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.

But no, it seems they are quite serious about utilizing this new wine technology and are proud to spill the beans about it as well. After reading about what this process does to the grapes, I am not so confident that their client wineries will be quite so forthright about using flash extraction.

Here is a quote from the article, lest anyone think I am exaggerating:

Flash-Détente, which translates roughly as “instant relaxation”, involves a combination of heating the grapes to about 185ºF, then sending them into a vacuum chamber where they are cooled. The cells of the grape skins are burst from the inside, allowing for better extraction of anthocyanins and skin tannins. Flash-Détente creates steam that goes into a condenser, and the condensate is loaded with pyrazines and other aromatic compounds, like the aromas associated with rot or mold. (The heating process also sterilizes the grapes.) Bayle acknowledged that some fruit aromas are also found in the condensate. “You smell the green first, and a tiny part of the flavor,” Bayle said of the condensate.

Because vapor has been removed, the sugar level is increased in the remaining must. The winemaker can either work with the higher Brix level; add back the condensate; discard the condensate and add water; or a combination.

Apparently the color is much darker with the ‘flashed’ wines. But I ask, is color a problem that needs to be fixed in California Zinfandel? Also, big surprise here, it was noted during sampling the resultant wines, that the ‘flashed’ wines had lost some of their varietal flavor characteristics.

Monterey Wine Company states that this process is best used on “substandard, low quality and problematic grapes”. Sounds delicious. This is another perfect example of why there has been a growing interest in natural wines over processed wines.

I don’t remember the first time I had a crusty baquette from a bakery. But I do remember back-packing through Europe at 19 and devouring buttery croissants and cafe au laits for breakfast, as well as simple but delicious ham sandwiches on fresh baquette. I was ruined and rarely, if ever, ate store bought pastries or bread again.

Wine has taken me on a similar journey. I started out with the readily available, conventional wines. I went through the pre-requisite early days of loving big, bruising reds and then later retreating to more subtle and refreshing whites or roses.

The past few years I have been delving ever deeper into wines made with native yeasts, neutral oak, and increasingly organically farmed grapes. Some are made with minimal added sulfites and some are sans soufre or have no added sulfites.

These wines are often lumped into the natural wine category. And indeed we do need a term to help identify these wines. These wines are free of processing from cultured yeasts, toasty new oak flavorings, added acids, purple dyes, and grapes sprayed with toxic chemicals.

Honestly, at the beginning of this journey, I could barely get my head around these wines. It was the equivalent of eating sugary, processed packaged bread for my whole life and then tasting fresh, crusty sourdough bread for the very first time. (like Woah! bread doesn’t taste like this? Does it?)

There were flavors, smells and textures that I had never encountered before in wine, so foreign at first, so endlessly exciting now. So freaking fresh! Honest wine indeed.

Of course, my problem now is that it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to truly enjoy conventional wines. Oh, I can taste them for professional purposes and discuss their merits or flaws. But I just can’t drink them for pleasure or with dinner anymore. In comparison, they taste manufactured. The amount of time spent in new oak barrels is especially overbearing in many cases.

This was highlighted last night, when I popped my last bottle Andrea Calek Blonde 2008, a vin naturel petillant (lightly, naturally sparkling wine made from organic chardonnay and viognier grapes). This wine is so much delicious fun, so exuberantly appley and refreshing.

Earlier I had been tasting a relatively high end pinot noir for review, it tasted dead in comparison. All oak and rich, thick cherry juice.

As I said, I am ruined…..and very, very happy.

We’ve dealt with this problem since we started the Organic Wine Journal. There are many fantastic certified organic and biodynamic wines out there, but you have to know the names yourself because you won’t find it anywhere on their labels. This leads to confusion not only among wine drinkers, but also with sommeliers, servers and the workers at your local wine store. Thankfully, the balance is shifting, and organic and biodynamic wines are being perceived as higher quality in general, but until the top winemakers come out of the cellar, so to speak, the findings of this study don’t surprise us.

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.

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.

What wasn’t written about is how the farmers got into this mess. I think we know one cause. It’s an instructive lesson in biotech-farming, cellular manipulation, and the agri-industrial complex. Scientists and marketing executives at Monsanto figured out that by dosing cows with the growth hormone rBHT they would produce more milk. Never mind that this unnatural state of being may be uncomfortable or harmful to the cows. Never mind that the consequences of hormone manipulation may cause lasting harm to the animal or serious side effects. Never mind that the residue may poison the consumer. Their only goal is increased profits for the company, regardless of what it does to nature.

Across thousands of farm house tables, and corporate board rooms, the dollar signs flash. “Wow, increased milk production. More milk from the same cow. We’re gonna be rich.” The decision to buy hormones from Monsanto and manipulate milk production is easy.

Multiply this idiocy by the number of cows and, voila, you have an increase in the supply of milk that is evidently unsustainable. Consumption of milk is actually falling due to vastly larger soda marketing budgets. Add on a recession and stretched food budgets and taxpayers come to the rescue.

