Have you ever had a glass of wine from southern France?
How about central Spain?
If so, chances are you”ve consumed an “organic” wine–perhaps without even knowing it.
By the widely accepted definition, organically farmed grapes are those that have not been exposed to synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. In the aforementioned areas of Europe, weeds and pests have never been an issue, so there was no need to use pesticides–meaning that the grapes were organically grown, even if the farmers were simply doing what they’d always done.
In most American vineyards, organic farming has come about as a result of spraying being stopped in favor of practices of pest and weed control that protect the land naturally, keeping nature’s natural cycles in play.
Some pundits claim that organically grown grapes produce wines that are more “pure” in flavor. We’re not convinced that’s true, but there’s certainly no harm in embracing farming methods that eliminate chemical residue in our groundwater and soil.