You may have heard of the granddaddy of all food events, the Slow Food movement's Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, which takes place every other year in Turin, Italy, bringing together the global food and wine movement. But it's a long way to go.
This year, the same Italian team, along with local coordinators, is launching the inaugural Terra Madre of the Americas in conjunction with Visit Sacramento during the weekend of May 18-19. The mammoth event will feature food marketplaces, networking, music and flavors and foods from North and South America.
SlowWine USA editors and co-directors Deborah Parker Wong and Pam Strayer (yours truly) will be presenting three wine masterclasses, open to the public.
A grand tasting with Slow Wine wineries pouring takes place on Sunday, as well ($75, 12-5 pm).
(A special trade event is also scheduled for Monday.)
Focuses on affordable wines of the Sierra Foothills and Lodi ($30 and under) from artisan, boutique producers including Avivo, Andis, Donkey and Goat, Terah, and others. Tasting includes a sparkling Mourvèdre from El Dorado County, two Sangiovese wines from the same certified biodynamic Lodi site (made in different styles), and more wines. Discover your next favorite wine.
Price: $50
Sunday, May 19
• 1-2 pm: Slow Wine Goes Local
Taste top wines from the Sierra Foothills, Lodi and surrounding areas.
Price: $50
• 3-4 pm: The Wines of Shake Ridge Ranch with Anne Kraemer and Friends
California’s best winemakers and emerging vintners alike come to Sutter Creek to get great grapes. Since 2005, winemakers–from Napa’s top tiers to fledgling natural vintners–have coveted the 14 varieties legendary vineyardist Anne Kraemer meticulously grows in Amador County in the Sierra foothills from Barbera, Grenache and Syrah to Tempranillo and Zinfandel. See why in this sampling of terroir-driven wines with Kraemer and selected winemakers.
A Canadian documentary filmmaker's in depth look at the first major court case on the herbicide Roundup is now available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime or on Apple TV.
Into the Weeds is a CBC produced film and is an authoritative documentary chronicling the Roundup trials and community responses to glyphosate based herbicides from public health toxicology experts, entomologists, victims and the legal teams behind the court cases.
It's not just great science and legal reporting–it's a compelling, engaging film. Read more here.
100 percent of Rotten Tomatoes viewers rated it "Fresh"
Since Pix.com is no more, I'm bringing back an important article I wrote for them (which launched to high praise). The history of the no sulfite weirdness in the U.S. goes back aways. And it was a real detective story finding the facts...took me a whole year plus a chance encounter on a bus in St. Chinian with an American importer who knew where many of the bones were buried.
Unveil the truths in the fog of history here.
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Confusion over organic wine sulfites has plagued the industry since the early 1980s.
A pitched battle between anti-sulfite purists, many in the food sector, and the mainstream U.S. wine industry led to laws about organic wine that have been confusing for decades.
The result is the U.S. has wine laws specifying three different sulfite standards, whereas the E.U. only has one.
It’s a situation that has caused confusion for consumers and held back the cause of organic wines. And it was all thanks to the salad bar. The salad bar?
Salad wars
By 1985, salad bars were so popular that even Burger King introduced one, complete with a now famous TV commercial featuring model Elle MacPherson. The video juxtaposed her “perfect 10” body with close-ups of broccoli, tomatoes, and lettuce.
But salad bars had a secret problem. Lettuce wilts or turns brown. To prevent that, restaurants put lettuce in sulfite solutions ― but some didn’t measure carefully.
Sulfites can affect people with asthma. People with a rare genetic defect called multiple sulfatase deficiency can have reactions. Soon there were 500 reports of sulfite reactions, some mild, others severe. Authorities reported that 13 people died from salad bar sulfite solutions.
But the dose makes the difference, according to wine chemistry expert Andy Waterhouse, director of the Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science at University of California, Davis.
“There are reports of severe and life-threatening reactions when sulfites were added at erroneously and enormously high levels,” he wrote about the salad bar sulfites scare, adding that the amounts in salad bar sulfites were as much as 100 times higher than recommended.
In 1986, the outcry over the deaths led the Food and Drug Administration to ban sulfite solutions on raw fruits and vegetables and to require sulfite labeling on foods with greater or equal to 10 parts per million of sulfites.
The next year, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the federal agency that regulates wine, chose to follow the FDA’s lead and declared that any wine with greater or equal to 10 parts per million of sulfites had to put sulfites on the label.
The decision was made without evidence-based, peer-reviewed published medical studies showing wine sulfites were a health hazard.
California’s Wine Institute, at the time representing 500 wineries, initially opposed the sulfite labeling requirement, writing, “There has never been a health problem with the sulfiting of wine.” But it later agreed that labeling could help some asthmatics, writing, “While warning labels are certainly not warranted, informational labeling could assist some hyper-allergenic asthmatics.”
More recent research suggests that red wine headaches and asthmatic’s allergic reactions come from histamines, tannins, and alcohol and not from sulfites.
Instant impact
Before 1987, a number of wineries had been making wine from organic grapes and, in the absence of organic wine regulations, calling it organic wine. Like winemakers around the world, most organic wineries used small amounts of sulfites to preserve the wine.
But when the TTB’s new sulfite labeling requirements came out, consumers who thought organic wines were additive free were dismayed to see new labeling that said, “contains sulfites.”
“It just didn’t sound very organic, even though it could have been from organic sources,” says Paul Chartrand, who imports organically grown wines from France. “Those of us who were selling organic wine started to get a lot of flack from consumers.”
To some organic winemakers, it appeared that the only way to sell organic wine was to make wine with less than 10 ppm of added sulfite, to avoid the label “contains sulfites.”
The wine wars
In 1990, the federal government’s decision to create the first organic food and wine standards provoked intense public debate. In its first draft, the Department of Agriculture allowed GMOs, factory farming, irradiation, and more. It allowed organic wine to contain up to 100 ppm of sulfites.
