this goal in part by using a big carrot to encourage sustain-
ability certification: without it, wineries cannot enter wine
competitions. And no medals equals fewer sales.
Without a similar carrot, will Sonoma be able to achieve
similar results, and does it really matter? It certainly does
for Jean-Charles Boisset, the proprietor of the Boisset
Collection, with wineries in both Sonoma and Napa. “Of
course we are behind this initiative 100 percent,” he says.
“We believe that sustainable farming practices help us to
achieve a better expression of terroir as we strive to promote
biological diversity within our vineyard ecosystems rather
than attempting to limit it.”
Sustainable Winegrowing
Sustainability is an agricultural buzzword, though the aver-
age consumer may have trouble understanding what it really
means. So many organizations are issuing credentials —
Fish Friendly Farming, National Organic Program, Demeter
USA, SIP, CSWA — that the term is confusing even to those
in the business. As Sonoma Winegrowers president Karissa
Kruse says, “Sustainability is complicated, but the results
are simple. We are doing the right thing for the environ-
ment, for people and for our businesses, in both growing
grapes and making wine in Sonoma County.”
The term should apply to any consumables business that
expects to be around a long time, notably the wine industry,
given that a vine takes at least three years to produce enough
fruit to make decent wine and many smaller producers are
multigenerational family businesses.
Paul Dolan, the godfather of sustainable winegrowing in
California, compares a vineyard to a living organism that
“has a circulation system, which is the water flowing from
the mountains into the soil and the vines, and a respiration
system that is the wind and air circulating around the leaves
and clusters.” This holistic approach is the cornerstone of
sustainable farming, complemented by responsible treatment
of employees, neighbors and community.
Still, as one New Zealand winemaker says, “I cannot
be green if I’m in the red.” A popular misconception holds
that all vintners and grape growers are either wealthy landowners, only a notch below hedge fund managers on the
economic scale, or else part of huge conglomerates. Well,
there are a few hedge fund managers making wine out there
along with a few big corporations, but in Sonoma County, 80
percent of all vineyards are under 100 acres and 40 percent
are smaller than 20 acres. Not exactly big business. They are
often run by small farmers trying to make a decent living
who nevertheless embrace the whole sustainability concept.
Their raison d’être is passion, not profit.
Going Organic
Beyond sustainable, some wineries are certified organic
(an even bigger buzzword) and/or biodynamic, for which
certification criteria are rigorous. For instance, while certified sustainable vineyards are technically still allowed
to use agrichemicals such as Roundup (a bone of contention for some wineries), organic certification prohibits
agrichemical use.
Many vineyards today are producing organically certified fruit, and even more wineries are promoting their
wines as made from organic fruit. Yet once the grapes pass
through the winery doors, how the fruit is treated and vini-fied is at the sole discretion of the winemaker. Organic
in the vineyard is not the same as organic in the bottle:
between wines made from organic fruit and wines made
organically, there is a big difference.
More than a few Marin restaurants have “organic” offerings on their wine lists, and the designation is almost always
incorrect. Even if a wine is made from organic grapes, any
number of nonorganic substances may be added; for a wine
to be labeled organic — that is, with the USDA organic label
— the nature and amount of these additives must be strictly
controlled. The sulfite level, for instance, must be less than
20 parts per million. Note: anyone who has tasted wine made
with little to no sulfites will usually avoid it in the future. And
it certainly doesn’t age well.
The Biodynamic Buzz
Biodynamics follows the organic philosophy and runs with
it, forbidding not only use of agrichemicals but also any
other external substances — what’s known as farming in
