Hands-on and committed, Arianna Occhipinti is a strong female voice in Sicily for sustainability, organics and biodynamic winemaking. She practices strict protocols at her estate that carries her name, and she is on the board of directors of Sicily’s SOStain Foundation. Launched in 2020, SOStain (Save our Soils) is a group of like-minded vintners located throughout the fertile island at the center of the Mediterranean. They have adopted an integrated sustainability protocol, with a 10-point action plan, a scientific committee for oversight and a certification program with a logo that member wineries can print on their bottles. Sicily was the first Italian region to take such important steps to marry sustainability and winemaking. “Arianna is a symbol of our green initiatives,” says SOStain President Alberto Tasca of Tasca Conti d’Almerita, a winner of the Robert Parker Green Emblem award last year. “She is on the board of our foundation and is focused on social and territorial issues. She shows sheer spirit that few others have, making her a symbol of both sustainability and humanism.” Based in Vittoria in the southeastern corner of Sicily with its grandiose Baroque architecture and pristine beaches, Arianna’s estate sits between the Iblei Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Her wine program is dedicated to indigenous grapes like Frappato and Nero d’Avola. In addition to 30 hectares of grapevines, her property is an oasis to everything local. She has 15 hectares of olive groves planted to the native Tonda Iblea cultivar and 10 hectares of Sicilian grains. She has fruit trees with pears, citrus and other orchard fruits that are specific to her island. Her chickens, too, are of the local “razza siciliana,” or Sicilian race. Her goal is to transform her agricultural goods into a small stimulus for the local economy. The orchard fruits are turned into fruit juices, her garden vegetables are featured on menus in the surrounding restaurants, and she sells her eggs. “I want to make sure that a monoculture in agriculture is transformed into multicultures,” she says. “If we can’t do it here in Sicily where the weather and the sunshine are on our side, where else can we do it? My dream is to see the Sicilian model reproduced in other parts of Italy.” Arianna Occhipinti played an important role in creating the Cook the Farm educational program inspired by the late Anna Tasca Lanza and run by her daughter Fabrizia Lanza (cousin to Alberto Tasca) today. Cook the Farm is an immersive and experimental take on food education in rural Sicily. Students (15 to 20 in each session lasting three months) come from around the world to learn about the complexities of the Sicilian food systems. There are specific seminars on wine grapes, olives and grains. Arianna leads the school’s wine program and will take the students into the vineyards with lectures, presentations and field work. “We want to teach our special take on Sicilian sustainability and biodiversity and show that it’s a model that can be adopted by others,” says Arianna.

As South Africa’s first carbon-neutral winery, Backsberg has made significant environmental investments on the property, including the completion of a run-off water reclamation system for irrigation ponds, the promotion of biodiversity through the planting of thousands of trees for mulching, wildlife habitat and conservation areas for birds and bees to work in harmony with mother nature. To ensure the property remains carbon-neutral, the estate is voluntarily audited by an independent, third-party company. I spoke with Simon Back, who is still involved with grower operations and continues to drive sustainability in the vineyards, with the vision to bring the growers to become carbon neutral. With DGB having its own environmental innovations and social empowerment programs, it’s no wonder DGB and the Back family are on the same page regarding sustainability and environmental practices. Although I am not the most overt fan of kosher wines in general, the Backsberg kosher wines are among the best I have tried in the category; I find the wines in their new “Unorthodox” range to be delightful. While Backsberg wines are not the most sought-after, expensive or extravagant in South Africa, these wines offer a range of sturdy, well-made expressions in various styles and price points. They prove that wine can be made in a value-driven style that delivers a quality wine drinking experience yet still be good to the environment at the same time. If Backsberg can do it with their wide range of quality and styles, it begs the question, “What is everyone else’s excuse?”

Chacra is the leading producer of Pinot Noir wine in Argentina. He wants to make the most delicious wines with no science, but he doesn't like Brett and is quite tolerant with volatility, which he says is quite high in all his wines but somehow is not noticeable. Since he introduced the bees, he's never had a fermentation stop. They work with cover crops (seven different ones, mainly mustard), and they are optimizing the use of water for irrigation. The organic and biodynamic approach is delivering results, and the plants are balanced after 20 years of respectful viticulture. He's also working in the social aspect of the people who work in the winery, with food from the vegetable garden and even houses with solar panels to take advantage of the light from Río Negro. The wines are clean, balanced, fresh and pure. The wines are alive, have the protection from the lees and, depending on the year, may or may not be filtered. He has the idea to build a new, separate winery for the wines with no sulfur (no more than 25,000 bottles) and is producing new wines—a Syrah, a Bastardo (Trousseau) and a Moscatel and has also regrafted a little Poulsard.

