Making Organic Wine Work

Would you like your red wine green?

Vineyards across California have been swept up in the green wave; producing grapes and wine that can be certified and sold under the USDA organic label.

It might be considered the radical edge of agriculture, but to owner and operator Jerold O'Brien, the movement is a return to European vineyard traditions.

O'Brien began growing outside of the organic context; his vineyards were already 10 years old when the Organic Food Production Act was signed into law in 1990.

“I had never heard of organic farming,” O'Brien said.

The act allowed the USDA to create a system of national organic standards for labeling organic foods. The National Organic Program, as it is known, establishes guidelines for growing organic crops and raising organic livestock. Organic farmers cannot use synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers, and must show that their farming practices increase the nutrition content of the soil and prevent erosion.

The Silver Mountain vineyard is spread across a stepped, oak-dotted hillside off of Old San Jose Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Lanes of grape vines run up and down the slopes, along with dull rusted iron, gnarled gray bark and the proud green buds of spring.

The rows between vines were blanketed with freshly mowed clover and rye grass, part of a practice known as cover-cropping, required under the National Organic Program.

Cover crops prevent the loss of topsoil during Santa Cruz's rainy winters, retain water and minerals, suppress unwanted weed species, and allow air to circulate through the soil. The mowed grass is left to decompose and further enrich the fields.

Organic vineyards use compost, instead of chemical fertilizer, to replace nutrients taken out of the soil. Compost in organic farming is strictly regulated by the National Organic Program, and farmers must keep careful record of its creation.

Silver Mountain composts with horse manure, and sometimes chicken manure from .

Silver Mountain Winery cultivates 10 acres of vineyards, grows 30 percent of its own organic grapes and buys the remaining 70 percent.

O'Brien draws a careful line between the wine he produces and 100 percent organic wines. Silver Mountain uses sulfur as a preservative, a substance not allowed under the organic label claim. His wine can only be labelled “wine made with organic grapes.”

Organic wine exists, but it must be made with organic yeast and no added sulfur. Organic wine matures after two years, then begins to degrade in taste. In contrast, Silver Mountain produces wines that are mature after 10-20 years, and age is essential to their taste, according to O'Brien.

“I do not believe in wine without sulfur,” he said.

The differences between organic wine and wine made with organic grapes have caused doubts over the quality of organic wine, in general. The organic label usually raises the sale price of produce and meat products, but in the wine market, it has negative effects.

“The grower cannot get a premium (price) on organic grapes,” O'Brien said.

Consumers can confuse wines with added sulfur and wines without added sulfur, when both are made with organic grapes.

Many wine makers now use organic grapes, but do not make a label claim, because it lowers sale value, according to O'Brien. The misconception has affected his business as well.

“I cannot charge anymore, because of the organic label,” O'Brien said.

Despite poor prices, organic vintners continue to produce wine made with organic grapes.

The reason?

It's not profit,” O'Brien said.

He and other organically certified wine-makers are more concerned with quality sustainable organic practices than appealing to the larger consumer market.