As outlined by Asimov, the problem with buying a wine labeled “natural” is that the buyer doesn’t know how the winemaker defined the term. For some it means no added flavors, sugars, foreign yeasts, and sulfites; for others it is sulfites but organic grapes; for others it is both.

First off, wine as sold in its familiar bottle is one of the least consumer information friendly products. Often only a brand name and grape type are provided. Sometimes only a Chateau and region are on a label. Vintages are optional, grape type and blending information is too. Forget added ingredients and vinification methods. Manipulations in the fermentation process or the use of color and flavor additives are never on the label.

Basically the consumer is drinking blind…unless the wine maker volunteers to tell us what he is doing. Then it can be very enlightening. Exact altitude of the vines, grape clone, method of harvesting, details of fermentation, finishing and bottling and production quantity, name of the family dog are a few of the types of information available.

So why the disparagement and controversy about natural wine? I agree with Asimov that there are no standards, but also, I think there is a lack of trust. Unfortunately, I know this exists for good reason. I have often gone to a vineyard and heard a glowing report about all their practices, only to go down the road to a neighboring vineyard, and hear that it was not true. There is a fair amount of professional disparagement in the winemaking world, as there is in every professional association. Jealousy, envy, and distrust have not been eliminated amongst growers and vintners. That is a fact. We all know it.

It is also in the interests of the conventional winemakers to sow confusion as to what is natural wine. It distracts the potential buyer from the evils of manipulated wine, made with grapes that are grown in a stew of toxic chemicals including cancer-causing pesticides and planet-destroying herbicides, and then subjected to a dozen added chemicals and flavors. This certainly is not natural wine. Wine that is blended and homogenized so as to drink like Coca Cola denies the very essence of what wine is supposed to be. It is not paranoid to assume these mega-vintners and their global brands do not want anyone reflecting on what they are really drinking.

Like the Chinese authorities who cannot stand a single poet to speak against the party, any and all discussion of natural wine makes the wine higher-ups very nervous. So the confusion comes both from the “natural” winery and the corporate boardroom.

What to do? Technology may hold the answer. QR-codes on bottles could just do the trick. Let every vintner or distributor use this tool to link to an information page detailing exactly how the wine is made. Let us have a step-by-step methods report on what is in the bottle. If it is nothing but grapes, naturally fermented with indigenous yeasts, the description will be very short. If it is more, let us learn that too. We can all be informed about the wine. If someone lies or distorts the truth, it will not be long until an employee will bust them for dishonesty. In our Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook obsessed world, lies and falsehoods are hard to maintain. What winemaker would want to be exposed and publicly rebuked for falsely stating his vinification process?

The new interconnected world of marketing and instant information may level the playing field for small artisan winemakers who have a true story to tell. It will put at a disadvantage the mega-budget brands that rely on clever graphics and ad copy to sell unwholesome wine. Natural wine communities can use the Internet to organize their own standards. They can use the Internet to promote transparency.

So let us all work together to get past the confusion. Wine growers, vintners, and distributors should use today’s amazing technology to get the truth into the hands of wine lovers everywhere.

What does this have to do with wine and organic, Biodynamic and natural wine? Actually, a lot. We now know that given a choice, people everywhere want to do the right thing, but what is that “right thing?” Well, for starters it is, as Hypocrites said, “First do no harm.” When it comes to wine that means many things. Not harming the earth with pesticides, herbicides and fungicides for example. Not poisoning animals living in the soil, on the ground, and on the vines, or those who eat them like birds. Being kind to humans too. Drinking organic wine prevents the vineyard workers and their families from exposure to cancer-causing toxic chemicals. A little self-love is a good thing too. As articles on our site have shown, toxic pesticide residuals are found in conventional wine. Why poison yourself and your friends? Wine is a way to celebrate life, not illness and death.

Economic justice is now on everyone’s mind. Here too organic, biodynamic and natural wines are part of the 99%. The growers and vintners spearheading this movement are small, local and true trustees of the land they cultivate. There not cogs in some faceless global beverage brand holding corporate retreats to outline sales incentives for the coming year. They don’t rely on deceptive, cutesy names and focused-group based logos to build consumer awareness. They, and those who distribute and retail, are the real deal — committed, dedicated people.

