3 Reasons Why Voluptuary Wine is Natural & Organic
A lot of people ask me why my wines are Organic, Biodynamic, Natural, and/or sustainably grown & made (learn more about these concepts here). Non-logically, emotionally, it's just a hunch that it's the right thing to do to let nature express itself with minimal intervention. I keep thinking of this poem:
“A little dogwood tree is losing its mind; overflowing with blossom foam, like a sudsy mug of beer, like a bride ripping off her clothes, dropping snow white petals to the ground in clouds, so nature’s wastefulness seems quietly obscene. It’s been doing that all week: making beauty, and throwing it away, and making more.”
I love that poem. The raw sensuality of nature intrigues me. The interplay of the grapes we harvest, the wild & probiotic yeast & bacteria that ferment the grapes, the remaining yeast & bacteria that act on the wine as it ages, the interplay of all these biotic elements with the molecular elements of the wine (tens of thousands of flavor molecules from grape & wood & yeast) interacting with oxygen and biota to integrate & play & form a magical ever-evolving liquid that intoxicates our mind & spirit. This magic of this feels like something worth obsessing over.
As Terry Pratchet said, "It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works"
Science can explain these chemical and biological elements & by exerting the mass of our learning we can wrestle nature to the ground & make it give us a clean & stable wine. Such scientific & engineering driven winemaking is honestly the core of the wine industry, in fact, it is the only reliable way to make consistent, clean, fault-less $5-$15 bottles of wine, and I hesitate to overly criticize that approach. Because that sort of industrial winemaking approach will always be necessary to put affordable wine on our dinner table. I grew up very poor and certainly don't think wine should be reserved for the few who can afford high-end artistic wine. So technically sound industrial winemaking has its place, and I have massive respect for the hard-working professionals who make it.
So I respect science & technology, & the quality commodity wine that industrial winemaking creates. But in the monotonous industrial metropolis' we live in, the noise and business of life distract us from the simple beauty of nature. Walt Whitman spoke of this in his poem "The Learn'd Astronomer"
"When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars."
So it is my goal to create a post-industrial expression of nature & creativity.
Anyways, I'm a rational guy and I have more rational reasons for my winemaking philosophy. The first reason is that I think it makes better wine. The second reason is that it's healthier, for people & for the environment. The third reason is because not all songs need an orchestra.
First reason: Makes Better Wine
Grapes:
Have you ever compared (by means of eating) a store-bought tomato with an organic home-grown tomato? Or any fruit of vegetable for that matter? If you have, you already know what I'm getting at here. If you haven't, go do it now (if you don't have a garden then check out your local farmer's market). The organic tomato is incomparably better. This is true with wine grapes too. Mass-produced conventional grapes grown with a bunch of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides have less flavor than high-quality organic, biodynamic, sustainable and dry-farmed grapes.
Wine:
Once you have great grapes, you can pretty easily screw up and make vinegar instead of wine. How do you make wine and not screw up? The modern approach is usually to add a lot of preservatives (sulfite, acid, tannins, lysozyme, chitosan, etc) then add a lot of strong fermenting yeast & bacteria from a package. It's a reliable way to make good quality wine that tastes like wine and not vinegar. It is the basis of 90% of the wine in this industry and almost all wine under $30 and certainly under $15, because it is a safe and reliable way to make wine.
Another approach is to let nature play out, but acting as a guiding hand to nature. Pick the grapes when they are healthy & still have plenty of natural acidity, so that you don't have to use preservatives. The natural & wild yeast & bacteria will dominate in such conditions, and the grapes ferment and wines age well. Stir the wines weekly to keep the yeast & bacteria healthy. Top the barrels to keep oxygen out. Keep your winery scrupulously clean. Keep your wines impeccable and let the beauty of the grapes & nature shine through. Depending on your style, filter right before bottling if you want consistent quality. This makes beautiful fault-free wines from nothing but grapes fermented & aged awhile in barrels. To read my soap-box dystopian love ballad about natural & Organic winemaking, click here.
Second Reason: It's Healthier for People & the Environment
This is admittedly a heavily debated issue, and I'm not going to link dozens of articles or quote studies from the internet to support my personal bias. I will state outright though that the current weight of evidence supports that Organic is healthier for people & the environment.
Furthermore, I believe that in 100 years our progeny will look back on this age of chemical agriculture as a dark age in human history (assuming quite optimistically that we don't turn Earth into a dystopian wasteland). Nature is infinitely complex, and to use chemicals to sterilize and control it is foolhardy in agriculture and human health. We are re-discovering how closely humans are linked to the ecosystems that surround us, whether the ecosystems on our farms or the ecosystems of microbes in our bodies. If you have no idea what 'm talking about I suggest reading this amazing article my Michael Pollan.
Third Reason: Not All Songs Need an Orchestra
I love music. I love orchestras, big band music, and if the mood is right I sometimes even enjoy dubstep (I know, I know...). The intertwining of a multitude of instruments in an orchestra can create a sound to evoke deep emotion. A big band's energetic vibe can lift my spirits and get me swinging. Dubstep's intense attack of overlapping noises can tear away stress like a rough massage.
But sometimes I just want to hear Bob Dylan strumming on an acoustic guitar and singing.
Not all songs need an orchestra. Not all dishes need dozens of spices. Sometimes the best art is subtle. Sometimes a creative act is best when less is done.
There is a place in the creative landscape for many approaches, and for Voluptuary I chose my approach.