Organic Wines are HERE!
- Posted on
- By David Samples
What’s the Deal with Organic Wine?
We get asked nearly every day whether Western Reserve Wines carries organic wine. We’ve recently begun to place a green sticker on the shelf tags of organic wines in order to make them easier to recognize. Understandably, many people prefer to drink organic to ensure the finished wine in the bottle is free of chemical residue which might have remained on the grapes prior to fermentation. As valid a point that is, there’s concern about the use of fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides that goes much deeper–deeper into the soil and the vine roots themselves.
While we know that grape vines–like all plants–grow primarily not by eating soil, but through photosynthesis, there’s a world of invisible and visible activity taking place in healthy soil. The invisible activity includes the crucial work of microbes, such as health bacteria, fungus, and algae. And it includes the activity of more visible creatures, such as earthworms. (Goode 44) To drive home the point, “there are more microbes in a teaspoon of soil than there are people on earth.” (Hoorman 2010)
The significance of this invisible and visible activity is twofold. The first involves the actual structure of soil itself. Vines need 10%-15% of air filled space in order to prevent the soil from compacting and prone to waterlogging (which can start to kill vines in as little as five days during the growing season). Research by some of the world’s top soil scientists has shown that soil microbes are essential to stable soil suitable to grape vines. (Goode 40-41) Further, compacted soil contains little oxygen which even invisible microbes need to live. (Goode 44)
Second, the small amount of nutrients that vines actually take from the soil become available to them via the invisible work of microbes. Because vines are unable to absorb minerals directly, it is the specific function of a specialized fungi called mycorrhizal fungi to dissolve elements in soil water so they potentially can be absorbed by the vine. (Maltman 23) Without this specific fungi, the small amount of nutrients needed by the vine simply wouldn’t be accessible.
As an aside, it’s known that the type of bacteria and fungi vary from country to country, vineyard to vineyard, and even blocks within the same vineyard. Whether or not these different microbes impart anything discernible to the finished wine hasn’t been answered by science. (Maltman 26)
So what does all this have to do with organic vineyards? To put it succinctly, fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides kill fungi and other microbes necessary for healthy soil structure. (Goode 44) And because nutrients must be dissolved in water to have the potential to be taken up by the vine, the death of mycorrhizal fungi means the small amount of minerals needed by the vines remain out of reach. (Maltman 43)
The significance of organic vineyards lies beyond the realistic concern of residual chemical matter remaining on grapes prior to fermentation. A healthy microbial system and other organic matter ensures healthy soil structure and access to the small amount of minerals from the soil needed by vines. And while it must be admitted the author of this piece rarely seeks out organic wines specifically, wines that come from organic vineyards more often than not are good, and often spectacular.
References
Goode, Jamie. (2021).
The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass. 3rd Ed.
University ofCalifornia Press.
Hoorman, James J. (2010, September 7).
Understand Soil Microbes and Nutrient Recycling.
Maltman, Alex. (2025).
Taste the Limestone, Smell the Slate: A Geologist Wanders through the World of Wine.
Académie du Vin Library Ltd.