People are at last beginning to talk about this 37-hectare Saint-Émilion property, but the Todeschini brothers have been at the forefront of more sustainable farming in Bordeaux for over a decade. Located in one large block around the winery, fully 15% of the estate’s surface is maintained as hedges, woodland and truffle oaks instead of being planted to vines. Back in 2008, they began sowing leguminous cover crops, a practice that’s now widespread across the region. And first organic and then biodynamic certification have followed, in 2020 and 2023, respectively. This innovative approach is matched in the winery, delivering wines of striking energy and purity of fruit that only seem to go from strength to strength from one vintage to the next.

Cullen has been certified organic since 2003 and certified biodynamic since 2008—one of the first wineries in Australia in each of those categories. General manager Vanya Cullen is an outspoken proponent of those practices, and any visitor to the property would be remiss in not checking out the self-guided spiral garden biodynamic tour. That said, the commitment to sustainability goes beyond practices in the vineyard and kitchen gardens. Since 2006, Cullen has been offsetting its carbon emissions largely through local carbon-sequestration projects. In fact, the entire operation is now carbon positive. Forty percent of the winery’s power needs are met through its own solar panels, with the rest purchased from solar and wind sources. Packaging also plays a role in Cullen’s sustainability, with reduced-carbon bottles, locally sourced cardboard and a robust recycling program. The company participates in the Sustainable Packaging Initiative and the AWRI Code of Good Manufacturing Practice and is a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant.

A pioneer of sustainable farming in a region dominated by chemical agriculture and mechanized harvesting, Bruno Lorenzon has been leading the way in the Côte Chalonnaise for two decades. Lorenzon’s vines are trained higher than his neighbors' and often planted at higher densities, and until 2020, he was certified organic. “But I’ve chosen to quit the certification system,” he explains, “because I’m not convinced by the label anymore”. His vineyards, needless to say, continue to represent a model for the rest of the Côte Chalonnaise to aspire to, with living soils and open canopies. What’s more, yields are routinely a mere fraction of his neighbors. To do all this in Vosne-Romanée or Puligny-Montrachet would be one thing; to do it in Mercurey means personal sacrifices and skipped vacations. Happily, Bruno Lorenzon is well on the way to receiving the international recognition that he deserves.

Lalou Bize-Leroy’s embrace of organic and biodynamic farming has had momentous consequences for Burgundy. Yet its proximate cause was a happy accident: an article on Nicolas Joly in the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Genève, spotted by her husband, Marcel, that opened her eyes to this different approach to viticulture. If the discovery took place by chance, however, it satisfied an intensifying desire to break with chemical viticulture. “I knew we had to stop using chemicals in the vineyards, but I didn’t know with what to replace them,” Lalou explains. “Biodynamics was exactly what I was looking for.” In due course, Lalou visited Joly in Savennières and was forced to admit that his vines were in better health than her own. She returned to Burgundy entirely convinced, drawing on the advice of another Loire winegrower, the pioneering biodynamic consultant François Bouchet, to initiate the wholesale biodynamic conversation of Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay. Everything went well until a fateful day in 1993. “I passed by the vineyards on Tuesday and everything was fine,” Lalou recalls. “But on Thursday, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-Saint-Georges were devastated, and journalists were already in the Romanée-Saint-Vivant, surveying the damage.” She surmises that clay had blocked the nozzles of her sprayer, preventing the proper application of copper and sulfur. In any case, much of the crop was lost to mildew, and she produced only 700 liters of Romanée-Saint-Vivant from her one-hectare holdings. In an era when some considered even green harvesting criminally wasteful, Lalou was the butt of criticism. “’That madwoman can’t see that her vines are dying,’ they said,” she remembers. But her commitment to biodynamics remained unwavering. While Lalou numbers among Burgundy’s earliest adopters of biodynamics, “We’ve invented nothing,” she insists. That means the regular application of tisanes and decoctions—especially dandelion, chamomile and horsetail—all prepared with dechlorinated water, and adapted according to the needs of the vines, the soil and the phases of the lunar calendar. Lalou is a great partisan of Maria Thun’s barrel compost, which she credits with particular efficacy. And she even resorted to acupuncture in her parcel of Volnay Santenots when other approaches failed. Above all, she characterizes biodynamics as a perpetual work in progress. “After more than 30 years, one can observe the improvements, but the battle isn’t won. To decontaminate soils tainted with chemicals takes a long, long time.”

