyard management and wine production but what about the wines themselves? Are they any good? We will be presenting a couple of road tests soon but our initial impressions were favourable.

Harking back to James' 1999 quote. The additive free wines that we tried were not only 'safe' but delicious.  What's more Michael assured us that the wines appear to be cellaring well and will remain viable even after having been open for 3-4 days. 

So instead of the question being why would you be organic, maybe the question should be why wouldn't you be?

What do you think? Send us a comment