More than 130,000 people protested the food standards, in “one of the largest public responses in the history of federal rulemaking,” according to Organic Watch’s Roger Blobaum, a farmer and chronicler of the organic movement.
Along with the food responses, there was discussion about wine, too. There were the pragmatists who said organic wine should be able to contain low amounts of added sulfites, like their European counterparts today. And there were the purists who thought adding sulfites of more than 10 ppm would only happen over their dead bodies.
Among their leaders was Phil LaRocca, an organic chef and TV organic cooking show host turned organic grape grower who sold his grapes to Frey Vineyards, then a no added sulfite organic wine producer. He vowed that no chemicals, including sulfites, should be in wine labeled organic.
“When I made that statement — that we’re not going to put any chemicals in the wine — I had no idea at that time that the whole wine industry would hate my guts,” he told Pix.
Born of Sicilian stock and raised in San Francisco’s Italian North Beach neighborhood, he knew how to go toe to toe with an opponent. There were two women on the National Organic Standards Board at the time he was writing the rule, “and I went to them and I said, ‘if they allow sulfites, which are not organic, in wine, you could have milk with a preservative in it.’ I won them over, so I had all these women’s groups supporting the no sulfites in wines.”
Chartrand says the claims were exaggerated. “People said, ‘if we let sulfites in organic wine, it’s going to open up a whole lot of things. It could even spread to food. You can’t make any concessions.’ Even some of the wine producers making wine without added sulfites sort of played into that. They really riled people up.”
Sulfite and anti-alcohol opponents showed up in full force.
The pro-temperance Center for Science in the Public Interest, backed by funding from the anti-substance abuse Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, piled on. Experienced at lobbying on issues related to alcoholic beverages, they saw organic wine sulfite complications as yet another way to deter consumers from alcohol.
“They appeared in almost every meeting,” says Chartrand. “They knew how it worked, they knew how to testify, they knew how to get consumers behind them for the issues they believed in, they have a big mailing list, and they were an influence.”
Testifying in the USDA hearings in favor of the 100-ppm sulfite cap ― supported by most wineries ― vintner Brian Fitzpatrick warned, “Consequences of failure to use sulfur dioxide are inferior products with a very high (>20%) rate of returns.”
But the purists won, to the detriment of some wines ― after the no added sulfite wines hit the market, giant retailers like BevMo would not carry them after consumers returned spoiled wines.
The government opened new hearings in 2012. A coalition led by organic importer Paolo Bonetti of Organic Vintners lobbied to revise the law to define 100 ppm wines as organic wines.
The University of California’s respected wine chemistry expert Waterhouse testified in favor of the 100 ppm standard. Their opponents, backed by the Organic Consumers Association, gathered 6,000 signatures in a petition supporting the no added sulfite standard.
But, again, the purists beat the pragmatists.
The powerful potato lobby
As the Santa Rosa wine lab Gravity Winehouse writes, wine sulfite laws seem strange in comparison to sulfite labeling for, say, French fries.
On their blog, the lab writes, “To this day, the French fries at your favorite fast-food restaurant, with sulfur levels around 1,900 ppm, can be cooked and served to consumers without declaration. Yet, wines with nearly one-twentieth the amount of sulfiting agent must declare the additive.”
Says Chartrand, “Many processed organic food manufacturing groups succeeded in allowing their required synthetic substances because their industries were unified and organized.”
But the wine industry, unlike their counterparts in potato growing, took little interest in the organic wine sulfite issues. One big company, Brown-Forman, which then owned Fetzer and Bonterra, an organic brand with 100 ppm wines, got behind the 100 ppm standard. Eventually, that became the “Made with Organic Grapes” popular in the U.S. marketplace today.
Experts believe the confusing sulfite standards have dramatically slowed the growth of organic wine in the U.S. In Europe’s three biggest wine-producing countries ― France, Italy, and Spain― organic wine grape acreage represents 18% of vineyard land, versus an estimated 3% in the U.S. That means U.S. vineyards can legally apply pesticides to 97% of vines, compared to 82% in the top three European wine regions.
Organic in the EU
In France, organic wine made with sulfites is the fastest-growing market segment. Like organic food, consumers in France pay a premium — in this case about 26% more — for organic wine .
Eyeing those profits, CIVB reports that 300 Bordeaux producers are planning to become certified organic.
With just one standard, things are much simpler in the EU, compared to the three in the U.S.: “Organic Wine” with a 10-ppm sulfite cap; “Made with Organic Grapes” with a 100-ppm sulfite cap; and “Ingredients: Organic Grapes” with a 350-ppm cap, aligned with the overall wine industry standard.
U.S. organic wine labeling laws present headaches for foreign, certified organic producers who want to sell certified organically grown wines in America with organic labeling.
“They harmonized organic standards between the EU and the U.S.,” Waterhouse said, “so that it would be easier to trade organic products back and forth. But the one exception was sulfites and wine.”
Until that changes, wine sellers will have to keep answering questions about sulfites in wine, explaining why producers do or do not make wine with sulfites, and why sulfite labels are on wine bottles.
Organically-grown wine is now growing fast
Today wine lovers are increasingly choosing organically-grown wines, with or without sulfites. Even in tony Napa, 83 wineries now have estates with certified organic vineyards — about 11% of county vines.
Those who love and appreciate organically grown wines often have to go the extra mile to seek them out, but organically-grown wines are finding favor.
As for the salad bar? No sulfite solutions allowed.
On March 4, Brian Lilla's film Children of the Vine launched on Amazon Prime Video, bringing it to wider audiences. The platform has 200 million global subscribers.
(The film is also available on Apple TV but only outside the U.S.)
Costs to rent it on Amazon are $1.99. Purchase is $4.99.
Originally released in 2022, the documentary premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival
"It began at Sebastopol’s Rialto Cinemas and has since spread to 15 states in the United States, as well as to South Africa," the Press Democrat (in Sonoma) said.
Lilla circulated the film in grassroots campaigns around the globe.
