Written by Administrator
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 21:33
BEYOND ORGANIC
Wine making is an art form that dates back thousands of years; it began long before the introduction of pesticides and air conditioning.
Today many wineries are looking back as a way to go forward. They are studying how wine was originally made and stored, taking the best that has been learned through the ages and combining it with the best of modern technology.
Some wineries are choosing to produce organic wines, which do little harm to the environment and don’t allow for chemical pesticides to be used on the wine crops, which is the same way grapes were originally grown. Other wineries are taking things a step further by going beyond organic to biodynamic farming.
BIODYNAMIC FARMING
Wine makers that practice biodynamic farming don’t want to take from the land, that’s why they create their own self sustaining environment. The winery becomes its own eco system, producing everything that is needed to grow the crops and maintain the winery right on their own land. From composting to utilizing their own farm animals for fertilizer, everything is done to enhance plant growth and fertility naturally.
Into the Earth – by Daniel D’Agostini
THE RETURN OF THE CAVE
A great alternative to a man-made structure for wine storage is a cave. California wine caves have been in existence since the 1800’s, and as always in California, what is old is new again as wine caves gain new popularity.
With wine makers focusing on the sustainability of their land it seems only natural that the next step is sustainability in their architecture and design as well. With consistent cave temperatures around 55-60 degrees and naturally high humidity levels, of 70-90 percent, caves are nature’s perfect climate controlled environment for storing wine. Even better is the low environmental impact caves have, they do not disrupt the natural landscape and require little energy or maintenance since no heating, air conditioning or humidification systems are needed.
Want to know the very best part? According to Burtleson Construction (the go to wine cave design firm - www.alfburtlesonconstruction.com) “the high humidity level in caves also greatly reduces evaporation loss from wine barrels. Wine barrels stored in above ground buildings lose about three gallons more per year to evaporation than wine barrels stored in caves resulting in significant savings," which means there is more wine to go around!
Kathryn Hall III – by Burtleson Construction
CADE Winery
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
If you want to learn more about organic and biodynamic wines and wineries, check out Organic Wine Journal.
For more info on biodynamic farming check out the biodynamic certification agency; the Demeter Association.
Looking for more info on the world of wine caves? Check out the book: Into the Earth ~ A Wine Cave Renaissance, Daniel D’Agostini with Molly Chappellet.
