To call something a trend implies that something is fleeting and short-lived. And when something trendy becomes so main-stream that it is the new standard, it can hardly continue to be called a trend. Such is the case with the sustainability and green movements in farming techniques being used in winemaking. As with many instances when adopting environmentally considerate methods, while the early motivations might have been the lowered negative impact on the planet and the relief this allowed us on our collective conscience, the quick and broad adoption of these more natural pursuits has more likely come as a result of the quality of the results in grape growing. Spend any time in Sonoma Valley wine country and Napa Valley wine country taking almost any wine country tours and you are sure to get exposed to the shift in grape growers’ mindsets and the tones of those speaking with the wineries tasting rooms and vineyards is now far more matter-of-fact when highlighting their practices.
By forgoing chemicals, unnatural fertilizers, and pesticides, and returning to the simple methods of organic vineyard farming from bygone days, the grape vines are significantly and obviously more healthy and full, resulting in juicier, more flavorful grapes and that means fuller wines. In fact, the organic grape vines actually ripen more quickly and that means an earlier harvest which results in better rations for pH, acids, and sugars.
It was easy for the industry to get lulled into a false sense of reality by following the products of the pesticide, chemical, herbicide, and fertilizer companies in the early seventies and believe that these quick fixes were necessary because the process was easy and offered such a quick solution. But now there is a benefit on almost every level: the plants are healthier, the grapes are better, the product is improved, the costs are reduced, and the environmental impact is minimized. And now the demand for such practices is so n demand from the marketplace that it is now the norm; it is now expected. So much so that grape growers which have not moved to such practices are having an increasingly difficult time finding buyers for their crops. The next time that you’re any of the wine country tours through northern California wineries, take a look and listen and see if the sense of trend is fading and natural agricultural practices along with employing sustainability throughout their operations has become the universally accepted right way to grow grapes and produce great wines.
