Throughout the three California North Coast counties of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino, the days of applying routine applications of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides to vineyards - until nothing is living but the grapevines - are gone. In fact, it's hard to find a winery that isn't committed to some form of natural farming these days.
While in the past some small, boutique wineries produced organic wines, in recent years the wave of eco-friendly farming has swept over just about everyone, including major wineries such as Beringer, Buena Vista, Fetzer, Gallo of Sonoma, Mondavi and many others. The Napa Valley Sustainable Winegrowing Group, one of several groups devoted to more environmentally sound viticulture, has 15 member wineries including Mondavi, Sinskey and Cardinale - "with more joining all the time," according to coordinator Astrid Bock-Foster.

"We've leaped forward to the past," says Tim Mondavi, who is the Robert Mondavi Family of Wineries' managing director and winegrower. "We've learned over the years that every time we had a choice between a repressive technology, like the use of pesticides, or an inspired technology, like the use of cover crops to help establish beneficial insects that control pests naturally, the inspired technology proved to be a better method," he explains. "It addresses the fundamental vineyard and winemaking problems and not just the symptoms. Technology should help you look into life, to see how and why it works as it does, not to just slaughter it."

Do more natural techniques lead to better wine?

"My bottom line is wine quality, not the organic movement's 'save the world' agenda," says Winemaker John Williams, owner of Frog's Leap Winery in Napa Valley. "Organic growing is the only path of grape growing that leads to optimum quality and expression of the land in wine. And that's for the same reason that a healthy diet and lifestyle make for healthy people. When the soil is healthy, then the vines are healthy. The analogy is almost totally complete.

"When vines get the nutrients they need," Williams says, "problems like low amounts of yeast nutrients in the must, and therefore stuck fermentations, disappear. Grapes from clean, healthy vines just make the best possible wine, and that's what I'm after."

Even the biggest wineries (and especially their vineyard workers) are breathing a sigh of relief as natural technique replaces chemical technology. The major wineries are learning that working with nature produces a set of positive, even unintended, results that are helping them produce better wines.

"We're moving from a system based on inputs of chemicals to a management-based system of grape-growing," says Jim Frisinger, director of North Coast vineyard operations at Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley. While not strictly organic, Beringer and many other large production wineries are trying to establish a "green" approach, while keeping their options open.

Keeping those options open is the reason why many wineries, large and small, are not seeking strict organic certification from California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Protecting wine quality and quantity are utmost - and yet, even without organic certification, big wineries are making major advances toward more natural farming. At Mondavi, for instance, Mitchell Klug, director of the firm's Napa Valley winegrowing operations, was recognized as "Conservationist of the Year" by Napa County in 1991; Mondavi was the only wine company among ten agricultural organizations to be cited for its environmentally friendly pest control techniques in 1998 from the California Environmental Protection Agency.

To some, the phrase "organic vineyard" conjures up an idyllic picture of clean rows of green, trellised vines, their leaves combed by beneficial insects hunting for pests, the skies above patrolled by hawks and owls hunting for rodents, field workers safe from toxic chemicals, and wines pure and delicious.

For others, organic purists go too far in insisting that no chemicals ever be used in grape culture or winemaking. Doug Shafer, co-proprietor of Shafer Vineyards in Napa Valley, strongly advocates sustainable techniques, and has greatly increased the diversity of animal and insect life in his vineyards, but he is not willing to sacrifice his bottom line. "I'm a businessman," he says, "and if I have to use chemicals to save a crop, I will." But that doesn't mean that if a pest problem arises, it's back to the days of drenching the vineyards with pesticides.

It does mean the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

When a pest or disease problem is detected, adherents of IPM first decide whether it will cause an economic impact. Only if it's severe enough will any action be taken - and then only the least environmentally disruptive techniques will be used, with chemicals held in reserve as a last resort. And even then, the least harmful chemicals will be used first. "I only use about one-tenth of the chemicals I used ten years ago," Shafer says. "And basically, I only use Round-Up [a relatively low-toxicity herbicide]."

