Upstream
In the confusing proliferation of marketing designations, these terms are often left to individual interpretation and therefore lack consistency. sustainable producers point out that biodynamics still allows some pesticides that they themselves do not. The biodynamic religion notes that ‘organic’ is not a holistic approach and the organic people will tell you that any nut job who owns a vineyard can call it ‘sustainable’. The list of organizations that certify for these ‘alternative’ methods is one that inspires more controversy than legitimization. Where is a wine person to turn when a producer says (as many do) they are biodynamic but want nothing to do with demeter - an organization which holds the trademark on the very name? Or, how about when one winemaker tells you that their neighbor’s ‘organic’ is different from his ‘organic’?
To be honest, we did not know how to sort it all out. whether to note these wines in our price guide or not – knowing that the veracity of each wineries claim varied greatly. Our quandary was solved by simply not noting anything. Yet we see continually growing interest from our buyers in these practices and felt like we needed to get a handle on it.
We’ve solved our quandary! Whatever each producer’s ideas and practices are about agroecology, we have noted in general that producers who take the time and trouble to search out better practices, generally get better results. Criticism of specific practices can always be found, but we would rather drink wine made by people who are committed to getting better at managing their land and resources and long term ecological viability. At this end of the supply spectrum, we rely on those upstream to perform due diligence in these endeavors and even when their conclusions are different from one another; we want to honor their efforts to improve. In turn, we see it as our responsibility to pass on continually improving practices to those downstream the supply chain from us. And that’s how we ended up putting these three little symbols next to the suppliers they pertain to…