NOTE: Napa vintners Dario Sattui and Tom Davies credited seeing the film as underlying their decision to convert their 350 acres of estate vineyards for V. Sattui and Castello di Amorosa wineries to organic farming and certification, a move their vineyard crew fully supports and applauds.
One need not be organic or biodynamic to be included in Slow Wine USA's annual guide, but it's always a pleasure to showcase the producers who are certified (since thisblog is about organics) on the annual tour.
NOTE: The Terra Madre of the Americas event in Sacramento coming May 18-19 for consumers with a masterclass Saturday May 18th will feature U.S. Slow Wine wineries. There will be a trade tasting for wineries pouring at the event on May 20 and two masterclasses for trade as well. Stay tuned for details.
With pleasure, here are the U.S. wineries with certified vines who poured at last week's prestigious event at the Metreon where U.S. Slow Wine wineries poured alongside their Italian peers who were concluding a five city tour in the U.S.
Jason Drew of Drew Wines with Jackson Family wine educator Gillian Handelman
Winemaker Darrin Low from Domaine Anderson with the single vineyard designate from Dach Vineyard
Cary Q with her new Cinsault from Fennaughty Vineyard. She sources from some certified organic vineyards, including Bokisch in Lodi.
Marilyn Harris from Paradigm in Napa pouring the latest vintage Napa Cab from their certified organic estate in Oakville
Ridgely Evers from DaVero and Avivo shares his biodynamic wines from Sonoma, Mendocino and for his Avivo label, Lodi's first biodynamic vineyard
Lovely wines from Troon (certified biodynamic) in southern Oregon
Valentina and her daughter Paola at their Valpolicella estate near Verona
As we head into the final days of Women's History month, I wanted to be sure to close out the month with one of the more remarkable women producer stories I know of. And selfishly, I hope some wonderful importer will decide to bring her wines to the US.
I was lucky enough to visit the Veneto on a trip last May courtesy of a press trip for wine writers and influencers – thank you, EU marketing dollars – and explored the region over the course of 5+ days on a group tour. We had a lovely stay, staying at lodgings in Soave.
What a delight to meet and visit with Valentina and her daughter, Paola, who also works at the estate.
When I arrived in May, it was hot...and lovely to try Valentina's first rosé...
Here's her story.
"Would you like to taste my wine?" said Valentina. That was the prelude to a two hour visit, meeting her at the winery and tasting room, organized around a beautiful courtyard with views of the vines and their charming agrotourismo.
The delightful 80 year old might have one of the more unusual career paths to becoming a winemaker with an organic vineyard, going from housewife and teacher to, at age 60, vineyard manager and wine producer.
Today, her kingdom is a beautiful compound and several vineyards in the picturesque Fumane region of the Valpolicella Classico area in Negrar in the Veneto, where she and her family produce 3,000+ cases of Valpolicella as well as the region’s star attraction–a deep, dry red wine called Amarone.
Giancarlo and Valentina
Origins
Her husband’s family was in the wine business, but he was not and he missed it. So when the couple had a chance to buy 7 hectares (17 acres) in Fumane, they bought their first vineyard and became growers. She ran the household, raising two children and then teaching primary school for 20 years.
“At that time, I was a teacher at the primary school with two children. Paola was just born. And my son was less than two years old. So I didn't have time to take care of the winery. And so for many years, we made wine, we sold all the [bulk] wine to the producers.”
And then, after 20 years, she stopped teaching and started taking care of the vineyard.
“So I had to learn something–how to grow the vine. And then, with my son, we grew. We decided to start bottling the wine, we built the cellar, we tried to have a beautiful place to have guests. So, in 2005 we went into the market with our labels.”
“We sold Valpilicella 2004 and Amarone 1997. Because when we decided to bottle the wine, we left a small tank of Amaro 97, 98, 2000, 2001 in a corner. They were very good vintages.”
“We still have some bottles because sometimes when we make some tasting of special vintages, it's important to check in with the way our wine ages. So we started– we're still finding our market–we sell a little bit everywhere. But mostly to small companies because we don't produce a lot of bottles.”
Transition to Organics at Valentina Cubi
“When I started taking care of the vineyard (in 2003) I decided to use less chemical products. We didn't use the most aggressive or the strongest in the beginning but I wasn’t thinking about organic.”
“And then I thought–but why we don't try it? I believe that whatever is used in agriculture goes in the water that you use every day. No one checks if there are some pesticides in the water and maybe you don't drink the water that you have at your house, but rather use it to wash yourself, to wash the vegetables, to cook the pasta. So everyday uses. I decided to start the organic way. Now many people do. It's good.”
“At the time when we started working in the organic way, people believed that it was crazy because in the beginning it was quite hard–nowadays it’s more normal…but then the other people said, why organic, when we produced less grapes and it was very difficult.”
What is the difference between using the chemicals and being organic?
Vigilance, she said.
“You cannot say ‘Okay, I did my treatment and now it's okay. You must pay attention to this. When you decide to become organic, you notice.” The first year was an easy vintage, she said. “It was a perfect year. The rain came at the right time. The sun was good. There was not too much humidity.”
By 2014 she became the first producer in the Valpolicella Classic region to be certified organic.
“Now everywhere where there are young people, they take care of the environment today for the organic production…old people not too much. They want to produce grapes, they don't take care of the pollution.”
Ironically her husband’s occupation is selling winemaking equipment along with agrochemicals–that are not allowed in organic viticulture.
Says Valentina’s daughter Paula: “My father said, 'I cannot bring my customer to our winery, because my wife does not use my products.' And she's fighting, on the other hand, with all the journalists who think that she’s not telling the truth about being organic. They think she will use the chemicals.” But she doesn’t.
Times have changed and today organic is much more accepted.
And the bottles are labeled organic to eliminate any doubt.
A New Frizzante Rosé
Over time, with her daughter and son in law, their brand has grown and this year they introduced a frizzante rosé Antenatus. Made from Cortina, the major grape in the region, it’s a perfect summer wine. And it is only 9.5 percent alcohol. I wish I could have some right now, in fact–it would be a great aperitif for Easter–but currently no one is importing her wines into the U.S.
