In France, organic wines are far from being affected by the crisis. According to a study, one-third of French population consumes organic wine. This consumption increased by 22% in 2013.
Organic and biodynamic agriculture is to produce the wine without using chemical products in vineyard treatment in order to preserve the micro bacterial life of the soil for good alimentation of the vineyard. This assures fine quality of wine and best expression of its terroir.
A recent trend, a return to ancestral practices, a search for advanced quality – to cut the long story short, everything is an opportunity to return to organic agriculture!
But careful, today a large number of wine producers use this type of agriculture in order to give rebirth to their domaine.
For many of them organic agriculture is representative of quality, « «green » treatment, use of sane and non-chemical products. But these wine producers are interested in a more important thing: successful marketing of their wine. Today, a large amount of wine growers are rushing into organic agriculture in order to regain market shares. The fact of BIO certificate possession will let them sell their wine more easily and, above all, to raise the price!
As regards the most prestigious domaines like Georges Roumier, Domaine du Comte Liger Belair, Anne-Claude Leflaive, Jacques Selosse, Nicolas Joly or even Romanée-Conti, organic agriculture is applied and has been applied long before than in these new domaines with their new vision of organic world. However, you will see no certification, and even less « bio » logos on the bottle labels. How can it be explained?
It’s very simple. The search for fine quality and best expression of terroir are the key elements for these reputed producers. Their wines are among the world’s finest wines and the « organic and biodynamic agriculture » logo is far beyond their center of interest. By applying ancestral methods from father to son, they make traditions last with respect for the nature.
For what concerns the production, France heads the trio of organic wine producers with Spain and Italy. These three countries produce alone three-quarters of world organic wine. In France there are now almost 65000 hectares (equal to 8,2% of french vineyards), an increase of 188% from 2007.
This new organic era attracts more and more young people concerned with preservation of our planet…