The Robert Parker Green Emblem is designed to recognize producers who act as ambassadors for sustainability. Outside the protocols practiced on their own properties, they inspire their neighbors to make the changes needed to better protect our environment. A single vision becomes a shared vision. The Barolo region of Piedmont in Northern Italy is home to one of these ambassadors. She is Chiara Boschis of E. Pira e Figli - Chiara Boschis, a lone female voice in a land of slow-moving traditions. Her mission is to convert all 28 growers that farm in the 46-hectare Cannubi MGA (perhaps the most prestigious site in the appellation) to organics. The project is called “Cannubi Biologico,” or “Cannubi Bio.” So far, she is joined by 25 of the 28. Her quest is to make Cannubi a fully organic vineyard. “It felt like mission impossible at the beginning, but we are getting close to our goal,” says Chiara Boschis from her winery in Barolo. “Sometimes a single drop of water can break apart a giant rock.” Of the three who have not joined Cannubi Bio, only one is a winery that bottles Barolo Cannubi with estate grapes. The other two are growers that sell their fruit. Chiara fears that it will be difficult to convince these last two because their businesses are more averse to risk. However, she is optimistic that she can soon bring all three over to the green side. Cannubi Bio was not started by a growers’ association, a foundation or a certification entity. Instead, it is a grassroots movement driven by the sheer willpower of one very tenacious woman. In 2010, Chiara Boschis was the first to become certified for organics in the village of Barolo. When she sought to certify her tiny 6,000-square meter plot in Cannubi, she faced multiple challenges because some of her immediate neighbors in this tight patchwork of vines farmed conventionally with chemicals. Sprays used at an adjoining property could easily blow over to hers. “I was told that I needed to do one of two things,” she explains. “I either had to create a buffer zone to guarantee that zero chemical residue would appear in my lab tests, or I had to convince my neighbors to join me in organics.” Given how small her parcel is, the buffer zone solution was impossible. In 2014, she was knocking on her neighbors’ doors, one by one, asking them to join Cannubi Bio. “There was a lot of optimism surrounding my initiative at a time when we needed good news,” she says. Only the year before, Italy’s high court made a controversial ruling that many producers viewed as an unnatural enlargement of Cannubi’s historic boundaries and consequently a loss of prestige for the historic site. Today, Cannubi is farmed by some of Barolo’s most illustrious names, including Bartolo Mascarello, Comm. G.B. Burlotto, Damilano, Elio Altare, Francesco Rinaldi & Figli, Michele Chiarlo, Paolo Scavino (only until the 2018 vintage) and Poderi Luigi Einaudi among others. Thanks to the Cannubi Bio initiative, computerized monitoring devices have been placed throughout the vineyard to measure temperature, humidity, sunlight hours and more. “We all have access to an online database that gives us mathematical models necessary to optimize organic farming,” says Chiara. Cannubi Bio could eventually become a logo for sustainability and organics, she concedes. However, Chiara is less interested in the marketing or promotional aspect of her initiative. “Actions speak louder than words,” she says. “To me, the most important thing is getting it done.”

The late 17th century, is back on the track: What has always been a mixed agriculture until 1980 has become a mixed agriculture again in 2010. "Over several generations, our family has built up a foundation of knowledge and sensitivity to farming. The commitment to slowness is a very important part of this professional attitude“, the family communicates on their website. With the free-range vegetables, free-range pigs and delicatessen products the Triebaumers feel they have come "a step closer to the image of an archetypal farm economy“. The basis of all efforts is to practice "humus-producing" instead of "humus-consuming" agriculture. According to the Triebaumers, a society that is still fit for the grandchildren will only be able to develop in the knowledge of the finiteness of vital resources and the dependence of life on solar energy. For a quarter of a century, the Triebaumers have therefore been consistently pursuing their path of ecologization, step by step. It began with the greening of the vineyards over as much of the surface as possible, which set in motion a humus-building, life-affirming cycle that increased the vines' own defenses. The goal was, and still is, to "get as close as possible to the natural habitat of the vine" and to "produce grapes from species-appropriate husbandry and with the full potential of the site". You could call it the striving for terroir wines, but terroir is not a concept of peasant culture, yet programmatic phrases like this one are: "We treat our vines like indigenous people to whom we give back their habitat and their self-determination.“ Wine is not just a product to sell with intellectual ideas but gives moment of pleasures just like the landscape does, the bees do and the co-working of 3 generations and the workers which are treated like family members here. After the realization of full greening which includes the passionate cultivation of bees and planting of hedges, trees and orchards in order to break up, structure and beautify the monotonous vineyard landscapes and to make an immeasurable contribution to the preservation of biodiversity, which is dramatically threatened like never since the extinction of the dinosaurs, the Triebaumer family has taken the next step by keeping sheep in the vineyards all year round. "In this way we come into an uplifting cycle that perfectly exploits the natural synergies between animal and plant“, explains Herbert, the philosopher of the family. The sheep do the mowing, trunk cleaning, fertilizing and even thinning of the leaf wall. "With good pasture management, the humus content of the soil can be increased by one ton per hectare per year.“ As we know humus improves the regular and even growth through dry and wet periods of the year, stores water, increases infiltration, is both food and habitat for micro-animals, improves soil fertility and stores vast amounts of CO2. Last but not least, the family can provide for itself: through targeted polyculture, the Triebaumers do not only harvest authentic grapes but also three lambs per hectare each year, in addition to fruit, vegetables, honey and even medicine provided by bees. Not that unimportant if you think about the rampant mass production of meat worldwide… The fact that the entire company and the private households of the family have been supplied with energy for 10 years via a photovoltaic system and even the forklift and the car are operated electrically should not go unmentioned. Walking with Gerhard and Herbert through the colored and beautifully sounding Triebaumer vineyards is like walking through the Garden of Eden. Enjoying their wines out there is paradise, isn’t it?