The artisans entering and sustaining the worldwide movement toward authentic food and drink continually encourage us. The ever-increasing plethora of growers, farmers’ market workers, chefs, bakers and restaurateurs trying to satisfy the tastes of an empowered, aware customer truly amazes us. Even the growing number of organic wine bars astounds.

So, as Organic Wine Journal rests for the holiday, we look forward to a new year filled with wonder. In 2012, we expect that pain will be part of delivering the baby of freedom and human decency that so many of the world’s people hopefully await.

We drink an organic toast to all those who are midwifing this process in whatever way they can.

We’d like to thank everyone who wrote, edited, and assisted The Organic Wine Journal in the past year. Your contributions are essential.

On Saturday night David Page and Barbara Shinn held their annual Futures Dinner where you get to have a Napa/Sonoma experience on the East End of Long Island.  However unlike our more temperate cousin in California, the weather on Long Island in February can be atrocious. Walking from our jeep to the farmhouse I had a flashback to Terra del Fuego at the tip of Patagonia – driving rain, fog, and gusty winds. Once inside however, the warm and welcoming room with candles lighting long tables gave us a reward for venturing out. 

The Shinns are in the process of obtaining organic and biodynamic certification. These futures dinners have brought together their fans, given the locals something to do in the middle of the winter and helped with marketing and cash flow. In David’s address to us he discussed community supported agriculture and our sharing the risk of this whole enterprise with our participation in the dinner and our purchase of the deeply discounted case futures. 

The food was simple and great: bread, cheese, humus, charcuterie, salad and duck stew. Barbara baked cookies for desert. In our room we had David talk us thru the tasting and answer questions. As always he was a mix of poet and scholar, romantic about organic farming, his wind turbine, and the special care they take in the fields, yet very precise about the technical characteristics of what we were drinking. Specifically, David talked about the effect their switching to wild yeast has on the flavor profiles.

Here are some random notes on a few of the wines we sampled. All are from the ’10 harvest. Some of the whites were already bottled and the reds will be bottled this year. Our ad-hoc tasting panel consisted of myself, my wife Deborah, deep friends Bill Geraghty and Kathleen Lynch and Dr. Robert Sloan. Some new friends sitting next to us also chimed in.

Coalescence: This is Shinn’s entry level white and everyone thought it particularly good this year. David has Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Merlot grapes blended into a refreshing wine with nicely balanced, lovely floral notes and citrus highs. Drink cold on a summer’s day with seafood or cold cuts and a salad. Amazing that anyone could make an organic wine this good on pricy real estate for this low a price. This is one of my house wines, and the one I take a case of when I go sailing for a week. 

Chardonnay: Our very informal tasting panel said this was “vibrant, delicious, and well made.” We had it unfiltered and it had the color of lemonade. The full body fruit came thru as no oak ever touched the juice. The acid was forward but not too much. We tasted peaches, lemon and raisins.  If I had this with a salad and a piece of fresh local grilled fish I would be in locavore heaven. 

Rose: This is a classic Cab Franc Rose, the panel tasted strawberries, watermelon, pepper and peach. There was a great deal of plain fun in the bottle, nothing too serious. There was a slight effervescence to the wine and a short finish. Think of a cold roast chicken dipped in a tarragon vinaigrette and you would have a great picnic meal. 

09 Merlot: This one was mixed – there were fans and detractors. The fans thought it rich, elegant and full of licorice. The naysayers tasted too much sour cherry. 

Wild Boar Doe: This year was a winner. The intelligence of the blend, the enhanced cherry and blackberry notes and the creamy smoothness of the fruit blend really made us happy. Have this one with… just what we were served. Some cheese, a salad and a flavorful duck stew. 

09 Nine Barrels: This is Shinn’s prestige wine and it deserves the accolades. Great depth, luscious fruit, balanced tannins and complexity in color. Put this away for a half decade and then open it up with a roaring fire and a carnivorous meal plan. 

09 Cab Franc: The panel really liked this wine and I agree whole heartily. It was balanced, tasted of true terroir and real soil and had an elegant finish and great mouth feel. A great wine to have with your favorite pasta dish.

09 Cab Sauvignon: Our panel also appreciated the craft that made this red. Good tannins and lots of raspberries. 

We want to thank David and Barbara for a wonderful evening.

Because of the huge glut of commodity wine pouring out of Australia the big sprits boys are not having fun. Since they are not really offering anything special or unique, except catchy names and label graphics, they are vulnerable to knock off private-label wines – Chateau K-Mart anyone?

