This spring, I pitched Daily Seven Fifty editor Kristen Bieler several story ideas. She went for none of them, instead asking me if I would write about organic farming costs in the wine world.
Okay, I said.
Hours of wonderful, scintillating interviews later, here is the article published today.
It wasn't easy to write the story of organic farming costs in 2,000 words. My first draft was 4,000 words. How could it not be hard to compress all this after heinterviewing a who's who of organic wine growing experts? They have so many interesting things to say, so much knowledge to share. (There's a book here, I know it.)
My thanks go to all of them. I only wish they all appeared at a conference together, on Zoom, so you could hear and see all of them.
1. Dave Koball, Noble Vineyard Management
Former Bonterra vineyard manager, now a sought after vineyard manager and consultant in Mendocino and Sonoma counties for Noble Vineyard Management.
2. Steve Matthiasson, Matthiasson Wines
A go to guy in Napa on all things organic. A plus: he once worked (for four years) in the Central Valley and understands the economics and viticulture there, too (as well as in Lodi, where he helped write Lodi Rules).
3. Mark Neal, Jack Neal & Sons Vineyard Management
Organic vineyard expert par excellence Mark Neal says he's converted more vineyard in Napa to organic than any of his peers. I believe him. He currently farms his own family's two estates as well as Demeine Estates' 550+ acres of organic (soon to be biodynamic) vines. (He credits his Cretan mother and grandmother for instilling in him a tradition of planting by the moon.)
4. Luca Brillante, Fresno State
Italian born Brillante is the Fresno State professor assisting Fred Franzia with his 8,000 acre organic vineyard conversion project. That is one very big pilot project. He is also doing research on organic products to combat mealybugs under a grant from the American Vineyard Foundation. Kudos to AVF for funding organic research.
5. Pam Marrone, Marrone Bio
Does she need an introduction? She's created many biologicals that combat vineyard pests and diseases. Ecofarm, the organic farmers organization, gave her its highest award, but her products are used by more conventional customers than organic, which shows you how good they are. Next up: organic herbicide. It's in EPA review.
6. John Roncoroni, UCANR Emeritus
The go to weed control guy in Napa and elsewhere, who is finally enjoying time off, since he retired. (But not entirely.) He has generously educated me, for better or for worse, on the finer aspects of his craft.
7. Cristian Rodriguez, Emiliana
CEO of Chile's Emiliana, he oversees production of more than 1 million cases of organic wines for export. Though Chile has 60+ organic producers, Emiliana alone produces 60+ percent of Chile's organic wine output. Though few in California know it, its Natura wines are the second biggest organic brand in the US.
8. Robert Eden, Chateau Maris
British born Eden's a long time organic and biodynamic champion in the Languedoc in France.
9. Magali Delmas and Olivier Gergaud, Wine Economists
These two teamed up on several studies on wine scores and eco certification. I wrote about their most recent one here. New in today's article are some of the findings from Gergaud's study with Vignerons Independent, showing that organic and biodynamic growers have an edge when it comes to profitability and business satisfaction.
Hopefully the article checked a lot of boxes - high end wines, inexpensive wines, North Coast-Mendo wines, Napa wines, Central Coast wines, Central Valley wines, French wines, Chilean wines. Whew.
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My thanks to all of these experts for their immense knowledge of the field. May there be more opportunities to share what they know with all of you.
My thanks also go out to both Kristen and senior editor Courtney Schiessl Magrini, who ably helped get this across the finish line in good shape.
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Some goodies that had to be left on the cutting room floor and didn't make it in to the article, due to limited space:
• Bordeaux is expecting 300 conversions to organic this year, according to sources in the Gironde
• Chateau Pontet-Canet was able to promote ALL of its grapes to its first wine and completed eliminated its second wine, thanks to the quality improvement it saw from converting to biodynamics. The farming change also put its scores up there with First Growths. The estimated payoff is millions of dollars.
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