Frisinger also says Round-Up is just about the only non-organic pesticide he uses at Beringer, and gives two examples of his green approach: "We use prevention for botrytis, a fungus that causes a type of bunch rot, opening up the vine canopy to light and air to produce a naturally botrytis-free environment," he explains. "With leafhoppers, we notice they feed first on the bottom leaves of the vines, so if we have an infestation, we go through the vineyards and remove those leaves. If there's still a problem, we use Safer soap, an organically approved soap that dissolves the insects' exoskeleton but doesn't harm other life forms."

Big names, such as Gallo of Sonoma, are adhering to these sustainable practices, too. There is a long history of such practices at Gallo, where the late Julio Gallo's vision of the future included great wine being made from organically managed Sonoma County estate grapes. Gina Gallo, chief winemaker at Gallo of Sonoma and Julio's granddaughter, along with Julio's longtime associate, Marcello Monticelli, senior winemaker and Gina's tutor, are realizing Julio's dream. Monticelli recalls, "All of Julio's life, he practiced organic gardening at home, and organic farming in his vineyards." That was long before state law and certification came along, and today Gallo's acreage, while handled sustainably, is not certified organic by CCOF.

"We grow about 2,000 acres of fruit in Sonoma County using IPM," says Jeff Lyon, who is the viticulturist at Gallo of Sonoma. "We also have a full set of weather stations that warn us when conditions are right for outbreaks of disease like mildew and pests like spider mites. And soil is key, so we use permanent cover crops to increase the diversity of life in the vineyards and improve the soil naturally."

Napa Valley's Cardinale Estate, the top-end winery in Jess Jackson's Artisans & Estates portfolio, recently achieved certification for 22 organic acres. Both the Kendall-Jackson and Artisan & Estates wineries have announced a ban on select pesticides, including methyl bromide, Omite, Simizine and Karmex, in its vineyard holdings in the U.S. and abroad.

While approximately 5 percent of California's vineyards are actually certified organic, just about all the vineyards in the North Coast wine country are handled sustainably. In fact, all the growers and winemakers interviewed for this article - purist or not, large producer or small - endorse a natural, sustainable way of farming that protects the environment.

"Natural" and "sustainable" farming, however, are not synonymous with the stricter practice of organic farming, and lately, the public has been clamoring for anything organic. Some of this demand is driven by a sophisticated understanding of and belief in organic methods, but most is the result of the public's leeriness of pesticide-laden foods, irradiated or genetically altered crops, and its desire for a safe, wholesome food supply.

Some wine lovers who tried organic wines in the past were put off by their sheer lack of quality.

The problem seems to be two-fold. First, many strictly organic wines are made by small producers who don't always use modern techniques of wine-making. More importantly, as Mike Lee, winemaker at Kenwood Vineyards, says,"You can grow great grapes organically, but you can't make stable, long-lasting wines without sulfites." Before moving on to the battle raging over the use of sulfites in organic wine, it's important to first define some terms.

What is organic wine?

Snooping around a wine shop for "organic wines" can be confusing because of the organic, quasi-organic, seemingly organic and possibly organic labels one encounters.

An American wine labeled "organically grown" or "made from organically grown grapes" means that the vineyards have been handled in accordance with the organic certifying agency of the state in which they were grown. In California, that's the California Certified Organic Farmers. In Washington State, it's the Washington State Department of Agriculture's Organic Food Certification Program. In Oregon, it's Oregon Tilth, and in New York, it's the Northeast Organic Farmers' Association.

Wines from France and other countries labeled "organic" or "organically grown" are probably what they purport to be, and the name of a certifying agency, such as Eco-Cert or other bodies affiliated with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), may sometimes be found on the labels. But many longtime producers, either through tradition or obstinacy, do not get certification and still use the term.

Occasionally one will see an American wine labeled "transitional," which means that the vineyards are handled organically, but the necessary three years since conventional culture ceased have not yet passed in order for them to achieve certification.