Well score one for the magic makers of organic, Biodynamic and natural wines. Even the visually impaired can see that there is a global explosion in these wines. Growers are adding more organic vineyard acreage by the week, Biodynamic conversions are coming on line fast and furious, Demeter has never been busier, and lots of innovative wine makers are going the extra mile to try and make wine naturally…sans anything.

We understand the whole category is growing around 35% a year, vs. 3% for all wine. Granted it is a small base but when you look around any major city and see all the new “real” wine bars and small-plate wine-focused restaurants opening you have to know how important this is going to be. The world of earth friendly wine is on the lips of more people this year than ever.

We’re pleased as organic punch, but not totally surprised. Wine is just one of those things that resists standardization. A new wine drinker may start with a mass-label low-price wine, but it is hard to keep curiosity at bay, and the desire to try something unique, special and real wins out. The artisinal movement is very much alive in the world of wine.

This is what we have been celebrating here at Organic Wine Journal for 6 years now. We look forward to yet another great year in our corner of the wine world. 2011 will bring lots of changes that we are excited about here at the Journal, we hope you will see and experience them soon, we always trying to kick it up a notch to help spread the word.

We had a lot of help this year with a very talented editor, writers, video commentators, journalists and interns who made this all happen one more time. I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my glass. Here is to a healing healthy wine world in 2011.

Lisa Abend’s Time Magazine article Kitchen Gods was about… what else? Celebrity chefs. What does this have to do with our world of organic, biodynamic and natural wines? In a word, everything. The high-end celebrity chef (Gordon Ramsey, David Chang, Jamie Oliver) must do unique things. They cannot use standardized processed foods in their restaurants. They must seek out the new, the authentic and the uncommon. No celebrity chef would feature an item available everywhere. The impact on the artisanal food movement has been astounding. It’s totally de rigueur for celebrity chefs to visit farmers markets and bring the ingredients back to the studio. It’s almost a cliché.

Celebrity chefs begot celebrity restauranteurs (Danny Meyer and his Shake Shack). They in turn begot celebrity sommeliers (Kevin Zarely) who will in turn inevitably beget celebrity natural winemakers. It’s just around the corner. I predict organic vintners will be on the Today Show and the cover of Food and Wine. I envision biodynamic growers like Tony Coturri on ABC primetime in an Apprentice-style show called So You Want To Be a Winemaker.

It’s part of the way the world is now working. Artisanal and small batch producers are the new heroes of the food world. It is all towards a good end. If it takes celebrities to save the world, I won’t complain.

This book is the latest diatribe from the conservative right, attacking anyone who doesn’t want to shop in the sterilized world of malls, vacation at Disneyland or, as specifically obsessed about in this book, eat tasteless, industrial junk food manufactured by chemical companies. Like the small band of readers in Fahrenheit 451, Potter thinks these “status seekers and phonies” need to be herded back on to the corporate industrial reservation.

Here’s where Potter is correct: we do romanticize and fantasize the past. We spend too much time in front of the idiot box instead of reading Spengler and Gibbon, we do not understand the hardships and miseries of our ancestors. As someone who loves history, I know that today is as good as it gets in terms of prosperity, health and social fluidity. Although Mr. Potter seems nostalgic for a time of “faith and authority,” few of us would trade the modern world for “faith” in the 14 century Borgia church or the “authority” of Hernando Cortez. According to Mr. Potter we have left behind the proscribed path and have ventured onto our own personal highway of authenticity.

Along the reading way, there are swipes at repressive countries and the authenticity seekers who support them as long as they are pre-modern. I guess he is taking on Cuba and Nicaragua. I would agree, but how many of us are trying to get to the latter for some homemade kimche?

The Authenticity Hoax takes off its gloves when it comes to Al Gore, Prince Charles, and James Howard Kunstler. Here, lock step with the Murdock goon squad on Fox News, Mr. Potter accuses them of “a dopey nostalgia for a non-existent past, a one-sided suspicion of the modern world…” I don’t think so.