For the family of Frank and Gerlinde John, the aspect of sustainability in viticulture has always been a central part of the value culture since the domaine was founded 20 years ago. Since the first vintage 20 years ago, the family has only used grapes from biodynamic cultivation. The domaine has been Demeter-certified since the 2012 vintage, and since May 2022, John’s Hirschhorner Weinkontor has been climate-neutral through voluntary compensation of unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions. “It is important to us to work as environmentally friendly as possible and to position our family business sustainably and well for the future,” says Frank. In doing so, he focusses on climate protection, which calls for sustainable management in a special way. “As a winery, we are not only reacting to climate change, we are also part of the climate-change process. The consumption of materials, electricity and fuel in the cultivation of our vineyards and in cellar management causes emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. As winemakers, we have a responsibility to address the emissions we cause, quantify the climate impact of our winery and take appropriate action to mitigate and offset our greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible.” The family has carried out a project to record all greenhouse gas emissions of the winery. The calculation of the carbon footprint was based on the internationally established standards of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The balance sheet includes electricity, fuel and heat consumption as well as emissions from consumables, transport, commuting and business travel. Due to the green electricity already purchased, the carbon footprint of Hirschhorner Hof in 2021 yielded total greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 47 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). Since then, the family has initiated measures to further reduce the emissions in the coming years, for example, by selecting lighter glass bottles, focusing on regional suppliers to reduce transport distances and bundling work processes and distances in the vineyard. The domaine has achieved climate neutrality by offsetting unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions through a climate protection project in Kenya. The project is certified according to the VCS standard—an internationally recognized seal of approval for climate protection projects—and facilitates access to healthy, energy-saving cook stoves and water treatment products for the local population. In addition to climate protection through the avoidance of carbon dioxide emissions, the project also supports other sustainable development goals such as water conservation, combating poverty and promoting health and well-being. The John CO2 footprint was calculated again this year. This enables the family to check the effectiveness of their climate protection measures and, in turn, offset unavoidable emissions through recognized, certified climate protection projects. Climate is a central component of sustainability, but the John family also has social and environmental goals. For example, they support the Slow Food Initiative, a global movement that promotes a socially and environmentally responsible food system that protects biocultural diversity and animal welfare. Recently, a one-hectare limestone plateau vineyard in Kallstadt that is partly surrounded by hedges was purchased and is currently being recultivated by restoring the old vines and planting fruit trees.

Gerard Bertrand is a large man, with large dreams. Starting with investments in biodynamic grape-growing in 2002 at his Cigalus estate, he has expanded those practices to cover more than 800 hectares of vineyards—all either certified biodynamic by Demeter (60% of the total) or in conversion. For Bertrand, this represents not only the way to achieve terroir expression in the resulting wines, but it represents a commitment to the sustainability of the vineyards. Roughly half of Bertrand’s wines are presently produced from organic or biodynamic-grown fruit, with a goal of reaching 80% by 2025. And this is just the start. He believes that the future of viticulture in the entire region is linked to organic farming and actively encourages partner vignerons to make the switch, offering technical advice and funds to offset many of the costs associated with the conversion process. Bertrand’s focus on the land even extends beyond just the vines, as he has created a foundation to preserve and promote biodiversity. A walk through his vineyards includes numerous buffer strips between plots, where native scrub vegetation and insects—especially bees—abound. It’s a holistic approach that recognizes humankind’s responsibility to the planet and future generations.