The phrases "sustainable agriculture" and "low-input farming" have no legal definition, but generally refer to vineyards using environmentally friendly techniques, such as owl boxes to encourage predators of gophers, cover crops to stimulate the populations of beneficial insects, composting for fertilization and IPM for pests and diseases.

Some wines are labeled "organic wine" or "organically processed." Although there is as yet no national governmental standard for organic wine, some states have passed laws, such as the California Organic Food Act of 1990. This usually means the fruit is certified organic, and the wine is made with no sulfites added. Sometimes the wine is fermented with only the yeast found on the skins (although many non-organic wineries, such as Robert Mondavi, are doing this, too), rather than with strains of special wine yeast, and the term usually means that only naturally occurring fining agents, such as bentonite clay, are used to clear the wine of any cloudiness.

A few wines are labeled "Grapes Grown Biodynamically." Biodynamic farms must meet not only CCOF standards, but also be certified by the Demeter organization (the international certifying body for biodynamics named after the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture). Biodynamic agriculture follows theories laid down by Rudolf Steiner, founder of the Waldorf School system, in the 1920s. His metaphysical approach involves connecting agriculture to a higher, spiritual wisdom through the preparation of certain soil- and plant-enhancing natural sprays, the use of auspicious and inauspicious days for farm activities, and the degree of under-standing of life processes exhibited by the farmer.

Although it sounds fetishistic to some, biodynamics can show good results, and satisfies a longing in many individuals for a deeper connection to the earth. Some well-known wineries are now converting to biodynamic culture.

Kirk Grace, vineyard manager for Robert Sinskey Vineyards in Napa Valley, used his first biodynamic spray this year and follows the soil model of William Albrecht (one of the founders of organic agriculture in America). "I hope to have all 150 of Sinskey's acres Demeter-certified by 2008," he says.

Grace believes strict environmental regulations will be enforced in the future, and he wants to be compliant beforehand.

At Benziger Family Winery in Sonoma Valley, the winery's 45 acres of grapes are in their third year of transition to a certified biodynamic system. Vineyard consultant Alan York believes biodynamic culture is all about prevention of problems. "Once you have a problem, your options are reduced," York says. "The key is to prevent problems by paying attention to [the condition of] the vines. Lack of experience in doing this is the biggest problem in viticulture today."

Sulfites in wine

Most winemakers use sulfur dioxide in very small amounts to preserve freshness and protect their wines from spoilage organisms. When dissolved in wine, sulfur dioxide binds with impurities and any live spoilage organisms and destroys them, and in the process, the sulfur dioxide produces sulfites.

Wines labeled "no sulfites added" are not necessarily free of sulfites. The fermentation process creates sulfites in small amounts. What's more, according to wine consultants Motto, Kryla & Fischer, the daily process of digestion in the human body produces the amount of sulfites in 100 bottles of wine. Because white wines need sulfites to prevent oxidation and spoilage, they contain about twice the sulfites as do reds - amounting to less than 80 parts per million of sulfur dioxide. For those who are sensitive to red wines, it may be something other than sulfites that is causing a reaction. Sulfite-sensitive wine lovers should bear in mind, too, that European winemakers, especially the French, tend to use significantly more sulfites in their wine than do American producers.

The USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which has been working for years to set up nationwide standards for organic farming and foodstuffs, originally allowed the use of sulfites in organic wines. Many organic winemakers had argued for their use, claiming sulfites to be harmless.

In 1998, the NOSB changed the rules to disallow sulfites in the definition of "organic wine," but not "organically grown." That's where we stand today: "Made from Organically Grown Grapes" is allowed on the labels of wines with added sulfites, but not in wines labeled "organic."

In recent months, the USDA has issued proposed final rules that ignore the NOSB's recommendation and would not allow the term "organically grown grapes" anywhere on the front label, and only on the back label in a small list of ingredients. In May, a group of organic wine industry leaders, led by Veronique Raskin of San Francisco, an importer of French organic wines, formed Organic Wines International to challenge the proposed USDA rule to eliminate "organically grown grapes" from wine labels.

