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Organic wines are not necessarily any good just because the grapes are
organically produced. Meanwhile, a lot of very good wines - including some of the world's
finest - which are produced under organic or biodynamic regimes do not advertise the fact.
This is going to be difficult.
Going back to first principles, I suppose we should try to work out what organic wine is
for. Is it intended to be somehow better (or less bad) for us and for the environment?
This is tricky - wine contains a poisonous drug, after all. What's more, organic standards
only apply to the growing of the grapes themselves - the production methods and allowable
additives (lots of them) are regulated by the local wine authorities. As for the
environment, I'm a big fan but I'm not going to drink rat's piss through gritted teeth and
pat myself on the back that I've kept a gramme or two of pesticide off a distant Chilean
hillside. If it's more a question of flavour and, as is the case with a lot of organic
foods, it tastes better, then I'm all for it. It would be surprising, however, if there
weren't a lot of bandwagonistas knocking out pretty dull stuff in the knowledge that the
organic credentials will sell it (and still less surprising if there weren't some confused
folk who'll buy it). Thankfully, this does not seem to apply to the majority of organic
producers who do seem to care as much about the wines themselves as the circumstances
under which they grow the grapes. Finding out who's who is pretty much a process of trial
and error involving a bottle and a glass.
At the bottom end (and there seems to be less of a premium on organic wine than there is
on food) Safeways Organic French Red 2000, a Vin de Pays du Gard at £3.99, is a smooth
and fruity guzzler with a nice rich colour, good body and length and some Grenache spice
to give it a bit of complexity. They have a couple of clarets among the seven or eight
organics in stock and Chateau Pouchaud Larquey 2000 (£5.99) is the first I've tasted of
this much heralded vintage. It bodes well, being quite lush and concentrated, with nice
minty Merlot flavours on top of the brambly blackcurrant of the Cabernet Sauvignon - a bit
of Cabernet Franc gives it a classy mineral edge.
Fresh & Wild stock only organic wines, as you might expect, and their Domaine Bassac
Vin de Pays de Cotes de Murviel Merlot 2000 (£5.99) is a big, heavily-extracted, leggy
wine with the characteristic mintiness of the grape - it needs to be drunk with food.
Pinot Grigio is a highly-strung grape which often becomes hysterical but Mont'Albano
Friluli Grave 2000 (£7.29) keeps its feet on the ground, Very pale, it has a peachy nose
and slightly honeyed melon flavours with a few pine nuts tossed in for good measure. A
little expensive perhaps, but the few good wines made from this grape do tend to be.
Robinvale Winery in South Australia have a range called' Organic Origins' which includes a
blend of Cabernets Sauvignon, Franc and Ruby with some Shiraz at £9.59. The fact that
it's non-vintage might make one a little suspicious and rightly so as, beneath a layer of
very toasty and expensive smelling new oak, the fruit is flabby, anodyne and
overblended. The result is a smooth, bland, red liquid - at least it's alcoholic.
Bonterra in Mendocino County, California is a largescale producer and their Chardonnay
2000 (Oddbins £8.49) is lightly oaked and lets the fruit speak for itself - unfortunately
the voices are a rather shrill babble of gooseberries and citrus with, ironically, a
slightly raw, chemical aftertaste.
THE
DANIEL DEFOE
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Food Monday-Friday until 10pm,
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Home - made speciality pies
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A variety of sausages for
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But what of the more reticent organic and biodynamic producers who prefer not to shout
too loudly about their methods? Some don't want the hassle of meeting every requirement of
the organic authorities but, in truth, the majority don't want to become ghetto-ised into
what is a fickle and relatively unsophisticated market. Many work on a small scale and
unfortunately you won't find wines from painstaking craftsmen like Didier Dagueneau in
Pouilly-sur-Loire or Jean Thevenet in Macon available locally but, believe me, they are
well worth seeking out.
Michel Chapoutier is one of the leading producers in the Rhone and I suspect he'd make
great wine under any circumstances. Rasteau Cotes du Rhone Villages 1998 is from a top
vintage, and has the slightly sweetish edge of really ripe Grenache with a nice nose of
green peppercorns and mouthfilling flavours of baked fruits. At £7.99 from Oddbins, it's
quite low down the ranks in terms of Chapoutier's very comprehensive range - hopefully,
the quality will encourage you to venture a bit further up the scale on your next
purchase.
All in all, anybody buying wine more or less at random could do worse than concentrate on
organics but from the above they might do well to stick at the cheaper end of the market. |
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