organic wine Archives - Wine Spotter

August 31, 2020August 28, 2024

Strength and Elegance from Picech wines

Back in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in Italy that is close to my heart, I took a long weekend to catch up with a few long due visits.

One of the (no longer) hidden pearls from the region, are the macerated white wines (aka orange wines). Those have been steadily growing in quality, technique and relevance in the region in this last decade.

Legends like Gravner, opened the way to many other producers to explore the complexities of a white wine produced as red one.

In a nutshell, to produce white macerate wines, the grapes are gently pressed with their skins. Those are left in contact with the must from a few hours to several weeks. This process lends body, length and depth to the wine. The color is built over darker hues of yellow, which can get more intense depending on the maceration time. The process also builds a characteristic range of aromas that includes bees wax, almonds, terracotta and orange peel.

Macerated white wines are one of a kind. I won’t tell you if good or bad, since taste is as individual as fingerprints. However, I would suggest that on the first time you try it, keep an open mind, be slow on judging and preferably, be comfortably sitting.

Meeting Roberto Picech

I started the journey from Trieste up to Collio early in the morning, with Sara, an oenologist friend of mine. It was one of those incredibly hot days from this summer and moving up the hills mildly brought some freshness to the air.

Among the meetings we had scheduled for the day, Picech was one I have been waiting for a while to connect with.

We were received by Roberto Picech, owner and wine maker of Picech wines, and his dog. Both welcoming us warmly, each one in their own ways.

As we began our chat, we head out for a walk around the plots of the pretty vineyard.

Picech started a while back to implement organic practices, which have now reached the whole vineyard. Flowers and grass grow freely along side the vines.

Nature has historically been generous with the region, but the weather has been playing challenging cards lately. Super hot summers are making it trickier to align the maturation curves of the grapes. As a contrast, hail has been hitting hard the Friulano vines for two years. With an attentive eye, we could see sporadic bruises on the branches from the ice, giving clues on the story behind the losses from the last vintages.

Coming back to the house, our canine friend was there waiting for us. She welcomed us back with such happiness that it felt we were away for days, instead of minutes.

A vespa by the door of the location entrance reminded us that were in Italian territory.

We were at home.

Meeting the Picech wines

A particular aspect of wine tasting that I enjoy is the build up of expectations, as you move up in the complexity of the bottles.

Roberto first presented us with his classic wines from the most recent vintage on Friulano, Malvasia and Pinot Bianco.

Still wild and hyper active in the glass, waiting for a bit of aging to calm them down a bit and lend the stability that only time can give. Potent, with a lot of warmth in alcohol, recalling the hot summers in the region. All well incorporated in the body, creating precision in the experience.

As the sun begins to slowly set and we were closing our chat around the classic line, Roberto got things ready for the next act. He slowly stood up, cleaned a bit the table with a piece of cloth, reorganized the glasses and asked whether we could call the main actresses to the stage.

Athena

Athena, was named as of his daughter. An interpretation of Friulano through the point of view of a white maceration. Before going to lengthy descriptions or running technical evaluations in my head, the first sip just brought a smile to my face. The descriptors of Friulano are there but in a different, playful, bulkier and unapologetic way.

Friulano destemmed grapes, macerated for 16 days in large barrels (25 hl), without controlling for temperature and without using selected yeast. After pressing, the wine rests in large barrels for 18 months.

Intense on the nose, with opening on white peaches, acacia flowers, grapefruit, bees wax, green almonds and a minor but pleasant resinated note.

Intense and warm on the palate, the tannins play their role in resonance with the other elements of the structure of the wine. They bring tension and body to sustain a great level of complexity in the structure.

Jelka

Named after his mom, Jelka brings up the roots of the region. A blend of three indigenous grapes from Friuli: Ribolla Gialla, Friulano and Malvasia. The age of the producing vines range from 15 to over 50 years old. You can feel that the age of the vines has landed focus and concentration to the results.

Friulano grapes are destemmed and macerated for 15 days in large barrels, aging for 12 months. Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia are fermented normally and rest for 12 months in tonneau. The blend of the three wines is then brought to concrete vats, and rest there for about 3 years. Jelka, doesn’t reach the shelves before 5 years after the harvest.