Like everything else in corporate America, decisions are make in the vacuum of what profits them in short term. Individuals, including farmers, do the same. No one is focused on the collective long-term consequences until it all ends up in the dump of bad ideas and white flags. Free enterprise for corporations and farmers until they need the “socialists” to bail them all out.

What’s next? There is already a glut of cheap low quality wine in the world. For years the Europeans have been buying up billions of gallons of the stuff and either dumping it down a drain or turning it into vinegar. When modern science can increase yields greater than the market can absorb them, a karmic imbalance occurs.

Learning from the lessons of the milk world, we may be faced with something similar in the world of wine. One of the ways to prevent imbalances is to return to the roots of farming; natural, organic and biodynamic. Yields that the earth intended for that particular grape in that particular place. It is doubtful that the taxpayers of Australia, Chile or South Africa will be interested in paying grape growers for nothing. If we all just drank true terroir wines grown carefully in places intended for grapes, we could cure in advance the next liquid oversupply. Cute names and clever graphics developed by gigantic marketing corporations with huge ad budgets can only mask the coming glut of low quality wine. Après that, le deluge.

So enjoy your roses, bubbles, crisp whites or slightly chilled reds and we’ll see you in a few weeks with many new features, reviews, and announcements.  Until then, we’ll be the guys sneaking a screw top bottle full of Gruner Veltliner into the baseball game and pairing it with every piece of junk food under the sun.

Cheers,

Greg, Adam, & Jonathan

Wal-Mart’s track record as a steward of decency is, to put it mildly, thin. They have been forced to settle court cases on employee overtime issues, gender discrimination and have ongoing inquiries with states over taxation and with environmentalists over new sites. They alone are the single largest party responsible for the transfer of dollars to China and the rise of the Yuan as a global currency. Their stance on labor organizing is well known. Many have blamed the demise of Main Street on their predatory pricing policies. We could go on.

But what caught our eye at is that someone very, very high up at Wal-Mart thinks the public wants to know what is the karma behind the products they buy to wear, use and eat. We agree. Our thesis of “responsible hedonism” and the “ethics of luxury and the luxury of ethics” have always stood for learning what is behind the wines we drink. We have always asked: How was this wine made? How were the vines nurtured? What were the field workers exposed to? What was added in the vintning process? What was the energy profile in the making and storage?

We have always thought this was an important part of the enjoyment of the beverage, and now so does Wal-Mart. This could be huge because this retailer touches the very core of America and, increasingly, the world’s shoppers. When they start demanding from their suppliers proof of sustainability, what comes next? Will they list the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that are used? Will they reveal water usage per acre? When it comes to wine, will we be told the levels of these chemicals found on their vineyard laborers skins?

This door is a very hard one to close. Back to the stores themselves: We can see the rise of outside graders who will analyze the economic impact of Wal-Mart on small towns and suburban counties. We could see sending monitors to the countless Chinese factories churning out all the low price stuff. Anyone want to guess what they would find in terms of environmental and labor issues? Yet, all in all it’s a good thing because these proposed little profiles on the shelf next to the product will be a constant reminder that what is behind the product can be as important as the product itself. If it backfires, that will be a good thing too because it will force them to reform or abandon the plan in an embarrassing retreat. If it works, it could force everyone else to stop hiding behind sexy, clever ad campaigns and low prices and tell us what we’re really buying and drinking.

The words we use show how much things have changed. When it comes to farming, organic is now the opposite term for conventional, which is just another way of saying normal. No one refers to themselves as a chemical farmer or winemaker. The natural method has become the unnatural.

So, it’s the organic producers who have to pay the costs, fill out the paperwork, and argue about standards just to tell you what they’re not doing. Imagine if the situation was reversed, and this burden was placed on conventional winemakers instead. Your wine selection might be a little different for dinner tonight if you saw on a label the products they had to use to bring that bottle to market.

A lot of money goes into making sure you don’t know, and in some cases are not allowed to know, the chemicals used in modern food production. Monsanto, the world’s largest producer of genetically modified seed, loves to vouch for the safety of injecting cows with growth hormones, but milk producers who use this method don’t exactly want to boast about it on their labels. In fact, Monsanto spends a lot of money backing legislation to prevent other producers from boasting they don’t use growth hormones in their milk. This would allow customers to choose to avoid their products, and they don’t want that to happen.

From a capitalist standpoint, it might seem we have a great system. Everybody is paying for what they want. Organic farmers pay to advertise their virtues, and conventional farmers pay to conceal their faults. Unfortunately, the use of chemicals is backed by tremendous sums of money, and with it the ability to influence legislation. Organic farmers tend to be the smaller operations, who cannot always shoulder the burden and bureaucracy of certification. It would be a nice change to consider them the normal ones, and let the unnatural companies have to pay to let you know what they are up to.