Technically speaking, natural wines would be made from totally indigenous matter, absolutely no additives, no outside clones – no outside yeasts, etc… Natural winemakers see themselves as non-interventionist, or natural. These producers try to use as few additives as possible and as little manipulation as they can. Most of them have to compromise at some point. Where and why the producer will make that compromise depends on their own professional (and sometimes personal) goals and their risk tolerance level.
By definition, natural wine is made by adhering to the following criteria:
As a result, natural wine will entail the following characteristics:
Consistency – A natural wine is different each year.
Availability – Natural wine cannot be mass-produced.
Service – Typically natural wines benefit greatly from being opened an hour or two ahead of time.
Storage and Transport – Natural wine needs to be stored and transported more carefully than conventional wine.
Biodynamic Farming is a holistic and regenerative farming system that is focused on soil health, the integration of plants and animals, and biodiversity. It seeks to create a farm system that is minimally dependent on imported materials, and instead meets its needs from the living dynamics of the farm itself. It is the biodiversity of the farm, organized so that the waste of one part of the farm becomes the energy for another, that results in an increase in the farm’s capacity for self-renewal and ultimately makes the farm sustainable.
Biodynamic farming encourages a view of nature as an interconnected whole, a totality, an organism endowed with archetypal natural rhythm. Biodynamic farming involves managing a farm itself as a living organism.
A classic model of a living organism ideal would be a wilderness forest. In such a system there is a high degree of self-?sufficiency in all realms of biological survival. Fertility and feed arise out of the recycling of the organic material the system generates. Avoidance of pest species is based on biological vigor and its intrinsic biological and genetic diversity. Water is efficiently cycled through the system. While agriculture takes nature to a state that is one step removed from wilderness, the wisdom of the farmer that guides its course can reflect the principles of sustainability. The view of the farm organism extends beyond the fence line and includes the tangible and intangible forces that work through it. Examples include the climate, inherent wildlife of the earth (above and below the ground), the light and warmth from the sun and the more distant astronomical influences. Biodynamic agriculture attempts to harmonize all of these factors within a holistic, living farm system.
The food that results is very pure and true to its essence and provides deeply penetrating nutrition that is essential to an increasingly unhealthy human population.
Viticulture
Organic wine is wine from grapes grown in accordance with principles of organic farming, generally excluding the use of artificial chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides.
Organic wines are not necessarily sulfite-free. The use of added sulfites is debated heavily within the organic winemaking community. Many vintners favor their use in small quantities for stabilization of wine, while others frown on them completely. In the United States, wines certified “organic” under the National Organic Program cannot contain added sulfites. Wines that have added sulfites, but are otherwise organic, are labeled “wine made from organic grapes.”
Organic Winemaking
Chemical fertilizers promote large yields and chemicals can easily wipe-out vineyard destroying diseases. Vines that are chemically fertilized and regularly sprayed for various diseases with chemicals are absorbed through the roots into the vine’s sap and passed through leaves, stems, fruit and finally, into your glass. Not only do you eventually ingest these chemicals, but by using them it also drastically reduces the natural terroir of the wine and diminishes the wine’s fruit profile in your glass.
Organic wines are produced by using only organically grown grapes. No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, or synthetic chemicals of any kind are allowed on the vines or in the soil of the vineyards claiming to be organic. Strict rules govern the winemaking process such as hand-harvesting, the types of yeasts that can be used during fermentation and storage conditions in the vineyards of all imported and domestic wines that acquire certification.
Organic winemakers abstain from all chemical substances used to stabilize conventional wines such as sulfites. It is important to remember that sulfites are a natural byproduct of the fermentation process and that it is impossible for any wine to be completely free of sulfites. Wines that are completely free of sulfites are an accident of nature–fermenting yeasts present on all grape skins generates naturally occurring sulfites. Organic wines may have naturally occurring sulfites, but the total sulfite level must be less than 20 parts per million in order to receive organic certification.
Organic Certification
Organic certification of wine is complex; different nations have different certification criteria. In the United States, the National Organic Program, run by the United States Department of Agriculture, sets standards for certification of organic foods, including organic wines. Within the EU, each country is responsible for certifying its own organic producers in accordance with EU law. Most countries devolve this power to independent certification bodies, which are then regulated by the ministry of agriculture. In France there are six government approved certification bodies : Ecocert, Qualite France, ULSAE, Agrocert, Certipaq and ACLAVE.
Sustainable Viticulture
Some of the components of sustainable winemaking practices consist of using natural fertilizers, composting and the cultivation of plants that attract insects that are beneficial to the health of the vines. Sustainable practices in these vineyards also extend to actions that have seemingly little or nothing to do with the production of grapes such as providing areas for wildlife to flourish near vineyard sites (this provides vegetation for the animals, which keeps them from eating the grapes) and allowing weeds and wildflowers to grow between the vines (this stresses the vines and forces them to produce fewer bunches of grapes with a greater concentration of flavor) and using bio-diesel for tractors in the vineyards (which reduces harmful emissions among the vines).