Intense and complex on the palate. Balance sustained from the attack of the wine to the fading of persistence. The roundness in the palate is rich, but the acidity makes a statement in the structure bringing brightness, freshness and cleaning to the finish – which was really interesting to notice considering the work in concrete which brings the pH a bit up and the age of 5 years after the harvest. Great depth, which kept on opening by the minute. White flowers, lemon zest, candied orange peel, wet slate, claypot, cedar and cloves.

My definition of elegance in wine.

My thoughts on Picech wines

Talking with Roberto, reassures you of the pleasure of sharing great wine in great company.

Great wines are transparent to the personality of the wine maker. That is a true statement for Picech. Strength, warmth, unapolegetic. Yet, patient, elegant and with complexity and depth to create gravity in the glass.

Picech wines tell about the story of Collio, of Friuli. Looking into the past and creating space for the vibrancy of indigenous grapes, while aiming into the future and constantly iterating on new ways to improve their expression.

Potent wines built to age, and that know how to communicate strength and complexity with elegance.

For me, one of the ambassadors for the style in Friuli.

August 29, 2019August 28, 2024

Going Organic in Cartizze

In a period in which Prosecco sales are soaring and their volume surpasses the one of Champagne, the world turn their eyes to Valdobbiadene. The heart of Prosecco production.

Crowning the pyramid of the Prosecco hierarchy we find Cartizze.

Cartizze, the Prosecco Grand Cru?

Cartizze is a hilly area of about 107 hectares, just outside Valdobbiadene. The microclimate in this valley creates a special condition that helps creating this particular style of Prosecco.

The hills face south, keeping the vines exposed to the sun for the whole day without having one vine casting shadow over another. This leads to better maturation and higher sugar levels than in any other Prosecco production area.

The valley also creates a sort of air tunnel, keeping the vines ventilated. This constant air flow facilitates adoption of sustainable practices, since the climate helps keeping fungal diseases away.

The soil is also a key feature in this production area. The mix of sand and layers of clay facilitate drainage, while keeping the right amount of moist on the roots. The grapes don’t “suffer” as much as in other neighboring areas, which is often desired, but evolve to healthy fruits.

The combination of these aspects gives the Prosecco from Cartizze differentiated levels of complexity, depth and elegance.

The Winemaker

On a recent trip to the region I connected with Pietro De Conti, from Pdc (similarity between the acronym for his name and the vineyard label is not a coincidence).

After travelling the world and spending a fair time in Australia, Pietro came back to his origins in the family business. His vision is to evolve the expression of glera (key grape in the production of Prosecco), specialize in Cartizze only and narrow the gap between the producer and the final consumer.

A firm believer in the concept of the terroir in the region (a good place to be if we are talking about Cartizze) Pdc has 100% glera in their Prosecco. Technically, the DOCG demands a minimum of 85% of glera in Prosecco. The remaining 15% is generally a blend with Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco, among others.

The harvest here begins ahead of time compared to most grapes. For sparkling wine production, the required levels of acidity are pretty high, which leads to picking the grapes at early ripening stages. All the grapes are hand-picked and the 10 people team completes the harvest in just a bit over 4 hours. The work starts really early in the morning in order to prevent the fermentation from kicking off ahead of time under the sun. The short distances to be covered allow the grapes to leave the vines and reach the pressing in less than an hour.

By the figures above you can imagine already that the production is not that large. They top 10 thousand bottles a year only, between their Brut and the Dry styles.

Challenges of going Organic in Cartizze

While Valdobbiadene has gained media spotlights with their soaring production, there is a shadow lingering over this success. It’s been years since several parties have been calling attention to the heavy use of synthetic pesticides in the region.

It’s a tough change to make when the soil has got already addicted to the long-term use of such chemicals.

Europe has been looking for a role model to follow on how to transition to more sustainable practices, and it seems they are slowly rising.

Bordeaux saw several cases of soil deterioration and intoxication of workers in the vineyards. After a lot of pressure from entities and good will from associations, actions came into play. At the core of the right bank, Saint-Émilion passed a measurement mandating sustainable farming in the region, starting with the 2019 vintage. That will impact nearly 1000 wine growers alone.
While a mandate doesn’t come in other regions, organic practices depend on patience and risk tolerance of a few producers.Pdc is part of this selected few. Pietro believes in the natural health of the soil for the plants to shine. Starting with the 2019 vintage, Pdc will have the organic certification stamped on their wine labels.

