2012 Crop Reports Say Organic Vineyards Up in Napa, Sonoma

Regions with the highest reputation for wine are increasingly becoming organic, according to crop reports from the Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

In Napa acreage for organic vineyards was up 500 acres, or 17%, putting total certified organic acreage at 9% of all county vineyards. The 2011 organic acreage was 3,536; that's now up to 4,032 in 2012.

In Sonoma acreage for organic vineyards increased from 678 acres in 2011 to 1,163 acres in 2012 - an increase of 58%. Sonoma's recent increase put it at about 2%, just under the statewide average (2.7%), with its 58,300 acres of vineyards.

In Mendocino, the Ag Commissioner's office reports 3,735 acres now, down from 2011's 3,994 acres. In 2011, 28% of vineyards were certified organic or biodynamic.

Preliminary figures from the state show that statewide organic vineyards were about 12,700 acres, give or take (I'm waiting for clarification on some numbers that seemed inconsistent to me), or about 2.7% of the state's 462,023 acres of wine grape vineyards.

Overall, Napa supplies 32% of the state's organic wine grapes, Mendocino 31% and Sonoma 9%. The three counties combined account for 72% of organic vineyards in California.

Lake County had more than 500 acres of organic wine grapes in 2012, according to the California Dept. of Agriculture.

Using the state's data, organic wine grapes accounted for $72 million of wine grape sales in 2012.

The Difference

A Tale of Two Vineyards

This is why I do what I am doing. The field on the left is organically grown. The field on the right is not. Can you see a difference, and then, which grapes would you like your wine to be made from?

Organic and Dry Farming John Williams of Frog's Leap's Surprising Start

This month's Wines and Vines has a lovely interview with the man most people think of first when they think "Napa and organic" - John Williams of Frog's Leap who started on the organic path in 1988.

Raised on a dairy farm in New York State, he thought he would go on to pursue the family business. And even for the first ten years in the winery business, he only bought grapes.

When he first bought land in Rutherford (Frog's Leap has 250 acres today), he needed help to actually grow the grapes. It took Amigo Bob, who the Fetzers recommended at the time, to set Williams on the path that lead him to certify all of of his land as organic - and Frank Leeds, the legendary grower, to show him how to dry farm it as well.

Here are a few of the best bits from the interview:

"Upon loosening the soil, returning organic matter and stimulating the soil organisms, we almost immediately see health returning to the vines, and within three years we are usually able to disconnect them from their water and fertilizer dependencies."


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"...the truth is that easily 90% of the Napa Valley vineyard sites neither need, nor benefit from, irrigation. We know this because for more than 100 years that’s how grapes were grown here. All the great and fundamental wines that established the reputation of the Napa Valley, every one was from a dry-farmed vineyard."


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I personally think history will show that the introduction of drip was the primary cause for the phylloxera crisis of the late ’80s and early ’90s."


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We believe that not only are irrigation systems in most Napa Valley vineyards unnecessary, wasteful and costly, but indeed they have been detrimental to wine quality and a primary contributor to a changing wine style characterized by lower natural acidities, higher pHs, much higher alcohol contents and a greater adaptation of winemaking intervention....we have grapevines with root zones the size of basketballs living on a “Coke and candy bar diet” of fertilizer and water applied weekly until the day they are picked? 

Read the full interview at: http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=features&content=93737&ftitle=Grapegrower%20Interview:%20John%20Williams
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Organic Ag - Biggest in California

From the United States of the Environment (link here)

Monsanto Infographic - About Those Friendly Folks Behind Roundup

Click to make the image bigger

For more info 

http://ecopolitology.org/2011/09/21/monsanto-or-organic-who-to-trust-with-your-food-infographic/

Thought of the Day: It's Not a Wine Club, It's a CSW

This week, I wrote a post urging people to consider joining wine clubs at wineries that make great wine at reasonable prices.

Sadly, we're not yet at the stage where one can reliably find organically or biodynamically grown wines in local markets, large or small, or even specialty wine stores, whether it's Bevmo or K & L.

We the good-for-the-environment-wine drinkers have to change our buying habits.

No more Trader Joe's - even when it's organic, it's like from Spain, or whatever, or it's a $4 Fred Franzia organic Green Fin which is made from Thompson Seedless grapes, not known for its varietal charm. (Franzia says it will be a 1 million case a year brand, exclusively through TJ's.) And let's pass on the Franzia Family's newest Panther Rock created label: the organic CottonWood Creek wines, even if they come in eco-friendly bottles, because they, too, are mostly Thompson Seedless (Sultana) because we don't know enough about Franzia's viticulture and water use. It's likely these grapes come from Central Valley sources, which four times as much water to grow as irrigated grapes in other regions of the state.

The time has come to rename the Wine Club to the Community Supported Winery or CSW. It's the same concept at "the box" you get from your CSA. You support farms/wineries doing good work, and you give them your business.

In exchange, you create a relationship. You are invited to visit and dine and drink at the winery on occasion. You are cultivating a long term partnership, in your own small way. And you know where your wine is coming from. All good stuff.

Yes, it takes a little more effort, but the payoff is Very Big.

Sonoma County Grape Growers Meet for Organic Workshop at Preston Vineyards

Organic farm consultants Amigo Bob and Rose Roberts were the featured guests at Preston Vineyards' gathering of the Sonoma County Grape Growers' organic producers meeting April 27.

Amigo Bob and vineyard manager Jesus Arzate walked hedge rows to help vintners learn more about beneficial insects while Rose expounded on the innovative use of hedge rows at Preston.

Visitors also saw the extensive compost operation at Preston and enjoyed a lunch accompanied by Preston wines. About 30 vineyard grower attended the event.

For information about future meetings, click here.

Mendo Winemakers Gather Friday

Part 3 of the Viticulture Forum: The People and Wine Styles of Mendocino County will take place Friday, May 6, from 11:30 to 5 with local luminaries in attendance. The program looks to be quite special - panels of Mendo's historic grape growers and vintners including Charlie Barra, the history of Italian Swiss Colony in Asti, the introduction of international varietals, the coming of cool region grapes, and green viticulture.

Cesar Toxqui's Winning Zins: Grapes from the Wilder Yonder

Hopland's Passport weekend, at $35 for unlimited tasting at more than a dozen wineries, is a steal. But then there's the deals. Hands down the best deal of all the wineries offering deals was the Alexander Valley Zin offered at Cesar Toxqui (pronounced TossKey). This award-winning producer, who's latest entry in the ZAP festival garnered him a rating of 9 out of a possible 9.5 points, has proven his strengths as a winemaker.

The Alexander Valley zin was available at a giveaway prices - $100 for a case. Dry farmed and practicing organic, and made in an organic winery. Cesar's wife Ruth said the vines are untouched, and untended - wild even.

Cesar is the winemaker at Jeriko Estates. He formerly worked at Campovida.

Cesar Toxqui is moving towards biodynamic certification, he told me today, and will be releasing a biodynamic Grenache this summer, a rarity in California.

If you want to get in on more Hopland deals like the $100 case of primo Zin, you can pencil in the date on your calendar for the next Hopland Passport festival, to be held the fourth weekend in October.

If you're a lover of organic and biodynamic wines, as I am, Hopland's Passport is The Passport event to go to. Mendocino's famous for its organic viticulture, with 28% of its winegrapes grown organically or biodynamically. That is more than 4 times as much as any other county in the U.S.