‘I produce Amarone, but I love light wine. Because I can drink a whole glass without problem,” she said. “And young people in particular like this wine a lot.”
After the Pandemic, The Tourists Are Back
Both in 2023 and 2024, Valentina won a Great Wine Capitals regional accommodations award for the stunningly beautiful rooms the family rents to tourists, served with breakfasts worth writing home about. (More about the wines and the rooms here). Located midway between Bardolino on Lake Garda and the city of Verona, the winery and rooms are just a 25 minute drive to either location.
“I won a prize. They gave me a prize for the accommodation. They said it was because I rebuilt all of the courtyard, building with the respect of the local materials,” Cubi said.
It is a relief after the disruptions in tourism and supply chains that the pandemic brought. But things are not yet normal.
“This summer, we celebrate because tourism is back at Lake Garda which is very close. A lot of tourists from north of Europe come to the winery to buy the wines.”
Yet it’s still variable.
“Last Saturday, we were full of people. We were running, running, running. But yesterday, nobody. Strange but nevermind. I think it is still a quite difficult period.”
One concern is that though Lake Garda and Verona are full of tourists, they don’t tend to stay in the area very long.
“Lake Garda is full of people. Verona is full of tourists–it was very busy today. I was surprised there was this morning a site calling for a competition with more than 1,500 cyclists…every day Verona is full of people. They may also have seen a movie during Covid on Romeo and Juliet. Many people come but just to stay one night and then they just to see the Juliet balcony. So the tourists are not that important. They don’t spend a lot of money. The restaurants are not happy.”
The winery had a good importer for the U.S. until 2007. They are currently looking for another one in the U.S. At the moment, they are just selling one pallet to a restaurant in Chicago.
The Family
Valentina’s husband, Giancarlo, is 81.
Her daughter Paolo and Paolo’s husband work with her these days.
And her own mother is still alive. “She has better memory than me,” said Valentina. Her mother’s secret to a long life? “To drink a bit of grappa every day in the coffee. It is very common for all people actually to put a little bit of grappa in the coffee but only after the lunch or the meal of the day, not every day. If you drink it at four o'clock, not better.”
The Wines
The wines range from IGT to DOC and DOCG. I found all of them absolutely top quality and would love to drink them every week. They make two Valpolicella Classico Superiore DOC wines (Iltabarro) and a ripasso Rusnatico and, of course, Amarone.
Valentina Cubi wines at Bio Wine Fair
Amarone
What does it take to make a good Amarone? Ten years of aging at a minimum, Valentina says.
As we tasted, she said, ”This is youngest that we are selling now, because we would like to finish 2010 and 2011, but in any case our Amarone is in the market after 10 years and more.”
“We age the wines for 3 to 4 years in wood and then we bottle and leave it in the bottle for another five or six years, while we taste and see how it is aging, but we need the 10 years minimum to release the wine, she said.
Her 2014 Morar DOCG is the only organically grown Amarone since no one else was certified that long ago. My tasting notes: “Such beautiful spice on the finish just going on and on and on...elegance and finesse."
I ask her, “What do you like to eat with this?”
“All the cheeses Parmegiano…but also some game. For example, red meat, but I cook it with some spices, not the normal barbecue. In my opinion, a barbecue is good with ripasso, for example.”
Like beef Bourguignon, the region likes to make red meat soaked in Amarone.
“We leave the meat one night in a pan full of Amarone. We cover the meat with Amarone, some onion, celery, carrots, some herbs, a spicy hebr, and then the day after we cook slowly, slowly the meat into this wine. And then when the meat is cooked, we take away the meat from the pan. We make the wine with the vegetable boil more and more. We mix all the vegetable and we make a sauce, with salt and pepper, and then we cut the meat, and we cover with the sauce. And we serve with polenta. It is a typical dish of this area.”
Said Paola, “You should come in the wintertime.”
Climate Change
There have been changes over five decades.
“When we bought this property, 50 or so years ago, we used to harvest it around the 20th of October. Last year, for the first time, we started in the last week of August,” Valentina said.
The local authorities have permitted required regional winemaking standards to adapt.
“It is the first year that Consortium allowed the grapes to dry a little bit less than 90 days, as we should do, for the Amarone, to avoid the high alcohol in the wine. Because if you dry the grapes more, you have more sugar, more alcohol. And then it's also difficult to sell after.”
Valentina and her Amarone were featured in a Slow Food event in the fall of 2023.
You can find ongoing coverage by following the winery on Instagram and Facebook.
Here's to becoming a vineyard manager at the age of 60, launching a family wine brand at 63, and making great, affordable Valpolicella wines and gorgeous Amarone.
Warning…if you visit, consider bringing an empty suitcase so you can buy wine and bring it home.
While only 4 percent of California's vineyard acreage is certified organic, two out of the four producers (or 50%) who won California Green Medal Awards are certified organic in their vineyards. Those producers are Cooper Garrod, a family owned winery and horse farm (and former apricot farm) in Saratoga in the heart of Silicon Valley, and Gloria Ferrer, a Spanish owned sparkling wine producer in Sonoma's Carneros.
Cooper Garrod was pouring Sunday at The Mountain Winery's event tasting the wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains and I was reminded by just how great their wines are.
They were pouring a 2002 in the VIP room, where I saw next to some big high rollers (who drink those $25,000 Burgundies) who went back for second glasses of the Cooper Garrod. Plus I really like that the Cooper Garrod winery's picnic area is so welcoming and the history of their winery so emblematic of the region. Bravo.
P.S. If you have guests coming, Cooper Garrod is a great place because it's like a mini museum AND they have horseback riding (by reservation only) and 150 acres of land. If they're not wine experts, there is plenty here to entertain them.
Slow Wine's annual tour is today in San Francisco at the Metreon (trade only) but I thought I would share these wise words from Slow Wine Fair 2024 in Bologna last month.