In the New World, for a winery to be able to boast, “Over 150 years of family winemaking,” already says something about that family’s commitment to sustainability. When the same family are stewards to vineyards that were planted in the middle of the 19th century—and have been continuously farmed since then—it means even more. Although not certified organic or biodynamic, Prue Henschke, the viticulturist, has been committed to those practices since her appointment in 1987. She’s conducted numerous trials and studies on the efficacy of various composts, mulches and the use of native grasses. As part of the fifth generation to grow grapes on these lands, she sees herself as a custodian of the land. This commitment to sustainability doesn’t begin and end in the vineyard. Winemaker Stephen Henschke (Prue’s husband) was among the first to implement a quality management system, achieving ISO 9002 certification in 1998. Written policies cover such diverse areas as recyclability of packaging, restoration of original vegetation in areas not under vine (30% of the total acreage) and contributing to the local communities’ quality of life. The family’s stated goal is to have a truly sustainable business, minimizing negative impacts on the environment in the short-term and eliminating negative impacts in the long run. But beyond that, the family has become a standard-bearer for the sustainability movement. This award recognizes their achievements.

Markus Lang is a man who had neither studied oenology nor trained as a winemaker until October last year when he started studying viticulture in Vienna, Austria. However, he has learned to recognize problems and find solutions — the best possible solutions. Earlier this year, he left his old manager jobs and became a full-time wine producer in Krems-Stein — at 55 years of age. "I want to find the way to perfect viticulture in the face of global warming and increasingly opulent wines," he says. Since his hobby beginnings 10 years ago (his first vintage was 2012), Markus and his wife, Heidelinde, have manually created isolated biotopes far above the Danube River on old, abandoned terraces (that were already completely taken over by nature again) surrounded by natural forests, newly planted hedges and vegetable beds—permaculture in the making… The three annual Demeter-certified biodynamic Grüner Veltliner and Riesling bottlings prove that brightness, lightness and digestibility in combination with structure and terroir-driven complexity is possible even with 11% alcohol. Lang picks far earlier than anybody else in the Danube Valley — in 2018, 65 (!) days after the flowering — but this doesn’t mean he harvests unripe grapes. His grapes are just ripe and have this uplifting esprit that is somewhere between fruity and sour and delivers bright, light and tense wines with zero grams of residual sugar and 10% to 11% alcohol that you can drink all night long without getting down. However, this is only the fascinating result of an avant-garde approach that classifies HM Lang for the Parker Green Emblem for sustainability in every sense. To mention only the basics: 1. Only two passages per year with an old, very light German tractor: one on the frozen soils in winter and one in the summer heat to steamroller the grass and to keep the soil wet and the organisms alive. All the rest is done afoot and manually. 2. Leaf walls of 250 centimeters for a good solar power plant that enables Lang to pick early when the fruit still has energy and this virgin freshness. 3. New plantations downwind to protect the leaves from evaporation. 4. The world’s most spectacular basket press constructed by Markus Lang himself that presses 100 tons of grapes with 6.5 bar without electric energy, just by gravity. 5. The wine cellar/winery is located in an old, abandoned tunnel drilled into a massive rock that surrounds it by 25 meters on top and naturally keeps the temperature at 11 degrees Celsius all year. 6. Vessels are oak barrels, clay amphorae and stoneware. 7. Lang’s wines have the Demeter certification. All this doesn’t cost much energy (mostly muscles) and makes HM Lang face global warming without fear. “We have enough methods to handcraft light and digestible wines even nowadays,” Markus Lang sums up his fascinating three-hectare project in Krems-Stein.

Jean-François Ganevat is not only one of the leading producers in Jura, he is also a role model for many young growers in the region and around the world. He took over from his father in 1998 after a decade of working in Burgundy, and that same year they started the transition to organic and moved to biodynamics in 2006. Today, all of his vineyards are Demeter certified in organic and biodynamic viticulture. Like many of the best growers, he does not use the organic and biodynamic approach in the vineyard as a sales argument and instead does it out of pure conviction. Ganevat works biodynamically and takes vineyard work very seriously. He employs one full-time person per hectare of vineyard, which implies very high running costs. But he does not want to make the wine prices high, even if the secondary market seems to be cashing in on them. He is one of the most revered producers of natural wines; the wines have character and precision, and they are clean and showcase the grapes, soils and vintages faithfully. He's often referred to as 'L’Enfant terrible' from Jura, a name with which he seems quite comfortable and a role he likes to play, being a bad boy. He even has a Poulsard red named precisely Cuvée de L’Enfant Terrible. He likes to joke and be casual, but behind his informal and jovial façade, there is someone with solid knowledge about vineyards and winemaking. He is not a simple peasant; he knows what he is doing, and he is a very smart guy. He works with his sister Anne in the south of the Jura, in the village of Rotalier, which is classified in the appellation Côtes du Jura. They work by soil and variety, marl, limestone and schist and Chardonnay, Savagnin, Pinot Noir, Poulsard and Trousseau (and some of the pre-phylloxera varieties, too), with and without 'flor', so the number of bottlings is very high.

