When Gian Piero Marrone and his daughter, Serena were in Vancouver they were surprised that farms at the farmer’s market had to advertise themselves as organic. "What else would they be at the farmer’s market," Serena wondered. We live in a sad world when people who grow food the way it should be have to defend that it is different from petro-chemical industrial agricultural. 

I regularly read Jeff Lefevere’s writing at Good Grape, but was surprised to see him reviewing $5.00 beverages. I argued that it was unfair for him to refer to these drinks as “wine.” In a world where  the bottle, label, closure, etc cost nearly $3.00, there is no chance that there can be anything but a manufactured product in the bottle. Dr. Debs, from the highly regarded  “Good Wine under $20” blog responded, “All wine is manufactured–in the sense that it’s all made. We don’t grow wine. We grow grapes and then have to make them wine. As for industrial, I’m wondering do you mean “mass produced” or “produced by machines” which is something different?”

Not true. Wine is grown.  Any great farmer would disagree with the sentiment that grapes have to be “made” into wine. In a healthy vineyard, the grapes have everything they need to transform themselves into wine. Once picked and placed into a container, they will begin the fermentation process due to natural yeasts on the grapes. Wine is fundamentally an agricultural product. It surely can also be a result of industrial agriculture- meaning a product of industry, rather than farming. But just because something can be made industrially and also farmed naturally does not mean these are equivalents. Heritage pork is something quite distinct from the industrial product from feedlots. In case you haven’t heard, watch this video to see the difference.

 Instead of having to define wine as authentic, industrial producers should have to list all of the pesticides, herbicides, tannin powders, reverse osmosis and other additives they use to make their industrial beverage. Any thoughts about what we should call this beverage? 

I am writing to you from a cafe in the Napa Valley and overhearing a conversation about where food comes from. A woman is afraid to buy food in the supermarket because she has no idea where it comes from. Ironic in the Napa Valley.

Dr. Frankenstein would be proud. Do you know that many wineries use invasive technology to eliminate flaws instead of farming properly? You can only cheat nature for so long…one day you will have ugly kids with your plastic surgery Ken or Barbie and be sorely disappointed. If you want to skip to the scary part, scroll to the end paragraph quoting the owner of Winesecrets.

According to industry magazine Wines & Vines, one of these technology companies has been acquired by, in an ironic twist, a company called American Winesecrets. "Acquiring Vinovation’s mobile service allowed Winesecrets to offer taint removal as well. Winesecrets has since developed a fleet of trucks, trailers and trained wine technicians to deliver the tartrate and taint removal services to wineries across the United States and Canada.
With the acquisition of Vinovation’s reverse osmosis-based technologies and alcohol adjustment services, Winesecrets will offer more filtration services, including reduction of volatile acidity, alcohol adjustment, Brettanomyces taint removal via reverse osmosis, tartaric stabilization and pH reduction using STARS, cross-flow filtration and ultra-filtration.
During the last few years, Winesecrets has added the technology to remove smoky flavors from wines affected by forest fires. "They can make your wine smell like an ashtray," Dahlberg says. The company first offered the service in Ontario, where extensive fires affected vineyards in 2003.
Unlike the other filtration services, alcohol adjustment involves distillation, so it can only be done at a facility with a distilled spirits permit (DSP), including the plant in Sebastopol. Winesecrets has mobile equipment that can be taken to other facilities. It has sites in Sebastopol and Napa, Calif., Dundee, Ore., Penticton, British Columbia, and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
Though not often discussed by winemakers, the filtration technologies are widely used. "Almost everyone who is anyone in the wine business has used Vinovation’s services," Dahlberg says. He says that between his existing business and the new services, 300 to 400 companies now use Winesecrets’ capabilities."

Most people are beginning to figure out that knowing where your food comes from is kind of important. Unless you like ecoli, whether in your beef or your tomatoes,  I am not sure that government assurances about food safety are trustworthy. Farmers markets are not just for locavores anymore, as everyone becomes more concerned about the provenance of what they eat. Are you someone who keeps thinking that way when you buy a wine to pair with your market fresh meal? How do you know what to buy? Do you just reach for something organic? Share your thoughts with us- comment below or share a longer story.

Special thanks to Francesca and Margherita of Fonterenza (their wines will be available with Farmstead Wines soon). Watch the video below, and remember the Padovani sisters are actually certified organic and they don’t trust the process! 

I know a couple of biodynamic/organic farmers whose vines often turn into snacks for deer. Here’s a tip from biodynamic farmer, Claus Preisinger, to keep your vines safe. 

Us too. But there is a solution. Lettie Teague’s article in the August issue of Food & Wine is stirring up discussion in the wine world, but the only argument worth discussing is this, "Wine drinkers who really care about how a wine is made need to get to know its producer. After all, it’s the integrity of the winemaker that matters more than any certification process. And when you find a winemaker with both talent and integrity, you’ll probably find the best wines, natural or otherwise."

The Food and Wine piece is guaranteed to be confusing, as is any attempt to simplify agricultural practices into a one word prescription. Michael Pollan devotes thousands of pages to a similiar issue and his conclusion is the same one that Alice and Lettie agree upon. "The handshake test-" if you want to find good wine, quality meat, or delicious vegetables, the best method is to know the people growing or raising them.

For example, Silvio Pistone  raises heritage sheep, a breed native to the Langhe Hills. They forage naturally on his hilly farm. He tends the flock, milks the sheep and makes the cheese. The list of ingredients is notable for its brevity- raw milk and salt. The secret ingredient? Patience aka time aka natural aging. If you are ever going to Piedmont, Italy comment below or drop us a line and we’d be happy to introduce you. 

It would certainly be easier to just buy things labelled organic, biodynamic, sustainable, etc, but those words shed little light on the realities of the complex interaction between farming, business and politics.