This is the kind of thinking that's why my own journey is continuing to work for this organization, Slow Wine USA.
A GOOD WINE IS LIKE A CONCERT: THE TERROIR IS THE SCORE, THE VINEYARD AND THE GRAPE VARIETIES ARE THE INSTRUMENT, AND THE WINEMAKER IS THE PERFORMER. ALL THREE ARE NECESSARY TO CREATE A GREAT WINE.
This is the essence of what emerged at the Slow Wine Fair, where producers demonstrated that an alternative model is possible and called for investment in independent scientific research to support the expansion of sustainable agriculture.
THE SOIL: THE WINEMAKER’S PRIMARY TOOL
“The soil,” emphasize microbiologists Lydia and Claude Bourguignon, “is the farmer’s primary tool. They must understand its vocation and not be guided by marketing when choosing which grape varieties to cultivate. We must listen to the soil. We must respect its balance, its impressive biodiversity, and its ability to regenerate. Just one gram of fertile soil contains billions of bacteria, fungi, and microorganisms. Chemically speaking, it is the greatest concentration of energy that can be found on the planet.”
These words encapsulate the spirit of the Slow Wine Fair. The event, organized by BolognaFiere under the artistic direction of Slow Food, concludes today after three days of in-depth exploration and tasting of over 5,000 labels. The main objective of the Fair, which for its third edition brought together over 1,000 producers, is to change our approach to agriculture, starting from viticulture—and focusing on soil fertility.The industrialization of agriculture has compromised soil health through excessive use of synthetic chemicals and deep tillage. This is compounded by urbanization, which continues unabated. Every five seconds, we lose a portion of fertile soil equivalent to a soccer field. At this rate, it is estimated that 90% of the world’s soils will be at risk by 2050.
Without fertile soil, there can be no agriculture, and without agriculture, there can be no food. The soil is also crucial for mitigating the climate crisis: it constitutes the land’s largest natural carbon reservoir, and its storage capacity is directly proportional to its fertility.
WORKING WITH NATURE, NOT AGAINST IT
“There are many farmers who have chosen the path of working with, not against, nature,” emphasizes Barbara Nappini, president of Slow Food Italy. “Adopting respectful practices and demonstrates that another agriculture is not only possible, but also urgent. Fifty percent of the wineries present at the Slow Wine Fair are certified organic or biodynamic, demonstrating that environmental, economic, and social sustainability are compatible. Their work benefits ecosystems and people, with the prospect of preserving biodiversity and soil fertility for future generations.”
Wine can be an important advocate for this new vision of agriculture, as evidenced by the growth of organic vineyards. In Italy, certified organic vineyards (many are not certified due to costs) now represent 19% of the area dedicated to viticulture, and in the last 10 years, the surface area of organic vineyards has have increased by over 145%.
AN ALTERNATIVE MODEL IS POSSIBLE
Despite this positive trend, too many synthetic chemicals are still being used in agriculture. Italy is among the highest consumers of pesticides in Europe: according to the latest report from the European Environment Agency (EEA, 2020), annual pesticide consumption in the EU amounts to a total of 340,000 tons, or an average of 1.57 kg per hectare, while in Italy, the average consumption stands at 5.2 kg per hectare. Pesticide use pollutes groundwater, reduces soil fertility, threatens pollinating insects, compromises the natural growth and reproduction of plants, and puts our health at risk.
The winemakers at Slow Wine Fair demonstrate that an alternative model is possible. These winemakers work the soil with respect, following its natural vocation. “These producers have long made a political choice,” says Giancarlo Gariglio, coordinator of the Slow Wine Coalition and curator of the Slow Wine guide. “A choice to drastically reduce or completely eliminate synthetic chemicals. Moreover, they use environmental resources consciously and sustainably, reflecting the terroir of origin, preserving its biodiversity, and driving the social growth of their respective communities.”
INVESTING IN INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Another specific request from the winemaking world arose at Slow Wine Fair. That is, to invest in independent scientific research that would help those who want to practice sustainable agriculture. “These days talking about sustainability and reducing pesticides is more complex than ever,” comments Francesco Sottile, professor at the University of Palermo and biodiversity advisor for Slow Food. “Our society seeks to pit agriculture and the environment against each other. This is the wrong path. If environmental protection and agricultural production do not become allies, we will not be able to begin the ecological transition. If we want to support our winemakers, we must give them the tools to align themselves on the side of the environment, countering the climate crisis with models of true agroecology.”
Making good movies about wine is not easy. There's a lot of pomp and circumstance, pronunciations, boring family stories and endless shots of oceans of vines (monoculture to the max) marching across what were once grasslands or forested slopes.
The feature length documentary, seven years in the making, is an entirely filmic way of storytelling, with a captivating story that unfolds in time and space across the Saratoga mountain landscape that is Mount Eden Vineyards.
It's a visual feast as well as an auditory one. Anyone interested in the real story of wine should see it, including every WSET class in the country.
Starting a wine estate is an epic journey, as the film shows. Starting at the dawn of California wine history time–a vignette ably captured in succinct and visually compelling way–the site and its surroundings are depicted in a 150 year time span they deserve to be seen in.
It's also shows the planning pressure as well as the brutality of planting a new vineyard, punching holes in a steep hillside, dramatically seen in the film from a drone's point of view. Anyone who wants to say ag is regenerative will think twice, no matter how well the hillside is farmed. (And to be fair, wineries of the Santa Cruz Mountains do farm steep hillside terrains, just as anyone who is farming in mountains.)
But the real story here is one that anyone–no need to be a wine lover–can engage in since it unfolds as a family drama whose plot is unforeseen at the beginning of the film.
The Patterson family, who accidentally grew to be custodians and then majority owners of the winery, are two generations when the story begins and three by the end with some dramatic twists and turns, commensurate with age and life ambitions at each stage of their individual members' arcs. That's emotional fodder enough for any audience.