"If a lot of big wineries were being forced to clean up their act," says Paul Chartrand, an organic wine importer, "and wanted to get rid of the pressure of organic wines, the best way to do it would be to take the sulfites out of any wine with the word organic on the label."

Bob Blue, who makes the wine at Bonterra Vineyards, an organically grown brand launched by Fetzer in 1992, believes the proposed rulings miss the whole point of growing grapes organically. "If it's adopted," he says, "it would set the industry back light years. All of the hard work we've put into achieving certification of our vineyards would be nullified if we're not allowed to truthfully state, as we have in the past, that our wines are made from organically grown grapes."

Ron Bartolucci, a veteran northern California organic grape grower, says, "If the use of sulfur dioxide is forbidden, the demand for certified organically grown grapes will be drastically diminished, if not totally eliminated."

The deadline for comments was June 12. The USDA will now decide whether to keep its new ruling or adapt it to suit an obviously disturbed industry. If it does go through, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which enforces rules for alcoholic beverages, says it will accept the USDA's final decision.

Growing popularity

Regulatory debates aside, public demand is great and wineries are moving swiftly in the organic direction. The resulting boom in organic viticulture in California is notable: Total organic acreage has zoomed from 178 acres in 1989 to approximately 12,000 today.

"We've doubled production to 30,000 cases in the last five years," says Jonathan Frey, of the rigorously organic Frey Vineyards in Mendocino County. "It's becoming easier and easier to find organic and organically grown wines in supermarkets."

A visit to just about any market these days - even the big chains - shows how successful the organic movement has become in the U.S. in the 57 years since J.I. Rodale introduced the term "organic farming" to America and began publishing a magazine that was then called Organic Farming & Gardening.

The idea took a big jump forward when, in 1962, Rachel Carson, a well-respected government biologist who had a decade earlier won the National Book Award for The Sea Around Us, published Silent Spring, a prophetic and influential book about the dangers of pesticides. Silent Spring created a worldwide consciousness of the environmental degradation caused by agricultural chemicals.

Ecology is born

Through the 1960s, the organic movement grew both in America and in Europe. The science of ecology was born. In 1969, Congress passed the National Environmental Protection Act that led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. It all came together for the environmentalists and organic adherents on the first Earth Day in 1970. (Until this time, those who wanted to eat organic food, most likely had to grow it themselves.)

Establishment agriculture dug in its heels, however. As late as the mid-1970s, a USDA staffer refused to speak on the record to a journalist regarding organic agriculture for fear of losing his job. The USDA's stance was that organics might be fine for "kooky" backyard gardeners, but if American agriculture went organic, crops would be ruined by insects and disease, and the nation would starve. Since then, the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides has steadily increased; today more than 215 million pounds of these compounds are used every year in California alone, far above the amount used when Carson wrote Silent Spring.

The good news is that in recent years, the amount of very toxic chemicals implicated in farm worker sickness and deaths, and in public cancer rates, has been declining in favor of what the California Department of Pesticide Regulation calls "reduced-risk" pesticides.

In the wine country of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, about 8.5 million total pounds of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides were used in 1998, but most of these were low-toxicity or organically allowable substances such as elemental sulfur dust.

The generation that came of age in the 1960s and 1970s include those people who have become today's winemakers. With few exceptions, it is they who are making the shift toward a greener viticulture.

"Something changed philosophically and politically with people who grew up then," says Anne Moller-Racke, the vineyard manager for Buena Vista's 950 acres in the Carneros appellation. "Look at medicine. People want more natural care now. Well, grape growers are stewards of the land, so we want to go with better methods of protecting the soil. Worker safety is important, too," she adds. "And we're getting better quality grapes and wine because we're more aware of the needs of the vines and the life in the vineyards."

Buena Vista Winemaker Judy Matulich-Weitz notes that the vineyards used to be almost sterile. "Now I walk in the vineyards and they're much more alive," she says. "I see spiders, different weeds, all kinds of bugs, and I know there's more microbial life in the soil, too."

