For California Vintners, It's Not Easy Being Green

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time upper retreat against national

bonnyhadlo of DC 1:19PM March 22, 2010

selling wine is the bottem line to make monye being organic one thing but you can grow graps with out or with fertilizer and or chemicals as thay grow in the wild wold be better for all

john w lind jr of TX 5:40PM March 16, 2010

I am not sure where the author got the idea that growing fruit in an organic manner is "a grueling and expensive process that obligates the vineyard to devote considerably more time and effort to cultivating grapes than conventional agricultural methods, which rely on chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers", but that is untrue. In recent years, most vineyards that grow fruit for wineries that care about quality have moved away form chemicals -many moving to sustainable growing which involves only using chemicals if there is no other reasonable alternative. Moving from sustainable growing to organic is pretty simple, does not substantially increase costs and has about the same yields. The bottom line is that you do these things because it is the right way to do them in the long term, not as a marketing ploy or because you think it will make you big bucks.

Lynne of WA 1:11PM March 11, 2010

Delmas comment about organic grapes being higher quality is pure rot or bull fertilizer. As someone who has delivered many tons of organic, conventional, bio-dynamic and sustainably grown grapes that have achieved commercial and reviewers success, I can tell you that the minuscule amount of extra time spent in organic vineyards is insignificant in determining the quality of the final wine quality or it's intrinsic worth. Starting with site and ending with the winemakers blending skill would all rank higher in importance than the fertilizer or pest management supplies origin that are what determine organic certification. Most of those who are willing to spend $40 are likely sophisticated or intelligent enough to know that. I am not surprised given the "terroist" training gabage, that a sommolier would be misled.

mike wanless of CA 1:26AM March 10, 2010

If you drank Coca Cola your whole life and suddenly someone gave you a Diet Coke and said this is better for you, you would probably wince and never drink another Diet Coke again. Good for you or not. Same logic applies to California wine. Just look at the scores...California wines are the Coca Cola of the wine world. Hook them with oak, not the grape. The issue is much larger than "Green" marketing.

Jeff of OR 5:02PM March 09, 2010

As a consumer, I can sometimes say that if a product is touting that it's organic/natural as its main selling point, that might be seen as the wine's primary benefit as opposed to, say, taste. I think most of us have had an experience where we bought a product that was advertised this way and just didn't taste great. For me it was some specifically labeled vegan soup that was utterly bland. Now there are plenty of great soups out there that are naturally vegan and there are ways to take meat/dairy/eggs out of soup recipes and still have tasty results, but most of them don't tend to be advertised as "hey- try this because it's vegan."

Susan of CA 2:54PM March 09, 2010

Great article with supporting statistics. Having tasted and visited a couple of organic wineries, and many others who are practicing sustainable agriculture, I understand that some organic practices are not as favorable to the soil in the long term.
I also think there may be an opportunity to enhance taste (some US organic wines are less than excellent tasting); create better agriculture practices - esp. with water and runoff contaminates; and create a niche for "low-sulfite wine"??

Janet Pomeroy of CA 2:39PM March 09, 2010

A very interesting article - I would expect that people don't know the difference between organic wine, wine from organically grown grapes and eco-wine. And having recently taste-tested wines without sulfites (sorry Tom), they just don't compare. I think its the history of organic wine quality that may dissuade people from purchasing these.

Sondra Barrett of CA 11:37AM March 09, 2010

Very interesting to hear academia weigh in with what those of us in the trenches have known for years. The 'price penalty' for a sulfite free wine has been obvious for years.
Still, enough consumers can put themselves in the place of those who live down wind or down stream from a vineyard and will vote with their wallets for more responsible agriculture.
As my father used to say, "Time wounds all heals"

tony norskog of CA 10:42AM March 09, 2010