In the 1990s, Pierre Larmandier and his wife, Sophie, began to work the soils of their vineyards and abandoned the use of herbicides, moving toward organic and then biodynamic farming. Sophie provided the inspiration. “I always said I could never marry a vigneron,” she told me, “because of all the chemicals they use in the vineyards, but Pierre changed my mind.” Even if Champagne’s landscape is slowly beginning to change, they have had few imitators. "I thought I could be five years ahead of the others in giving up on chemical farming," Pierre observed to me, "but I never imagined that I might be 50 years ahead!" Pierre's father had always advocated picking mature fruit, and with the new farming methods, the wines became almost too concentrated and tightly wound, he relates. So, changes in the winery followed suit: fermentation in wood—foudres, demi-muids and barrels (today, mainly from Austrian cooper Stockinger)—instead of stainless steel, and the use of ambient instead of selected yeasts.

At the turn of the millennium, Louis Roederer launched their so-called “Plan 2012,” a program devised by chef des caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, initiating a revolution in Champagne. “Plan 2012” aimed to take Roederer “back to the roots,” weaning the vineyards off herbicides and synthetic fertilizers and returning to cultivating the soils. Tilling the soils for the first time cut the vines’ superficial root systems, forcing them deeper into the soil, and Roederer’s yields fell by around 30%. By 2012, Roederer had achieved their target of zero herbicide use, and today, 122 hectares are certified organic. At the same time, Lecaillon began introducing biodynamic methods in the house’s vineyards. The house’s first entirely biodynamically farmed cuvée was the 2006 Brut Nature, a collaboration with designer Philippe Starck produced from the Roederer holdings in Cumières. Cristal Rosé followed suit with the 2007 vintage, and Cristal itself with the 2012 vintage. Lecaillon says that farming this way results in deeper root systems and more resilience in warm, dry weather. Vines farmed this way, he adds, also produce ripe fruit with lower sugar levels—an obvious advantage in an era of warmer vintages. Needless to say, in a region dominated by chemical farming since the 1960s, the significance of Roederer’s commitment to organic farming is considerable. So, too, are the challenges to farming this way on such a scale. Champagne is a region of paradoxes as, on the one hand, the most intensely farmed appellation d’origine controlée (AOC) in France, with the highest average yields, and on the other, the AOC with the largest area under organic conversion. Roederer’s decision to embrace sustainable farming points to the way that paradox must ultimately be resolved.

What will be the first certified-organic wine appellation in Europe? The race is on, and one of the top contenders is the Valdarno di Sopra DOC in Tuscany. This Green Emblem award recognizes the hard work and forward-thinking approach of a wine region located in an enchanting triangle of Tuscany that is equidistant from Florence, Arezzo and Siena. Specifically, it goes to a passionate winemaker with the enthusiasm and vision to create a certified-organic wine region recognized both by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and the European Parliament. That man is Luca Sanjust of Petrolo. His region, the Valdarno di Sopra DOC, may not actually become the first (Spain’s D.O. Cava is also a contender and is further ahead in navigating Europe’s red tape), but Valdarno di Sopra is pushing hard to break down bureaucratic barriers and set a precedent for others to follow. The hope is that, one day, like-minded producers will easily be able to obtain organic certification on a regional basis. Valdarno di Sopra is one of four historic wine regions in Tuscany to surpass the 300-year-old mark. On September 24, 1716, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de’ Medici signed a decree that established the geographic boundaries for Chianti (today identified as Chianti Classico, Pomino/Chianti Rufina, Carmignano and Valdarno di Sopra). Valdarno di Sopra is very small, and its diminutive size is exactly what gives the region the agility to try something this dynamic. In fact, all 15 wine estates represented in the appellation are already individually certified for organics, and together they unanimously created an association called Produttori VigneBio Valdarno to underline their commitment to sustainability. Robert Parker Wine Advocate has had a dedicated annual report on the wines from Valdarno di Sopra (the smallest report from Tuscany that we publish) since 2017. “The wine industry [in Italy] is much ahead of the food sector in creating a system that focuses on sustainability,” says Slow Food Italia President Barbara Nappini. She was one of a dozen experts called to participate in the Valdarno di Sopra Day that took place on May 16, 2023. Organized by Luca Sanjust and DOC authorities, the event explored the various ways of achieving recognition for organics on a European level. In 2018, Valdarno di Sopra approached the Italian Ministry of Agriculture to form a Bio (or organic) DOC appellation. Two years later, they were told that such a thing was impossible under European norms. In the meantime, Italian authorities blocked any modification to the appellation by-laws, thus creating more delay. However, consumers clearly back this initiative. “There is a strong trend to drink organic wine,” says Maria Grazia Mammuccini, president of Italy’s FederBio, a lobby for organic agriculture. “Ten years ago, only one in 50 consumers claimed to drink organic wine. Today, that number is one in two.” We wish Luca Sanjust and his Valdarno di Sopra DOC wine region the best of luck in achieving this goal. To celebrate his efforts and undying persistence, we are proud to honor him with this Green Emblem recognition. “We will get there,” Luca says. “Every step taken has reinforced our argument. At the end of the day, it comes down to creating quality wine.”