There's the gruff, Marlboro Man patriarch, Jeffrey Patterson, who's all work, work, work. "You can't make wine if you don't know how to fix a tractor," he says, and when you see the drone footage of the site, you see why. The family's on top of a mountain. And they're the only ones there, unless you count the close knit ties they have to their highly skilled and dedicated Mexican-American crew.
The estate is close to Paul Masson's original winery, The Mountain Winery, a favorite concert and picnic spot, where local vintners, including Mount Eden, held the annual Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains tasting on Sunday. (The winery's also a cultural institution, sort of like the West Coast rock concert equivalent of Tanglewood, the iconic spot for classical music for East Coasters.)
The film is also a lesson in what makes a wine. While winemakers are often in the spotlight, and wine critics want to know about aging vessels and whole cluster, Jeffrey's example makes the point that wine is made in the vineyard. He points out that they spend 9 months in the vineyards (and just a fraction of that time in the winemaking).
While Jeffrey smokes his nightly cigar by an outdoor campfire, Ellie Patterson, wife and partner is the brand's business manager, a role she plays adeptly throughout the decades. The couple spent 40+ years here and raised two children, Sophie and Reid, now adults.
Part of the drama is about succession. What is the value of an inheritance if no one wants to inherit it? Or if they do want to? What are one's lifetime goals in their 20s? 30s? 60's? And how can you see around the corner of your future?
Reid and Sophie's stories are sensitively unveiled over time. It's an emotional rollercoaster, but one given time and space and glorious audio to enjoy as its all unfolds.
You will feel as if you have become a family friend, observing from the sidelines, and that you've also gotten a real experience of the texture and beauty of the place.
New York Times wine writer Eric Asimov provides a few talking head moments but these are just footnotes on the overarching narrative.
If you want to get a sneak peek, see the trailer here:
I was introduced to the film by hearing to the California history podcast interview with director Chris McGilvray, which I listened to on the drive home from the Santa Cruz Mountains tasting before renting the film online when I got home.
Hats off to McGilvray and team for this masterpiece of wine history and family storytelling, as well as the gorgeous cinematography and audio. It may be a long time before we see such masterful film about wine, history and family again.
McGilvray debuted the film at the Cinequest film festival in the South Bay and so made online streaming available–but only until March 31. It costs just $3.99 to rent it online. Of course, the film would be best paired with a glass of Mount Eden wine.
McGilvray (center) and crew
The film will come to a regular streaming service at some point, but a deal has not yet been inked. Stay tuned and sign up for the film's email list or follow McGilvray on instagram.
To purchase a streaming ticket to watch the film at home, please use the link below and enjoy! The last day to watch is Sunday March 31st.
German researchers comparing conventional, organic and biodynamic Riesling vineyards at a Geisenheim University research site announced at a January conference in Avignon that in their comparative study of conventional, organic and biodynamic vines, yields in organic and biodynamic vineyards are higher than conventional in hot and dry years.
The biological approaches also resulted in higher fruit quality, their study said.
LOWER YIELDS INITIALLY BUT HIGHER IN HOT AND DRY YEARS
Though the researchers found that yields from organic and biodynamic vineyards typically decrease 14 to 17 percent initially, the organic and biodynamic vines outperform conventional vines in hot and dry vintages.
"When you have a close look at the data, it's actually interesting to see that there's a lot of years, especially in the beginning of the trial, where the independent [conventional] treatment shows the highest yields," said Doring. "But in 2018, that started to change."
"You might remember that 2018 was the first, horribly hot and dry year here in Germany, followed by 2019 and 2021, which were hot and even drier."
"We didn't observe any yield reduction [in the organic and biodynamic blocks].
BIODYNAMIC VINES HIGHEST PERFORMING IN HOT, DRY YEARS
The results were even more dramatic in 2022. "It was a hot and dry year–the hottest recorded in Geisenheim so far, and actually the biodynamic treatment was overperforming," she said. "So that was remarkable."
"Compared with plots under integrated [conventional] management, plots under the two biological treatments were characterized by higher soil quality and lower vegetative growth and grape yield, and therefore higher exposure of grapes and lower grape cluster compactness, and, probably as a result of these morphological differences, lower incidence of acetic acid rot...
"...analysis clearly differentiated the three treatments, and showed that biodynamic management had more pronounced effects than organic management in terms of enhanced soil fertility and reduction of vegetative growth."
Quality was definitely a factor, Doring said. "Organic and biodynamic treatments have a significant significantly higher amount total flavanols."
CONCLUSION
The 2019 paper stated, "Conclusions: In the present study, organic and especially biodynamic management resulted in a morphology favouring production of high-quality grapes."
The team is preparing to publish its latest findings, including the yield graph featured here, Doring said.
I was wowed by this panel at Unified in January this year with leading researchers on regenerative ag...thanks to Clint Nelson for organizing it and for the amazingly talented team of researchers who appeared on the panel.
I can't resist also posting this. I rarely hear from readers of my WineBusiness.com articles, so when the readers are of this caliber, it's nice to share.
Stephen and Denise Pouring at a 2015 St. Emilion Grand Cru event in San Francisco
I first met Denise and Stephen Adams in 2014 after writing about them in my apps on organically Napa and biodynamic wines. The debut of their intimate and innovative tasting room on Howell Mountain was a revelation about style and taste...I don't think there's anything remotely like this jewel box in Napa or elsewhere. A lovely string quartet played classical music at the party celebrating the opening. The atmosphere was refined and engaging–an elevating experience. We tasted the wines accompanied by duck nibbles and other fancy treats.
They were really the first top tier Napa winery I'd met that was biodynamic at the time. (I met the team at Eisele later).
Their decision to purchase the property was auspicious–its red volcanic soils, next to acclaimed vineyards, on steep slopes had been farmed chemically by previous owners–gave them great assets to work with, and the couple brought the soils back to life with sound organic and biodynamic farming. They brought in cows. They had bee hives. And much more.
I thought the choice of the winery's name was brilliant–Adamvs, which means "of this red earth" and is, of course, so close to their own names.
