Christmas is the one time I indulge in wishing and dreaming of a perfect world. Here are my wishes for a better wine world.
I wish more people would stop using toxic chemicals in the vineyard. In the area of viticulture, we have advanced by leaps and bounds from the era when the use of chemicals was widespread. However, many still continue to use far more chemicals than is necessary. Agronomists and microbiologists such as Claude Bourguignon declared in the 1980s that Burgundian vineyards were 'dead' because of the extensive use of chemicals. This alarmed owners, who reacted by turning to organic and biodynamic methods.
Despite the cost, additional labour and time involved in organic methods, wines made this way have found a strong following. Domaine Leflaive, Domaine Leroy and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti are just a handful of conscientious producers who became convinced that change was necessary. All three turned to the biodynamic method of farming. This is a holistic and sustainable approach that involves the use of specific preparations such as cow manure fermented in a cow horn and a calendar based on the elemental forces of nature, the movements of the stars, planets and moon, and a strong focus on interrelationships between living organisms on the vineyard/farm.
I have always found biodynamic wines, regardless of style, to be more alive and often more complex. Biodynamic viticulture does not guarantee better wine, however, it does ensure a healthier approach to winemaking. My wish for this Christmas is for this trend to thrive in the coming years, especially in the growing regions of China and the rest of Asia. In the same vein, I hope that more careful site selection is conducted before planting so that good quality grapes can be grown without too much chemical use.
I wish winemaking techniques would take a back seat to the wine's site expression. Too often we taste the heavy-handed toasty oak of the barrel in which the wine was aged, or the zingy, sharp acidity from added tartaric acid, rather than the wine's inherent flavours. It's very easy to make formulaic wines, adding a bit of packaged yeast, then adding powdered tannins or acidity to adjust the taste of the wine to fit a specific profile. When it is skilfully done, it is difficult to tell the wine has been manipulated. However, these types of wines rarely reach the complex expressions of more naturally made wine.
There are extremists who espouse 'natural' winemaking, adding no additives such as the natural preservative sulphur dioxide. This extreme position increases the likelihood of oxidisation and can pose problems if the wine needs to travel long distances to reach its consumer. However, there are ways to make wine more natural without going to that extreme, and this begins with being more careful and selective when it comes to adding anything that doesn't enhance wine's natural expression.