The Monarch tractor is the first fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor, developed by a team of farmers, experts and engineers; the project is a result of the work of four co-founders, including Carlo Mondavi and Mark Schwager (known for designing Tesla’s Nevada-based warehouse). As chief farming officer, Carlo has utilized generational knowledge and first-hand experience from nearly 10 years running Raen, the Pinot Noir house he and his brother, Dante, founded in 2013. “My grandfather’s generation didn’t understand microbiology as well and needed to understand the science,” he explains. “My father, Tim, was the greatest mentor for technical winemaking. Now, our generation needs to take care of the farming.” The Monarch tractor is the first to use AI and smart screen technology to provide live video feeds, weather information, automatic field scouting, root to fruit analysis and more. Compact and lightweight, it can run continuously by swapping out its two battery packs; one operator can control an entire fleet of the autonomous tractors. However, fossil fuels are still the leading source of electricity generation in the U.S., and there is no silver bullet for fighting climate change; it will require experimentation and innovation from across disciplines—from politicians to scientists, attorneys to economists. “Biodiversity is collapsing across the world,” Carlo laments. “We have to get away from burning hydrocarbons. Our science has been very capitalistic. We need to change that basic premise.” The Monarch tractor debuted in Raen’s Royal St. Robert and Bodega vineyards in 2021. What is most compelling about this project is that it answers perhaps the most critical question facing the world today: How can we make sustainable farming economically superior to conventional farming? The Monarch tractor was designed to fit into the existing farming ecosystem to incentivize its adoption in any type of agriculture. Small tractors perform the bulk of tasks on most farms, a sort of Swiss Army knife of farming. Like automobiles and the push to incentivize electric vehicles, we must find ways to make clean energy easy and affordable to a wide audience. “Fuel and labor are two of the biggest expenses for a farmer, and an annual diesel bill often runs to $150,000,” Carlo explains. “How do you get farmers to invest in clean technology? We have to find a way to make sustainable farming superior to conventional farming. The economic and carbon footprint divide has always been in favor of conventional, versus methods that protect the soil microbiome. Monarch allows us to do both. We can now power our farm with the same energy that grows our crops.” The Mondavis also hope the Monarch tractor will appeal to a younger generation of farmers for whom climate change is an urgent challenge. They are entirely assembled in California, and recently Monarch received a $20 million investment from CNH, a global equipment company. “We have the tools that we need to implement, and we know what to do,” Carlo emphasizes. “The question is, will humanity do it?”

