Eco Wine

The thing with writing about food or wine is that the palate wishes to be titivated immediately. Here I am its lunch time at work and not a bottle in sight. Oh! What hardship!

A few years ago I heard about the whole concept of making wine in “the old style”. Theses Organic wines are reputed to be hangover free, worth an investigation? Absolutely!

It appears that this process starts in the soil. Conventional farming uses pesticides, herbicides and artificial fertiliser in their farming methods. All these non-natural additives do land up in the soil so therefore all these additives need to be eliminated from the process. This leads to a more Bio diverse manner of producing the grapes. This also means encouraging natural insect predators for pests and allowing other plants to grow amongst the vines.

Biodiversity allows for brilliant natural farming. It becomes a philosophy of producing wines that are as nature intended them to be. Improved soil that uses natural fertiliser such as manure apparently leads to a better tasting grape. A move towards Organic wine producing means a move to supporting and protecting the natural fauna and flora. One could argue that an Organic wine farmer will pay closer attention to the balance in the vineyards.

Preservatives

Surely the most difficult dilemma is the use of Sulphites, an additive used for preservation of wine. In conventional viticulture sulphites are routinely added in measured amounts to the end product. However some people are allergic to this additive. Thus organic wines with their minimum sulphite added are ideal. This of course is the purported anti hang over wine as the sulphites do add to that bleary feeling the next day.

Certification

This leads me onto the topic of Organic Certification. Afrisco is one body that assists in this certification. Bear in mind that it takes up to three years before one can achieve full certification. The process is started with registering with the certification body and a full plan of how to manage the farm organically is drawn up. After 6 months the farm is audited to assess where there needs to be adjustment. The farms are then registered as “In conversion” and it will then take another full two years after another 6 monthly audit to be able to have the sought after Organic label applied.

Carbon standards

Another interesting phenomenon is Carbon standards in farming. Backsburg is one of the first farms in South Africa and one of only three others in the WORLD! The carbon standard applied at Backsberg follows the Kyoto Protocol on Green House Gas emissions. Once again South African lead!