In an Orwellian turn, Mr. Potter takes these people who want us to live better, fuller lives in nicer surroundings and makes that anti-progressive. He implies the great leap forward in material progress was probably the 50’s. Levittown and CBS, Robert Moses and the bomb. Yet I can’t think of a more culturally sterile time. Racial, sexual and intellectual repression was at an all time high. As Maslow posited and the author points out, humans want safety and security while living in a technologically progressive world. But, once these needs are met, people also seek a parallel transformation of their spirit.

Mr. Potter thinks the search for organic, local, and artisnal food is equivalent to participation in a high school clique, comprised of an elite group who continually sends out messages designed to exclude others who can’t afford to catch on. He characterizes the historical search for flavor, taste and quality as “conspicuous authenticity.” What would he have thought of Europe’s centuries-long quest for spices? Would that desire for better flavor and taste be an elitist hoax? You get the idea. Mr. Potter hates raw-milk cheeses, grass-fed beef and heirloom squash. These are all signs of the cult of Jean-Jacques Rousseau fanatics who, by denying modernity, are deviant.

Mr. Potter, this is progress. This is building on the blessings of science and taking it one step more into the world of the senses, of quality, of essence. The real phony in this drama is the fake food flavors of the commodity food world. What you seem to think is progress is actually the opposite. Your standardized, genetically distorted, pesticide ridden, hormone infused, flavorless, factory-processed food manufactured by agri-business monopolists may be “NEW!” but it’s not progress. These ‘evildoers’ are but a distraction on the path to authenticity.

Stalinists too believed in progress and their architecture reflected that. Lionizing a farmer or butcher or cheese monger is not being party to “a debased political culture dominated by negative advertising” but part of an ennobling process our Jeffersonian ancestors would have understood.

Yes, there may be food snobs who don’t want to see Wal-Mart go organic, but they remain a tiny minority. The rest of us would like to build on science to create a food supply that rewards those who bring us flavorful, ethically made, healthy food and drink.

Sounds to me like the opposite of a hoax.

THE AUTHENTICITY HOAX: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves
By Andrew Potter
(Harper, 296 pages, $25.99)

As the area’s popularity has grown, the quality of its wines has improved. The early wines were a homemade affair. As more money flowed in, and the rich and famous became winery owners, the talent pool of growers and winemakers gained depth. Good quality Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are now being made. Experiments with Gewurztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc are also taking place. Sadly, there is little or no concern for the environment or sustainable wine making. This is more unfortunate since this historic farmland has been poisoned by decades of pesticides and fertilizer use.

Enter Barbara Shinn and David Page, who in 1998 purchased 20 acres off the beaten path in Mattituck, founded Shinn Estate and immediately took it in a different direction. Combining their love of food (they owned the restaurants Home and Drovers in Manhattan) and their love and respect for the land, they carefully crafted a planting pattern that matched the grapes to the terrain, with a goal of making small quality batches and thoughtful blends. They planted Cabernet Franc and Caberbet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Semillon and Pinot Blanc.

They expanded in an organic manner by slowly adding physical capacity, stainless steel tanks, outbuildings, and finally a 4-room bed and breakfast.

Now, in high gear, they are ready to fully commit to organic and biodynamic winemaking. While they have always been sustainable, they are in the first year of a three-year certification process in both practices. When achieved, they will be the only winery east of the Mississippi to be so. According to Barbara, “We are really driven to farm naturally considering that wine is where food meets agriculture. We’re part of a movement to farm fruit organically out here.”

They are eager promoters of their cause and have started another first for the region: futures dinners, where their customers can have a light dinner, barrel taste upcoming wines and purchase them at a discount. Works all around. Inside barns filled with stainless steel holding tanks and large wooden vats, long tables are set up. Candlelight casts a romantic glow as their border collie wanders between diner’s legs. An order form and tasting notes sheet is at each place setting, facilitating purchasing and remembering.

At a recent event, there were 9 wines. We went with some real experts: Meryl Rosofsky who has written for OWJ and teaches food courses at NYU, and Jean-Pierre and Deidre Riou. He’s the owner of Gifted Grapes, a wine importer of numerous small vintage French sustainable wines and one certified organic one. The final judgment of our group was this — the Shinns and their wine maker Anthony Nappa are making excellent wines. There were favorites however, with the Estate Merlot being almost everyone’s. This was followed by the Cabernet Franc and the 9 barrel reserve Merlot. The Wild Boar Doe blend was also a hit. It was harder to pick a favorite among the whites, although the Coalescence and non-oaked Chardonnay were stand-outs.

