Thursday, February 28, 9:30-11:30am<\/p>\n
Recap by John Schreiner<\/p>\n
In 1994, Benzinger Family Vineyards, in the words of vice-president Chris Benziger, \u201cwent cold turkey\u201d by completely changing its vineyard practices.<\/p>\n
The Sonoma winery was a pioneer of organic and biodynamic practices. Today, many producers are following suit, driving California winemaking down the path of sustainability. The sea change in viticulture was a major theme during a panel discussion of California producers at the Vancouver International Wine Festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a great quote from Gandhi,\u201d Chris said during the panel discussion at the festival. \u201cIt is \u2018First, they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.\u2019 That was our arc into sustainability and biodynamics.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Benziger family came from New York to settle in Sonoma in the 1860s. They bought a vineyard property where grape growing had stopped with the start of Prohibition in 1919. The Benzigers eventually acquired the property about 70 years later and began growing grapes again.<\/p>\n
\u201cSustainable farming was not common,\u201d Chris said. \u201cWe put up a deer fence and essentially pushed nature out. In the late 1980s, early 1990s, you would not hear the buzz of insects anymore. The only sound you heard coming through the vineyard was wind. We started to get erosion issues because the vineyard floor was damaged. Every time it rained, we would get runoff and erosion. We got phylloxera back, and had some other problems. Worst of all, our wine quality wasn\u2019t getting any better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family was looking for a change. Mike Benziger, Chris\u2019s older brother, decided to \u201cgo all the way,\u201d Chris said. We embarked on this adventure of biodynamics. In 1994, we went cold turkey. We got off the chemicals and converted our vineyards. Instead of pushing nature out, we invited nature back in.\u201d<\/p>\n
To replace the chemical inputs, the Benzigers put cows and sheep into their vineyards to produce some natural organics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheep, in one step, are tilling the soil with their cloven hoofs,\u201d Chris says. \u201cThey are eating the grass to reduce the weed pressure. And they are dropping that golden turd out the back end, fertilizing as they go.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the objectives of switching from conventional farming to these sustainable methods was to force the vines to put the roots down well below the top soil and thus deliver grapes with much more flavour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are on the side of this old volcano,\u201d Chris said. \u201cIt is like geological lasagna. We want to get the roots down into those soils, by getting rid of the chemical inputs. What this is all about, it\u2019s a management system for authenticity. We are trying to make the most authentic wines we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that many wineries have not gone as far as biodynamic farming. But there is a major swing to organic and sustainable farming among other wineries, for reasons similar to the move the Benzigers made.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertified sustainable is the big trend right now,\u201d Chris said. \u201cNapa and Sonoma are both trying to make their entire counties certified sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
California, he added, is an \u201camazing place to grow grapes\u201d because its soils and climate. \u201cOur challenge is going to be weather and water for sure. By growing the vines without chemical inputs and getting the vines to integrate naturally is how we are going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow panelists reinforced his message.<\/p>\n
Bob Blue, the winemaker for Mendocino\u2019s Bonterra Organic Vineyards, is another pioneer of organic production. In the 1980s, Bonterra hired an expert on biodynamic farming from Britain for its garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe opened our eyes,\u201d Bob says. \u201cThat was the start of our move to organic viticulture in 1987. We have reached a point now where we sold half a million cases of wine last year, and the wines get good reviews.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonterra also has sheep in its vineyards. \u201cWe have been working since 2012 with a family that is third generation sheep ranchers. We run 3,000 to 5,000 head of sheep through our vineyards. We use cover crops. We try to touch our vineyards three times with the flocks of sheep. It saves us three passes with a tractor. The practise is quite useful and provides an energy to the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t be sustainable if you don\u2019t understand organic and if you don\u2019t understand biodynamic,\u201d says Gina Gallo, the winemaker for E&J Gallo Winery. \u201cAs for our family in the future, we are definitely into sustainability. It is also about the winery. How we are conserving the water? We have to be innovative in the vineyard. Right now, we are using 25% less water.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am an enormous believer in biodynamics and organic farming,\u201d said Jean-Charles Boisset, the French-born owner of Napa\u2019s Raymond Vineyards. \u201cWe started back in Burgundy decades ago and have seen results that are unique.\u201d Boisset bought Raymond in 2010. All the Raymond vineyards are now organic and biodynamic.<\/p>\n
Russ Weis is a veteran California winemaker and president of Silverado Vineyards in Napa\u2019s Stags Leap District.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world is making unbelievably great wine everywhere,\u201d he says. \u201cIt puts a real imperative on all of us to be even more focussed about the sites we are working with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowen Wine Company of Sonoma is an offshoot of Rodney Strong Winery, created to developed a rugged 200-acre vineyard site and take sustainability to its limit. Winemaker Justin Seidenfeld described it: \u201cIt is one of the most rugged sites you will ever see in your life. There is no power at Cooley Ranch. Everything has to be run with solar power or with generators.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowen developed the vineyard with advice from leading experts. \u201cWe embraced technology, starting in the vineyard, to see how we could conserve water and put as little impact on the vineyard as possible. We are not a certified organic vineyard or winery, but we are carbon neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says that a conventional vineyard uses, on average, 40 gallons of water per vine. Technology that monitors water content in the soil has allowed Rowen to use less than 12 gallons per vine annually. \u201cWe are hoping to drop that even further as we learn to use this technology more effectively. We are learning to conserve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday, February 28, 9:30-11:30am Recap by John Schreiner In 1994, Benzinger Family Vineyards, in the words of vice-president Chris Benziger, \u201cwent cold turkey\u201d by completely changing its vineyard practices. The Sonoma winery was a pioneer of organic and biodynamic practices. Today, many producers are following suit, driving California winemaking down the path of sustainability. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n