Kampung BlogSustainable Wine Drinking
It is easy to muddle up sustainable wine with organic wine. Sustainable wine may or may not be organic and organic wines may or may not be sustainable.
The immanent concept of sustainable wine is that the wine is made in such a manner that it will allow the vineyards and environment to continue to produce an undiminished product for all future generations. It includes a range of practices that are not only ecologically sound, but also economically viable and socially accountable. It is also much wider than taking an ecologically sound approach to grape growing as it involves close attention to the environment, the people, and the economic bottom line.
The main threats to sustainability are the matters of soil depletion, erosion, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, ecological impacts, resistance to pests and chemical dependence. Sustainability looks at the environmental system as an entity. In the vineyard, it may engulf manmade products and it will likely use integrated pest management techniques. In the winery, minimal-additive winemaking ideologies will always be present.
A vintner takes into account every single detail of the winemaking process in producing sustainable wine, from soil fertility, water pollution, the decision of whether to use pesticides and soil erosion and most importantly, the taste of the wine.
Another technique of winemaking that falls into the category of sustainable wine is wines without preservatives. These are wines made without any external additive of sulfur (although some is always present due to fermentation and/or vineyard), anti-oxidants or anti-microbial agents.
On the other hand, organic wines can be made from certified organically grown grapes without any synthetic addition, or, to take it a step further, organic wines are made from organically grown grapes, and are also made without any added sulfites even though naturally occurring sulfites will still be present.
Organic vineyards are managed without the use of systemic fungicides, insecticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. Weeds are managed through mechanical methods such as plowing, hoeing, mulching or mowing and fertilization is done via compost mulches, green manures or animal manures. Organic wine is defined differently in every country but its general direction is similar: Organic wines are made from organic grapes that contains less than 100–120 mg/L of total sulphur dioxide. Sulphur dioxide materialize naturally during the fermentation process and it is sometimes added to intensify microbiological or oxidative stability. There are other more natural or organic ways to increase clarity, filtration and stability such as adding milk and egg whites.
There is also biodynamic viticulture, which was first espoused by Rudolf Steiner in the 1920′s and it gave rise to the organic wine movement. It utilizes a holistic perspective to farming and views the vineyard as an interrelated component by placing prominence on the balance between the soil, vines and animals in a close self-nourishing system. It places high momentousness on composts and manures without the use of chemical fertilizers.
However, it does use a number of fermented herbal and mineral composition for compost additives and sprays.
Similar to organic farming, biodynamic takes place without chemicals. However, biodynamic farming incorporates vision about a vineyard as an ecosystem, and it accounts for astrological influences and lunar cycles. The grapes are farmed biodynamically and that the winemaker did not make the wine with any quotidian manipulations such as yeast additions or acidity adjustments.
As wine consumers, it is important that we are informed of where and how the wine was made before we make our purchases irrespective of what wine we eventually choose to buy from Singapore’s wine delivery company.
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