Check out David Page’s weekly farming blog that we have linked to. Barbara Shinn will also be writing for OWJ on a regular basis. We hope our readers will stay at their bed and breakfast, drink their wines and consider having weddings and other celebrations there. They are setting the standard and creating an example in responsible farming and winemaking.

Kuma Inn is BYOB and enables one to pair away with abandon… what a joy. They serve Asian tapas, small plates of great food. The inspiration behind it is chef King Phojanakong, who worked with both David Bouley and Daniel Boulud. His mother is Filipino and his father Thai so fusion is in his DNA. We started out with a chuka salad; mixed seaweed, sesame and chilies and a plate of grilled baby octopus with pickled bamboo shoots. We opened the Barbera first. It was deeply luscious, fruity without any sweetness, ruby red and smoky. There was a perfect balance of acid and tannins that gave a silky mouth feel. The wine drank ripe and mature yet I think it could age for several more years. The consensus at the table was that the octopus was one of the best octopus dishes ever tasted, in any ethnicity; Spanish, Italian or Japanese. Soft and succulent, grilled to perfection with dense flavors of a balsamic reduction. The pickled shoots counterpointed the smooth flesh with a crunchy texture. There was joy in our mouths and smiles at our table as we experienced the tapas. Meanwhile the Coturri kept opening up with each minute and each bite.

Next, we chose three dishes: a Pancit bihon – stir-fried noodles with port sausage, bean sprouts and carrots, a pan roasted ocean scallops with bacon kalamansi and sake and finally sautéed tofu with Thai basil and wood ear mushrooms in spicy soy mirin. Out of control best describes this course and the Coturri Cab. Clean strong fruit greets you, then a rich smooth tar and leather feel rests on the tongue. A round smoky richness lingers too. Frankly by this time the dinner evolved (or degenerated depending on your point of view) into a series of sips and chews accompanied by grunts and hums of joy.

The food here is exquisite. I had lunch four days later at the justly acclaimed Momofuku and honestly the food at Kumma Inn is equal. The tastes and flavors are bold, innovative and utterly competent in their execution. The ingredients come together perfectly and the sauces are exquisite. This is a cash only second story joint. Ringing in the New Year with Tony Coturri and King Phojanakong augers well for drinking and eating in the coming decade.

We’ve seen a world standardization of taste profiles, like Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, become uniform from Chile to Australia. Globalization has meant uniformity; less surprise, more predictability. The Lifetime Achievement and Man of the Year awards given out by the leading wine magazines tell the story. They reward the successful corporate consolidator, the man who now has 40 brands and a 50% market share in his portfolio. These magazines feature the pesticide polluter, the industrial farmer and those indifferent to the earth and farm workers. It is all about efficiency and success measured in cases and cash. You can see their photos in black tie at all the big hotel galas – the big wine press rewarding its enablers.

In a revolt born of disgust and sorrow, the Organic, Biodynamic and Natural wine movement has risen to challenge these practices. Starting with the farmers themselves, they have chosen to grow grapes without poisoning the earth. A few more have chosen to ferment and blend and bottle without adding false ingredients and flavors. And a few more have decided to make a business out of this and distribute these wines to the world.

The world of real wine has not yet tipped, but the next decade may see that happen. As the world of food and wine continues to receive scrutiny that exposes its toxic downside, you can be sure more and more wine drinkers will want to know what is in their glass; how it was grown, how it was made. The rate of conversation to healthy farming is astonishing. It is the thing to do in New Zealand and Sonoma, in the Loire and Lebanon. Wine has always been an artisinal product. It should not be hard for it to return to its roots.

For the next decade I raise a glass to the continued success of everyone in the real wine world; the farmers, wine makers, distributors wine shops, wine bars and restaurants. You are all part of an organic chain, a process that is developing and growing alongside the artisanal food movement. Yet it’s all in the drinking and there too, the real wine world has succeeded, most of its wine is simply delicious. Thanks again.

There are also many people to thank for their help at Organic Wine Journal. All our writers, contributors and photographers. Those that have helped promote and publicize OWJ and those that have supported us with advertising. It is still a complete labor of love. As the decade is almost decanted, it’s time to peer into the sediment and see what is left to be poured into the next decade. We want to thank our readers who have spent the last few years believing that wine should heal, not harm, the planet.