Moller-Racke believes environmental awareness makes economic sense for wineries. "For instance, this past spring was wet," she says, "and the vines were looking a little peaked. In the past, we might have gone to foliar feeding or other applications of fertilizer. But now we understand that the nutrients are there - we just have to be patient until the soil dries and the nutrients are taken up. We're better educated these days and because of it, we're better winegrowers."

While many of the practices growers have returned to are time honored, Moller-Racke says the computer age also is fostering improvements in the vineyard. "Among other things like research and exchanging information, we use our computers to create models of what's happening in the vineyards, so we know whether what we're seeing is going to cause trouble, or is normal and should just be left alone."

Environmental grape culture - whether sustainable or certified organic - is more than just abjuring chemicals. It also includes fertilizing with composts and manures, using cover crops, such as vetch and legumes, for soil improvement and as host plants for beneficial insects, and more dramatically, allowing some parcels in proximity to the vines to grow wild. These natural patches of bramble and forest provide food and habitat for the indigenous fauna, including beneficials, which add a healthy diversity to a vineyard's eco-system. "We have bats, eagles, hawks and barn owls, all without putting up nesting boxes," observes Phillip Lolonis, whose family, including the brothers Nick, Petros and Ulysses, farms 300 acres organically in Mendocino County.

If there are any gaps in the protection afforded by natural, beneficial insects, such as green lacewings in Lolonis's vineyards, they are filled by the monthly release of 25 gallons of ladybird beetles, better known as ladybugs, during June, July and August - that's about 5.5 million predators combing the vines for aphids, spider mites and other pests. Lolonis also releases praying mantises, although these indiscriminate and voracious predators will eat whatever they can grab - pests or beneficials.

Healthy soil

The question naturally arises about phylloxera and organic culture. Just about every vineyard in Napa Valley, and many in Sonoma County, have had to be replanted because of outbreaks of the phylloxera root louse, and yet Lolonis's 70-plus-year-old vineyards have not. It may not be coincidence that the soil where the root louse lives is handled organically.

"We have phylloxerated vineyards," Buena Vista's Moller-Racke says, "that are still producing after ten years because we used organic compost in the planting holes and cover crops to add organic matter to the soil."

Not far from Lolonis Winery in Redwood Valley is Frey Vineyards. In the 1970s, Jonathan Frey studied with organic guru and soil specialist Alan Chadwick at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and converted the family's 71 acres to a biodynamic system. (All of Frey's acres are Demeter-certified.) The vines are dry-farmed, the soil is improved with composts from a neighbor's 500-cow dairy herd, plus clover, vetch, barley, rye and mustard as green manure and cover crops.

In a recent survey of California vineyard soils, Frey's were found to be the most resistant to phylloxera, according to the Friends of the Earth's Organic Wine Guide.

In Napa Valley, Frog's Leap's John Williams corroborates Frey's experience. He says organic soil improvement revived a phylloxera-plagued vine-yard he bought as dead from its previous owner in the early 1990s. He's dry-farmed it organically ever since, using composts made from grape pomace. The vineyard came back to life, the vines were saved and he brought in his first crop of grapes in 1998.

Results such as these go to the core of the organic farming concept - whether grapes, corn or any other crop. The basic principle is that healthy soil will resist pest and disease attacks, just as a healthy person is not prone to sickness. And what is healthy soil? One that is stimulated into a greater diversity of life forms by the addition of decaying plant material and manures. Organically treated soil hence may be resistant to phylloxera and other pests and diseases because the soil life whose numbers have multiplied through the addition of actively decaying organic matter have colonized almost all the ecological niches, leaving no room for pathogens to take hold and multiply.


Stewards of the land

Soil additions and other hand work required by sustainable and organic agriculture cost more than conventional agriculture, but the costs are not usually passed on to the consumer, as they may be with organically raised meat and fruits and vegetables at the market.