They'd already made the move to being vintners before buying the Napa site, as they owned not one but two French chateaux–like the reverse migration for French vintners who come to Napa vintners.
Organic and biodynamic pioneers, their St. Emilion estate, Château Fonplégade, was the third in the region to be certified organic. It later added biodynamic certification, too.
So it was with sadness that I opened an email from Adamvs this week, telling me of Stephen's death. I am sharing that email with you now:
EMAIL FROM ADAMVS
With deep sorrow, Denise Adams and the team at ADAMVS wish to share with our treasured members the news of the passing of Stephen Adams, an icon in the wine industry and the esteemed proprietor of Château Fonplégade and Château L’Enclos in Bordeaux and ADAMVS in Napa Valley.
Stephen, a vintner whose passion and dedication shaped the wine world, peacefully departed on March 14, 2024, with his beloved wife Denise and family members by his side.
Stephen always found great pleasure in sharing his passion for wine with our members. He and Denise enjoyed personally hosting many of you for tastings on the property, not to mention introducing you to Buttercup and McGee and our chickens, sheep, and cows. Stephen’s charming, open nature and infectious laugh will be remembered by our guests, each of whom left as a friend.
Stephen and Denise’s shared passion for the wines of Bordeaux led them to the enchanting vineyards of Saint-Emilion, where they began their journey as vintners with the restoration and careful tending of Château Fonplégade and Château L’Enclos. Their success in transforming these properties into organic and biodynamic estates inspired them to bring this method of viticulture to ADAMVS, a vineyard nestled on the slopes of Napa Valley’s Howell Mountain. Stephen’s profound love for each region and its unique terroir can be tasted in every lovingly produced bottle.
In the wake of Stephen’s passing, Denise is more determined than ever to carry on their shared work. As a truly hands-on proprietor, she has been intimately involved in all aspects of their farming and winemaking endeavors. Stephen and Denise have always made fundamental decisions for their properties together, to ensure the family legacy of each estate will last for many generations to come, and her unwavering commitment to preserving and enhancing their vision will ensure that Stephen’s legacy continues to flourish.
Stephen will be deeply missed by his family and friends and all those whose lives he touched through his remarkable achievements. Stephen’s influence extended beyond wine; he was an ardent supporter of the arts, education, and medicine through his philanthropic efforts, leaving a lasting impact with initiatives such as the Adams Neurosciences Center at Yale New Haven Hospital.
In this time of mourning, we feel it is appropriate to postpone the release of our 2020 ADAMVS Sauvignon Blanc to Monday, March 25th.
Messages of condolence directed to the vineyard will be passed along to the family.
With grateful hearts,
The ADAMVS Team
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The paper in Minnesota, where Adams was born and raised ran this obituary.
A prominent wine buyer, Curtis Mann, MW, group vice president of alcohol for Albertsons Cos.–he buys wine for Safeway, among others, as well as for its online Vine & Ccllar store–is telling the industry it needs to help consumers better understand when their wine grapes are certified organic or biodynamic.
Many in the industry do not seem to understand that it is illegal under federal law to use the word organic unless you are legally certified. Distributors and producers commonly say their vines are "practicing organic" or just "organic."
Producers...need to do a better job of clarifying terms such as organic and biodynamic, rather than leaving them up to interpretation.
Much like with nutritional information, if it’s not clarified on the label, consumers will assume or be confused.
Mann encouraged producers to be more aggressive with these labels and regulations, or to come up with a new way to designate organic wines, so that it’s clear to the customer what they are buying. (Italics mine).
I couldn't agree more, except with the bit about coming up with a new way. (Note: organic and biodynamic are legal certifications and not officially open to interpretation.)
Too many times people have repeated the misinformation that sulfite caps are required for organic labeling. Or that the organic wine can't have added sulfites. Not true.
THE "NEW" OLD WAY TO LABEL WINE: USING THE "INGREDIENTS: ORGANIC GRAPES" LABEL
There is a great way to label wine that contain only organic grapes–it's called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes"–but most wineries do not use it.
Many do not understand that they have the option to put the words "Ingredients: organic grapes" on the back label without having to change anything about their winemaking processes.
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Let's dive in.
There are two issues here–one is certification, and the other, for those who have certified vines, is labeling.
CERTIFICATION COSTS FOR VINES: $11 An Acre in Monterey County; $40 An Acre in Napa
The industry has a long history of describing wines as "practicing organic" when grapes are not certified. The usual excuse is that it costs too much to be certified. However, most people who say that have no idea what certifying wine grapesactually costs.
In fact, certification of vineyards alone costs about $11 an acre in Monterey County and $40 an acre in Napa, according to this 2015 article from Wines and Vines (which I wrote way back when). The rate is based on the value of the grapes. In addition the government pays up to $750 in rebates for certification fees.
So let's say wine grape prices have gone up since 2015, but by how much? If these were the costs in 2015, it shows that organic wine grape certification is not costly.
The record-keeping that goes along with certification may be more time consuming, but veteran growers say once you have done it the first time, it is not hard to keep up. They also say the information asked for is what a good grower should be keeping track of anyway.
Natural winemakers are often quick to say the grapes they use are organic but few use certified grapes. Some are committed to changing that, but their numbers are few and far between.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE CERTIFIED VINES: IS GOVERNMENT MISINFORMATION THE PROBLEM?
Could wineries be confused because the USDA itself obscures this "ingredients: Organic Grapes" information in its handouts?
Misleading information from USDA Organic Program
Google "ingredients: organic grapes" wine and you find this misleading pdf from the USDA
It mentions only TWO of the THREE ways organically grown wines can be labeled according to the USDA.
Their overview speaks only to the two types of certified organically grown wines that require winery certification. These are "Organic Wine" and "Made with Organic Grapes" wines.
Those two categories also require higher fees and stiffer regulations, requiring both the winery and any additives to meet certification rules.
More misleading information from USDA Organic Program
On the Organic 101 page (which explains little about the specifics) there's a link to another page and that linked to page has no content.
