The SOMM Journal

October/November 2014

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{ SOMMjournal.com }  65 S Sustainable, organic, and biodynamic—known and discussed by the trade now as SOB—are three tiers of natural wine production. The health of the land, the plants, the animal and human community in and around the land and the end-users are all taken into consideration. Sustainable farming takes a serious look at reducing the carbon footprint so reductions in water use, power use and more come into play. Restricting the speed of cars driving through the vineyards at Marimar Torres Winery in the Russian River Valley, or banning them altogether and using golf carts at Dominus in Napa Valley, are two small steps in sustainable farming. Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing was California's first third- party sustainable category certification. The Wine Institute along with the California Association of Wine Grape Growers created the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CCSW-Certified) to "enhance transparency, encourage statewide participation and advance the entire California wine industry toward best practices in environmental steward - ship, conservation of natural resources and socially equitable business practices." SIP, or Sustainability in Practice, was established in 2008 and is another third-party certification group popular with many wineries in the state. Benziger Winery went so far as to create its own sustainable certification. Chris Benziger states, "We created our own sustainability code so that we could ensure that all grapes used to make any of our wines met our stan - dards of sustainable winegrowing. We wanted to be able to quickly assess each vineyard at the same level. We still third-party-certify our estate vine- yards using CCOF or Demeter Biodynamic certifications, and many of our growers choose to certify themselves with a third-party such as CCSW. Our 'Farming for Flavors' program is often in addition to these." Organic wine, as defined in California, is made first from grapes grown without herbicides, pesticides or chemical soil amendments in the grape- growing phase, and second, without the addition of sulfur dioxide solu - tions or sulfur salts (sulfites) in the winemaking phase. California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) is the certifying body. Biodynamic farming is natural farming at an extreme, taking into consider- ation phases of the moon and using practices such as burying cow manure in cow horns to bring life and energy back to the soil, and then to the plant. According to the Milwaukee-based Biodynamic Association, "Biodynamics is a spiritual-ethical-ecological approach to agriculture, food production and nutrition. Biodynamics was first developed in the early 1920s based on the spiritual insights and practical suggestions of the Austrian writer, edu - cator and social activist Dr. Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), whose philosophy is called 'anthroposophy.' Today, the biodynamic movement encompasses thousands of successful gardens, farms, vineyards and agricultural opera- tions of all kinds and sizes on all continents, in a wide variety of ecological and economic settings." On the following pages we take a look at four natural wine producers using combinations of sustainable, organic and biodynamic practices. Practicing Jungian analyst Patricia Damery was introduced to biodynamic farming in the fall of 1999 when her mountain vine- yard was not ripening and her winemaker informed her he would not be taking the grapes. This rendered Damery open to trying methods she might not have otherwise. A biodynamic practitioner ripened her crop within two weeks and the winemaker was more than pleased with the grapes. Damery was able to increase her grape produc- tion by 90 percent and her farm became Demeter- certified in biodynamic farming. She shares her story in the second edition of her book, Farming Soul: A Tale of Initiation (Leaping Goat Press, $19.99). PHOTO COURTESY OF BARONE MONTALTO

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