Bonterra's Bob Blue believes most winegrowers who go organic are tending to their consciences rather than their pocketbooks. "Organic weed control is about $100 to $150 an acre more expensive than conventional herbicides, and there are start-up costs for equipment," he explains. "CCOF certification costs $200 per acre, but these costs don't add a lot to the cost of a bottle of wine. The cost of the fruit is the biggest factor. So cost-wise, there's little incentive for most vineyard owners and winemakers to go organic." They do it, Blue says, more for environmental reasons.

"The great thing about organic winegrowing is that it has set an example that others are able to borrow from. Organic practices that were once eschewed by conventional farmers, like cover crops, are now being woven into mainstream viticulture," Blue says.

Moller-Racke at Buena Vista, Grace at Sinskey and Tim Mondavi all agree that the primary reason for changing to sustainable and organic culture is to become better stewards of the land, grow better grapes and make better wine.


Mainstream pioneers

Fetzer Vineyards, despite its huge production, was one of the first wineries to begin converting to organic methods. The vineyards were planted in Redwood Valley in Mendocino County in 1958 by Barney Fetzer, a lumber executive, to grow grapes for home winemakers. The initial releases of Fetzer's first commercial wines were in 1968. Fetzer died in 1981, leaving the family business to his eleven children. The "kids," as they are collectively known, expanded the business to include the 240-acre Haas Ranch that is now the Fetzer Food and Wine Center in Hopland. And in the mid-1980s, under the leadership of Jim Fetzer, who was then president, they began to convert the family winery to organic culture. More acreage between Ukiah and Hopland was added, and today, Fetzer has 709 CCOF-certified acres in Mendocino County, with 80 more under conversion, along with 25 acres in conversion in Tehama, a Central Valley city northeast of Red Bluff. In addition, the winery buys grapes from more than 200 family farmers, many of them certified organic.

In 1992, Fetzer Vineyards was sold to Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide, an international wine and spirits marketing agency headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. One might think that a big corporation would put a halt to the organic conversion program, but that didn't happen. According to Vineyard Manager Tom Piper, "They purchased Fetzer with their eyes wide open. They were ambivalent about our organic program at first, but they've undergone a transformation, and now they're enthusiastic about the way we do things."

Piper and his colleagues do things in a big way. The organic acres are fertilized with thousands of tons of composted grape pomace that's made in a draw above the Hopland ranch. Fetzer has pioneered the use of cover crops between vine rows, with alternating rows of big producers of organic matter such as bell beans, radishes, oats and Australian winter peas, and permanent cover crops of nitrogen-producing sub-clover. Sunflowers, with their heavy production of stalky material, also are grown at Fetzer. The organic-matter cover crops are mowed at bud break, then disked into the soil when they're dry enough. The permanent clover is cut and allowed to dry into what amounts to a mulch.

"We don't suffer with insect imbalances," Piper says, "and we tolerate what insects are there. Our cover crops of beans and radishes, especially, produce nectar for green lacewings, ladybird beetles and other beneficials," he explains. "We also let blackberries, native shrubs and trees grow along Russian River waterways to promote a diverse habitat."

Taking aim at the sharpshooter

Waterway growth at Fetzer and elsewhere may pose future problems. It's a favorite habitat for an insect that is striking terror into many grape growers in California - the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a kind of leafhopper. While leafhoppers have always been pesky in California vineyards, this species - an import from Florida - carries Pierce's Disease, a bacterial disease that kills vines and vineyards quickly. Unlike native leafhoppers that don't fly far into vineyards, the glassy-winged species flies great distances and can quickly infect entire vineyards. Pierce's Disease has no known cure. It's responsible for the historical failure of vitis vinifera in the Deep South.

As much as ten percent of Texas' 3,100 acres of grapes may already be infected, says George McEachern, extension pomologist at Texas A&M University. "It's the most serious threat to the Texas wine industry in its 25 years of existence." Pierce's Disease has moved into ten counties in southern California, killed susceptible vineyards from the Temecula region up to the Santa Cruz Mountains, and has just begun showing up in the North Coast wine country. In response, the USDA and the California Department of Agriculture have joined in a $22 million effort to find a way to deal with the glassy-winged sharpshooter.