TTB Labeling for Organic Wine Categories Example shown for "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" displays full ingredient labeling (which is not a USDA NOP requirement for "Ingredients: Organic Grapes")
The TTB website fares only marginally better, but is very confusing in the way it provides too many illustrations of label minutiae and not enough on farming or winemaking requirements. It is also misleading in that the one example label shows a full list of ingredients, which is not a USDA NOP guideline.
But it's really not the TTB's job to define the requirements–that is the USDA's NOP's job–and the USDA's online site does not provide sufficient details.
WHERE TO FIND ACCURATE INFORMATION? FROM CCOF
At least one certifier, CCOF does the job well, explaining "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" wine, providing a pithy, bulleted lists overview of the USDA NOP regulations. It does so accurately, alongside the farming and wine requirements for the two certified wine categories ("Made with Organic Grapes" and "Organic Wine")as well as the "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" category. It's easy to compare the various standards on this one page handout.
But even the CCOF document is is slightly confusing because the "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" label can only be displayed if the contents are 100 percent from certified grapes. (If it's less than 100 percent, the percent must be displayed. However I have never encountered this on a label. I can only assume it might be more common for a food product.)
All certifiers are licensed by the NOP and mustfollow the same USDA NOP regulations on wine labeling. Since CCOF certifies more wine grape vineyards organic than any other certifier in the U.S., it makes sense that they would do a good job of describing the standards. (But why doesn't the federal government?)
The key difference between the two certified wine categories and the third category of "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" is whether or not the winery is certified organic (not required under the "Ingredients: Organic Grapes") and what additives are permitted. Sulfite caps are also required for certified wines, but not for the "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" which must simply follow the same winemaking regulations as other wines.
(The "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" wines are not "certified wines" because they do not require the winery to be certified and do not require higher payments but they still allow wineries to say the word "organic"–but only on the back label.)
Certified wines must pay certification fees on the value of the wine. Ingredients: Organic Grape labelers pay fees only on the value of the grapes. Big difference.
FYI: "Made with Organic Grapes" is very close to what the EU definition of Organic Wine.
And this is it:
ONLY 71 OUT OF 1,654 WINES BOTTLE LABEL "INGREDIENTS: ORGANIC GRAPES" IN USA
A few years ago, Vivino, the world's largest wine app, licensed my database of estate wines grown from certified organic and biodynamic grapes, with the intent of publishing it in their app. Their plans changed under new management, despite their initial desire to publish it after consumer focus groups showed it was a top ask.
In my database of 1,654 wines:
• 71 were labeled "Ingredients: Organic Grapes"
• 298 were labeled "Made with Organic Grapes"
• 109 were labeled "Organic Wine"
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• 127 were labeled "Made with Biodynamic Grapes"
• 108 were labeled "Biodynamic Wine"
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That means 1,176 wines (out of 1.654) vinified only with certified organic grapes could have used the word organic on the label–but did not. That is 71 percent of wines in my U.S., organic certified vine wines database.
(For wine uber geeks only: I did not include single vineyard wines from wineries who purchased organic or biodynamic grapes from a named certified organic or biodynamic vineyard–only wines from wineries with certified organic estates were included.)
Note: In using the "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" category, under a USDA NOP regulation, it is not then necessary to list all the ingredients.
Wineries with certified organic vineyards who do use "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" language and labeling on the back of the bottle are:
NAPA
• Beaucanon Estate (which also lists ingredients)
• Elizabeth Rose (Napa Wine Co.)
• Ghost Block (Napa Wine Co.)
• Oakville Winery (Napa Wine Co.)
• Volker Eisele (on applicable bottles)
SONOMA
• Canihan
• Crazy Flower in Napa and Sonoma
SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS
• Silver Mountain (on applicable bottles) in Santa Cruz Mountains
OREGON
• Croft
CALIFORNIA
• Ridge (on applicable bottles) (also lists ingredients)
A THIRD HURDLE: TTB LABELING APPROVAL
I have heard it countless times: "Our grapes are certified but the TTB won't let us label "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" on the back label even though our certifier says we should be able to."
Amigo Bob, the great organic leader who founded CCOF and EcoFarm, said he heard from many wine producers over the years that it really depended on who at TTB was handling your label approval.
Speaking at the TTB hearing online last week, consultant Jemma Jorel Lester, of San Francisco based Proper Pour Co., voiced similar complaints about inconsistencies regarding label approvals. "I get varied responses back even on a very consistent set of labels,” she said, adding that getting a label approved for an orange wine (not made from oranges) was denied.
Colleen Willams (Seps) from Storybook Mountain Vineyards in Napa has been labeling her wines with "Ingredients: Organic Grapes" on the back label (where regulations permit it) for years but says each year she has to educate the TTB person reviewing her labels about the category, showing them the regulations.
How does this get corrected? Is it time to contact the TTB? (Maybe try the Organic Trade Association? https://www.ota.com/contact-ota)
THE FOURTH HURDLE: WINE EDUCATORS, WSET PROGRAMS, MASTERS OF WINE AND MASTER SOMMELIERS
How many wine professionals are taught organic and biodynamic wine certifications?
Course after course, teachers present the labels, which detail so many attributes of the wine's origins, but I have never seen one dive into organic and biodynamic labeling and certification or at least not accurately.
Let's hope it's just a curious circumstance that has only happened to me, but I would say it is pretty much the norm. The amount of misinformation I see–even printed in 2023 books from world famous authors (I'm not naming names)–is common. One new mega volume even said organic wine could not contain added sulfites. (Very old trope–and inaccurate).
If this information is not in your wine professional certification program or curriculum, please update your curriculum. These are facts that every wine professional should know.
Wouldn't it be nice to give consumers the information they're looking for?
And producers, if you're not certified but say you farm organically, please reconsider. Your public is waiting. You could win brownie points for certification. Especially with Millenials, Gen Z, etc. as well as most medical professionals (who often do care about pesticide free farming). Stand out for all the good reasons. Proclaim your virtue.
