Guest Somm: Gabby Moreno

Gaby's Thoughts: Natural, Organic, Biodynamic and Conventional Wines

On Farming: By Gaby Moreno, Sommelier @ Pain et Vin - Buenos Aires, Argentina

“The use of chemicals in the vineyard modifies the aromas and flavors of the terroir. When you opt for a more natural handling, you get a more sincere expression with a much wider palette of aromas and flavors, But is not easy, it took me fifteen years to learn the techniques and know the natural chemistry of the wine” -MATIAS MICHELINI, natural wine producer in Mendoza)

There are many choices a farmer can take in the vineyard, to spray or not for example, but when it comes to natural wine, you need impeccable grapes that have their fruit in balance with their acid and tannin, and that means you need to farm naturally. So many chemicals in the vineyard will definitely affect for example, the yeast population and that will led to the use of lab yeast and so on with many other things, consequently, to be natural, you have to farm cleanly and produce grapes on living soils that are healthy and covered in a rich micro-flora and fauna.

Generally, farming can fall into 4 different categories: conventional, organic, biodynamic and natural.

Conventional:

Most of the wines you can get at the supermarket (mass production)  are made following this method. Farming is done by synthetic addition. Herbicides are sprayed to remove weeds, pesticides are used to kill the bugs and machines pick the grapes and of course vines are planted to accommodate this machines rather than the vine. This form of farming won’t produce any alive wine.

“Government agencies and laws are at the service of the agrochemical industry and there are innumerable costs and consequences that these policies entail. They are the cause of diseases, climate change, the loss of the nutritional value of products from agriculture and the disappearance of the small farmer ” Jonathan Nossiter Film Director of “Natural Resistance”

Organic:

Many of the principles used in organic farming have existed since time immemorial, but an organic consciousness only emerged in the 1940s, thanks to the likes of Sir Albert Howard (1873-1947) and Walter James(1896-1982) who spearheaded the organic movement.

Here, fertilizers are composts or additives derived from animals, vegetables, or minerals. Pesticides, too, are derived from nature. Just as with herbal supplements, one shouldn’t assume that because it’s organic the treatment is non toxic. In some cases, farmers must wear a full protective bodysuit to apply some products.

Worldwide, there are several certifying bodies, such as Argencert (Argentina) EU Organic (EU) Ecocert (France) and USDA Organic (USA), but many of the small farmers choose not to apply for a certification because its too expensive or cumbersome.

Biodynamic:

Biodynamic agriculture is not simply a method of producing wine, it is an international movement with deep principles and a strong social component. Biodynamics proposes an agricultural and a consumer model that promotes more awareness in relationships between humans with the environment and the cosmos.

 This farming is based on nine treatments that are of animal (not for vegans, sorry!), vegetable, or mineral origins, sprayed in small, homeopathic doses. These treatments are used to stimulate microbial life, boost the immune systems of plants, and improve soil fertility. The soil is part of the context of lunar and cosmic rhythms.

Biodynamic winemakers often also live and work in a farm, with wheat fields, animals, fruit trees, woods, and vines striving to be self-sufficient. While some of the techniques of biodynamics often sound hokey and strangely spiritual to us, they in fact date way back to the ancient ways of our ancestors, to a time before many technological manipulations existed. Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, is often credited with having laid out the basic tenets of biodynamics in a series of talks he gave in the early 20th century. Steiner gathered together the oral traditions passed down by simple farmers for thousands of years.

This holistic approach treats the farm not in isolation, but as part of a landmass that is part of a planet that is part of a huge solar system, where large bodies of mass exert considerable forces on one another, just look at the ocean when its full moon!

Certifications worldwide are Demeter, Biodyvin (France) and AgrioBioDinamica (Italiy)

Many organic vineyards use some biodynamic tools, so there is often no clear-cut line between organic and biodynamic. Biodynamic certification also costs money, so just as with organics many biodynamically prepared wines don’t say so on the label.

Natural

Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) pops up immediately when you look for natural farming. He was a Japanese farmer/philosopher  celebrated for his “do-nothing agriculture”. Of course is not that literal, its doing as little as possible and indeed a very close friend to permaculture; both use the ecosystem to do the work for you.

There are no certifications, so the farmers can make their own decisions, many of the best practices of natural farming are farming are being adopted by sensitive farmers worldwide

In the end, whether you call it organic, biodynamic or natural, it’s not the label that counts, but the motivation. If you do it for marketing reasons, that will never result in an inspiring farm, your heart has to be in it.