What if Pierce's Disease breaks out in Wine Country? Won't organic growers have to spray to control the sharpshooters? "I don't know," says Mike Lee, whose Kenwood Vineyards operation has a large vineyard of CCOF-certified estate merlot. Piper, the vineyard manager at Fetzer, isn't sanguine either, but he is hoping their northern latitude will work in their favor. "Our cold Mendocino winters should be a problem for the sharpshooters," he says. "Plus, we need [to put in place] a good program of plant inspection for everything coming here."

Spraying toxic pesticides to stop the sharpshooters isn't an option for organic growers in Napa and Sonoma counties, and certainly not in Redwood Valley in Mendocino, where fully 25 percent of the area's 9,800 acres of wine grapes are certified organic (compared to 5 percent in the rest of the state). Growers in Redwood Valley use fewer pesticides than any other California region, according to papers filed with county agricultural commissioners. Phillip Lolonis says that the growers in Redwood Valley are beginning to realize they have a unique organic marketing niche, and plans are afoot to exploit that fact in the next three years.

There's another reason why spraying isn't an option. According to Doug Shafer, whose Napa Valley "Hillside Select" Cabernet Sauvignon is among one of California's most praised and pricey wines, "chemicals just don't work in the long run. The tip-off is the Central Valley, where farmers have been nuking their crops with pesticides for years - and they still have the same pest problems!" Shafer says that with less chemical use, the diversity of birds and other animals on vineyard lands has increased - not only the predatory birds such as hawks, owls and kestrels, but also songbirds such as bluebirds.

The coming of the glassy-winged sharp-shooter and Pierce's Disease may change current thinking, at least until the pest is conquered. Rich Salvestrin, president of the Napa County Farm Bureau, says Napa County wants "zero tolerance" of the bug. And that may mean enforced spraying.

Drawing on tradition

Today's natural and organic winegrowers have been resolving viticultural problems with yesterday's more benign solutions, a path that Tim Mondavi alluded to earlier.

"Before Prohibition, the German and Italian settlers here used natural farming techniques because that's the only method they had - and they were good at it," Mondavi explains. "During Prohibition, which lasted for the better part of a generation, the number of wineries here decreased from 125 to just a handful - and all that knowledge of natural farming was lost.

"After repeal, the new generation of winemakers had little experience," Mondavi says. "They used old cement or redwood tanks for fermentations. It was a microbiological soup in those tanks. The wines were incredibly flawed. UC-Davis became involved and the use of sterile filtration and sulfur dioxide became common."

In the 1930s and '40s, American agriculture (and viticulture) began to use a new type of farming technology: chemical fertilization and the use of chemical pesticides. Between the chemical technology in the vineyards and the heroic efforts to clean up the microbial soup, California winemaking took on its more modern, high-tech cast.

Thanks to the flower children of the 1960s, who helped to spawn the rise of environmental consciousness, we have again changed our thinking about the relationship of human beings to the Earth. That eco-generation has moved into the seats of power in all walks of life, including that of winegrowing.

"We've re-harnessed our efforts to nature," Mondavi says, "and tried to return to the more natural methods of our forebears."

As wineries reconnect to the old ways, they do so with scientific understandings of the natural world that farmers of long ago just didn't have. And that bodes very well for those of us who are as passionate about the condition of the Earth as we are great wine.

Buying & Tasting Organic and sustainably Grown Wines

At least seven wineries in California and Washington State produce what most would consider "organic wine," that is, made with certified fruit and no added sulfites: Frey, H. Coturri & Sons, Orleans Hill, Nevada County, Wine Guild, Organic Wine Works and Badger Mountain.

Easier to find are "organically grown" wines, such as the Bonterra Vineyards brand, which produces close to 100,000 cases per year through a full range of vitis vinifera varieties. Enthusiasts can find all the CCOF certified organic vineyards in California on the CCOF's Web site (www.ccof.org) by entering "grapes" under "find a farmer."

