What does organic wine actually mean?

So much happens to wine before it makes it into the bottle. For viticulturists and winemakers, it’s an almost endless choose-your-own-adventure process in how a grape is fertilised, watered, grown, protected from the elements and then treated in the winery. For some, the path is a system of ‘natural farming’ known as organic production.

Once considered a hippie-dippy fringe choice, organic wines are everywhere these days – but they aren’t always well understood. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at this approach, how it applies to wine, and the organic releases to seek out.

To be truly organic, wine has to be certified by a body like Australian Organic or Southern Cross Certified. If it’s not certified, it’s not technically organic, no matter what happens in the vineyard.

To get that certification, grapes must be grown in specific ways. That means ruling out the use of toxic or persistent pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and synthetic fertilisers. Producers must also promote biodiversity and encourage soil regeneration.

The overall idea is that organic farming – whether that’s grapes or anything else – is environmentally responsible and sustainable. There’s no guarantee that this style of farming will result in a better wine (a lot of that is really on the shoulders of the winemaker), but it’s fair to say that organic wine is off to a good start.

As you’ve probably gathered from the list above, the requirements of organic wine production are a little more stringent than regular wine production. To adhere to those organic requirements, winemakers and viticulturists have to do things differently to their mainstream counterparts. For instance, a regular vineyard could be nourished with chemical fertilisers, but organic vineyards must use natural fertilisers and composts instead.

Where some vineyards can use chemicals and pesticides to keep insects, weeds and disease at bay, organic vineyards might use cover crops (plants that cover the soil around vines) to attract beneficial insects, or animal grazing to remove weeds naturally.

In the winery, winemakers have to change their approach, too. For example, organic wines can contain preservatives (like sulphur dioxide), but that amount is limited to around half of what can be used in traditional wines. Organic wine can’t contain flavour or colour additives, either.

At its heart, organic wine is about caring for the environment and growing grapes sustainably. Biodynamics is a closely related philosophy that takes this even further.

According to Cullen Wines, a biodynamic winery in Western Australia’s Margaret River, “biodynamic viticulture is a philosophy combining the maintenance of sustainable soil fertility and the recognition of the link between plant growth and the rhythms of the cosmos”.

This idea of the ‘rhythms of the cosmos’ is really what sets biodynamic farming apart from organics. While most of the techniques and principles overlap, biodynamics goes further with ideas like crop rotation, ‘green’ manure and kooky rituals like burying a cow horn filled with manure.

Like its organic sibling, biodynamic farming needs to be certified by an authorised body like Demeter before a winery can claim to be biodynamic.