That is an epic achievement, considering the efforts to remain organic in the region. Cooperation with neighboring producers is needed so that your own vines are not contaminated by their spraying. Another producer in Valdobbiadene explained to me that despite adopting organic practices, up to 20% of his production cannot be eligible to be bottled as organic. The vines on his property that are too close to his neighbors, that are non-organic producers, often get contaminated. Often happens that the concentration of chemicals on these vines go over the maximum levels allowed to comply as organic.

Pdc wines

Pietro brought home ideas on customer care learned abroad. You clearly notice a differentiated approach at the modern tasting room, personalized tasting materials, communication with final consumers and the full use of digital content in their premises.

PdC is also trying to provide orientation to visitors in the region. Extending the experience from the vineyard to restaurant recommendations, cultural activities and a bit of history from the area.

Their 100% glera sparkling wines come in two styles: Cartizze Brut and Dry.

Both with beautiful and persistent perlage, the range of aromas is wide enough to be entertaining but straight enough to keep it fun and not too serious. Summery opening with acacia flowers, white peaches, pear, grapefruit and some minor herbal notes with sage and thyme. Long finish with lemon zest, bitter almonds and a bit of wet slate adding minerality to the palate.

Something close to my heart is the view of having the wine as an experience. The more ingrained the story gets into the wine, more meaning you see on each sip.

June 2, 2018August 28, 2024

Difference between organic and biodynamic wines

Consumers have been showing a growing interest about the origins of their food and drink, while the demand for sustainable practices gets stronger across the markets. When it comes to wine, UK alone has seen a growth of 15% on the consumption of organic and biodynamic wine, compared to the previous year.

The market share of organic and biodynamic products is still relatively small, but they are getting traction from consumer demand and you will be seeing more of them in the shelves.

But what are organic wines, to start with? And how are they different from the biodynamic ones? Are they any different in taste? In the end, why should you care?

Organic Wines

Simply put, organic wines are produced without the use of synthetic pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. This requires the adoption of a series of sustainable practices to ensure proper maintenance of the vines.

The regulation of organic wines is heavily focused on restricting the use of chemicals, but there are differences on how these rules are defined around the globe. In the USA, organic wines cannot have added sulfites. In the EU however, the addition of sulfites might not prevent a wine from getting the “organic” stamp. The EU regulation defines a maximum level of sulfites for organic wines which is lower than the non-organic ones. This allows sulfites to be added as long as the total concentration is under this level.

The use of certain additives such as gelatin or egg whites for fining, or yeast to speed up the fermentation is permitted. Also, practices that still don’t have a substitute in the market might be used in the production, with certain restrictions. Those include heat treatments, filtration, reverse osmosis and the use of ion exchange resins.

The regulation for organic wines in the EU became official in 2012. All wines complying with the requirements have been bearing the green leaf logo on the bottle since then.

In the US, the Department of Agriculture is responsible for the organic certification. The bottles that comply with the country regulations can show a “USDA-Certified Organic” stamp.

In the absence of chemicals, a set of practices come into play to manage the health of the vines. As example, we have the so called “sexual confusion”, in which pheromone pods are placed around the vineyard. It has shown to be effective especially against white moths. The way it works is that the essence confuses the male insects reducing the changes of the female insects being fertilized.

Another practice is to use cover crops (clover, ryegrass, barley, dandelions). Each one brings a different kind of mineral to the system. They can be also ploughed and mixed into the soil, helping to fix nitrogen, among others.

Biodynamic wines

Imagine a wine production going even further into wearing the hat of sustainability, to the point that it’s all grounded in a philosophical stream.

Biodynamics are much closer to a philosophy than to just a series of sustainable practices. It adopts a holistic approach to farming, seeing it as a complex system of inter-dependencies between animals, soil, plants, weather and even planetary alignments. The practices look at fostering a healthy and sustainable balance between all those elements. If there is any type of unbalance in this chain, the treatment is done with natural materials applied in specific ways to the soil, compost, and crops, with the intention of engaging non-physical entities and elements.

The philosophy is wide and complex. We can compare it to lenses through which you see and interpret the world, that eventually dictates how you manage agricultural practices.

The concepts of biodynamics were created by the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. He started applying it 1924, to help a group of farmers fixing recurring issues in the fields.

The biodynamic certification for farms and products is managed worldwide by Demeter International.