Among the many organically grown wines available in California are those from Spotteswood, Niebaum-Coppola, Frog's Leap, Volker Eisele, Springsong, Headlands, Our Daily Red and Topolos Russian River Vineyards. New York State has Silver Thread Vineyards, Four Chimneys and Swedish Hill. In Oregon, there are Amity, Archery Summit, Brick House, Cameron, Cattrall Brothers, Cooper Mountain and St. Innocent. And in Washington State, China Bend.

Besides scrutinizing wine labels in grocery stores and wine shops, an excellent reference work is now available - the Organic Wine Guide ($15) by Monty Walden - to assist consumers in finding these wines. The book is an amazingly thorough, 428-page compendium of 700 organic wineries and 2,000 organic or organically grown wines from around the world.

The following tasting was designed to identify high-quality wines made from vineyards handled either organically, sustainably or with minimum chemical inputs. The tasting panel included a wine writer, a winemaker and several knowledgeable wine collectors.

Whites

Badger Mountain, 1999 Columbia Valley Johannisberg Riesling - $8 (Organic): While not true to the varietal, it is a refreshingly pleasant luncheon wine with sweet nuances. Score: 87

Buena Vista, 1997 Chardonnay, Carneros - $14 (Sustainable): Another bargain from Buena Vista. Very fruity nose with flavors of nectarine, some leesy overtones and a touch of butter. Score: 89

Robert Mondavi, 1998 Sauvignon Blanc, Stags Leap District - $18 (Sustainable): A citrusy, flowery nose and true varietal flavors handled with finesse and elegance. The perfect match for oysters or other seafood. Score: 90

Robert Sinskey Vineyards, 1998 Chardonnay, Carneros - $26 (Organically grown): Spare, sweet aromas and a lush middle palate of sweet, round chardonnay fruit with good acid structure. Score: 91

Reds

Benziger, 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma County - $17 (Biodynamically grown): A super-value with a concentrated middle of black fruit, toasted oak and spice. Score: 91

Beringer, 1995 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley - $75 (Sustainable): An opulent Cab chock-full of ripe fruit with great structure and good balance for long aging. Score: 96

Bonterra, 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendocino, North Coast - $13 (Organically grown): A very good, straightforward Cab with some aging potential. Score: 88

Bonterra, 1997 Merlot, Mendocino County - $14 (Organically grown): A viscous wine with ripe aromas of plum, black cherry and a wisp of espresso. Meaty, earthy flavors of licorice, briar and black cherry. Oak notes emerge in the finish Score: 88

Buena Vista, 1997 Pinot Noir, Carneros - $15 (Sustainable): Shy nose, but a deliciously rich and concentrated core of licorice and black cherry with a medium finish that reveals spicy nuances. Score: 92

Frey, 1998 Zinfandel, Redwood Valley, Mendocino - $12 (Biodynamically grown, no added sulfites): A sturdy Zinfandel with robust flavors with a hint of brettanomyces. Score: 88

Kenwood, 1997 Zinfandel, Upper Weise Vineyard, Sonoma Valley - $12 (Organically grown): A strong, viscous Zinfandel of full-bodied character with deep plum and blackberry flavors. Score: 89

Lolonis, 1997 Zinfandel, Redwood Valley, Mendocino - $18 (Organically grown): A luscious, Bing cherry-blueberry palate full of true Zin character. Score: 90

Lolonis, 1997 Private Reserve Merlot, Mendocino County - $27 (Organically grown): An enormous, mouth-filling and satisfying Merlot. Score: 91

Robert Mondavi, 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville - $50 (Sustainable): A powerful entry of wild blackberry, chocolate and spice leads to a lengthy finish that unfolds with alternating layers of cassis, vanilla and cedar. Score: 94 - JC

Sonoma-based Contributing Editor Jeff Cox is the author of From Vines to Wines and the host of "Grow It!" on the Home & Garden TV Network.






Courtesy of The Wine News