Natural wine (or vin naturel)

I am commenting also on a third category of wines that is often mentioned in the context of organic and biodynamic products. “Natural” wines (or frequently referred to “vin Naturel” in Europe) are a bit of a question mark. The practices around their production are not standardized nor the use of the term is regulated in the industry.

Natural wines use organically or biodynamically produced grapes. The vinification process is oriented towards letting the environment do its job creating the wine. While in organic and biodynamic productions we still have a steering hand from the winemaker designing the wine, natural wines are produced with as little intervention as possible from the human side.

No yeast is used. The wild yeast (naturally found on the skin of the grapes) is the one responsible for the job of converting the grape juice into wine. It adds a bit of complexity and new flavors, but at the same time the results might be a bit unpredictable. Since there are no control over the concentration of yeast or even the presence of other fermenting agents, each wine might have its own personality to some extent.

Filtration and finning are also not used. For this reason, you will often find natural wines to have sediments and look cloudy.

No correction is done. Meaning that the acidy and sugar levels in the wine are defined by the natural process as well. Reinforcing the name of this wine category.

Sulfites are not added during the process either.

When it comes to the experience, in my opinion, natural wines are not for every taste. The wild yeast and the natural style of the production help developing wild flavors and textures in the wine. Aeration and decanting can help taming some of those before enjoying the first sip.

In between organic and biodynamic wines, we also find half-ways. You might have already come across wines with “made with organic grapes” or “made with biodynamic grapes” printed on the labels. Despite the fact that these wines were produced from grapes that undergo organic or biodynamic practices, the overall production processes were not that strict. In this case, they didn’t qualify for having the organic or bio stamp on the bottle. As an example, it is not uncommon to find wines “made with organic grapes” in which sulfites were added, in order to extend the life time of the wine.

So why hasn’t everybody shifted to organic or biodynamic wines yet?

Higher costs, production risks and consistency on the profile of the wines are key challenges when stepping out of traditional processes and into the world of organic and biodynamic wines.

Not all producers can afford hand harvest. If trying to compensate for the costs, the price of the wine will rise and it will start competing with wines in higher tranches, with potentially higher quality standards.

Risks can be harder to manage. It is surely concerning to see your winery pilling up with bottles of wine that have a much shorter lifetime than traditional wines from the same category. That’s the case when wines are low on sulfites, one of the key elements for preventing wines to become vinegar too soon.

If a producer praises consistency on the profile and quality of the wines, it’s uncomfortable to pass that responsibility to practices that actually reduce your control over the final product. If we look at Pinot Noir, which is known to be a moody grape, it is much more challenging to have it thriving organically, without the use of synthetic herbicides and fertilizers.

There is still a lot of discussion on how to approach the use of sulfites when it comes to the regulations. Even if organic wines have no added sulfites (in the case of the US regulations), it doesn’t mean they are sulfites free. As seen in a previous post, sulfites are a natural byproduct of the fermentation. They have a very important role in preserving the wine due to its antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Without the added sulfites the aging potential of the wine is compromised. This means that natural, organic and biodynamic wines, in general, are not designed to age and have a shorter life cycle.

The market is tough and the industry is still very traditional in great part. Relying on centuries of knowledge built around viticulture feels safer than experimenting with new practices, and putting your source of income at risk.

Little changes might take time to materialize, but they are slowly happening.

After thoughts and trends

The public has been creating a growing pressure to have chemicals abandoned from food production. It has been a significant driving force for more eco-friendly practices, natural and chemical-free products.

The push is not only coming from consumers but also from people that are being directly impacted by the use of chemicals.

Bordeaux is a large producing region known to use pesticides in the vineyards for a long time. After reported cases of sick workers and growing popular pressure, they started to set an example in the industry. Saint Emilion is mandating with the 2019 vintage, that every bottle produced in the area will have been made from grapes grown with sustainable farming methods, such as organic or biodynamic viticulture. The mandate is being enforced by the local wine council for four Bordeaux appellations. Any wine not farmed sustainably may only be bottled as generic Bordeaux.

Wine producing regions have created a micro ecosystem over the years with the traditional viticulture.

Questions have been raised among farmers and professionals in agriculture on whether the change on methods and treatments would help new diseases to appear.

Great part of the wine producing regions today don’t have vines that are native from their ecosystems. Agricultural techniques and synthetic products, to some extent, had their role in the beginning to have the vines thriving. Since then, technology and understanding of the environment has increased massively and we are in a better position now to look at how to produce great wine, sustainably.