With multiple certifications, including Demeter and Ceres, Reyneke is committed to organic and biodynamic farming without using herbicides, pesticides or fungicides. Channeling ancient wisdom by listening to the natural order of life, the viticulture team opts for live ducks over chemical sprays in the event of vineyard snails, a common vector for bud and canopy damage. Regarding weeds and cover crops, rather than trying to get rid of weeds they don’t want, Reyneke proactively seeds in their vineyards to promote vine health, naturally outcompeting weeds and keeping mealybug away from vine roots. Using biodynamic preparations, compost tea is applied directly to their vineyards, boosting organic biodiversity in their soil and vineyards. Their annual calendar for planting, pruning and harvesting all follow the celestial cycle, syncing with Mother Nature and harmonizing as one, allowing vines to grow the highest quality grapes possible without the use of harmful chemicals. The team also has its own composting area to incorporate back into the vineyards. Johan Reyneke has a deep respect for all living things, and organics and biodynamics are part of that equation. His understanding of biodynamics has allowed Reyneke to take a conventionally farmed vineyard and transform the soil using biodynamic practices to producing healthier vines that produced more grapes per acre. Their belief that plants and animals need one another resonates with their day-to-day practices with livestock. This symbiotic relationship between plants and animals aids in the pollination of plants and fertilization of the soil from which the plants spring. Through the lens of biodynamic practices and incorporating the wholistic picture, Reyneke exemplifies the biodynamic farm, which allows the team to create truly remarkable wines with varietal purity, mineral tension and a certain transcendence that exudes a sense of place.

Sadie Family Wines remains a leader in organic farming in the South African landscape, focusing on old vines, some of which produce excruciatingly low yields, from meticulous managed vineyards. Eben Sadie, owner of Sadie Family Wines, has lived by a simple rule: to interfere with the wine as little as possible, allowing the wine’s natural essence to shine through, proudly displaying the subtleties of the vintage, so that their expressions of terroir and varietal purity may sing true with a sense of time and place. Not only does Sadie Family Wines put an emphasis on organic practices, Sadie himself is an invaluable mentor of organic practices, applications and philosophy. His genuine curiosity and love for his vines has driven him to continually sharpen his skillset over his career to make world-class wines by harmonizing with nature. He possesses the ability to understand and incorporate organic practices into his vineyards, which led him to plant unirrigated vineyards on his property in the middle of prolonged drought and still be successful—a challenge even for the most experienced vignerons in warm regions around the world like Swartland. When talking with Sadie, it’s clear that he cares for his vines like people care for their pets or loved ones—one can see the anguish in his eyes as he speaks about a recent drought and its effects on his vines. Simply put, he gets it and is in tune with Mother Nature and the vines. The winemaking practices and philosophies of Sadie Family Wines display delightful expressions, demonstrating amazing texture with mineral tension and depth of flavor typically reserved for the finest wines. Rightfully, confirming Sadie’s place in the history books, his outside-the-box thinking combined with a focus on organic farming practices allows Sadie Family Wines to understand the interconnected relationship between earth and vine.

On a clear day, you can see the island of Capri, the Amalfi Coast and the Gulf of Salerno, with its shimmering blue waters, from the vineyards of San Salvatore 1988 in the Cilento area of Campania in southern Italy. These are some of the most sought-after summer destinations, with luxury hotels, celebrity chefs and a booming labor force linked to the very lucrative tourism trade. Giuseppe (“Peppino”) Pagano likes to tell this story. He was walking through his vineyards, taking in this panorama, when it hit him, <i>“Non è solo bellezza, è anche bontà.”</i> I’ve translated his words as, “It’s not just beauty, it is benevolence.” Despite the views of Capri, the Cilento suffers from a stark economic reality with some of the highest youth unemployment rates in the region of Campania, which averaged above 50% (with one out of two young people without a job) in 2019, the year before COVID-19. A lack of infrastructure and services means only the diehard or the most courageous entrepreneurs will survive in this largely unknown part of southern Italy. Peppino not only survives, he thrives, with multiple businesses linked to hospitality, restaurants and wine. That’s on top of the mozzarella. His <i>caseificio</i>, or dairy farm, makes some of the best <i>mozzarella di bufala</i> on earth. His stables house 450 heads of water buffalo for the production of Mozzarella di Bufala DOP Campana. Peppino saw potential in an area of Italy that was otherwise known for hardship and emigration. “I do everything for the younger generations,” he tells me while walking through the same vineyard rows where he had his illumination. “I want to show them that dreams can be realized in the Cilento.” With organic and biodynamic cultivations, Peppino farms both grapevines and olives. Solar panels and biogas plants (that use buffalo manure) mean that his operations run entirely off of renewable energy. He founded one of my favorite roadside eateries, La Dispensa di San Salvatore (check it out: <a href="https://www.ladispensa1988.it" target="_blank">https://www.ladispensa1988.it</a>), where you can order an amazing lunch or stop by the shop to buy organic mozzarella, ricotta, yogurt and even ice cream made with buffalo milk. A few years ago, Peppino opened a fine-dining restaurant in the Savoy Beach Hotel that he owns. The restaurant, Tre Olivi, with chef Giovanni Solofra, grabbed headlines across Italy when <a href="https://guide.michelin.com/en/campania/paestum/restaurant/tre-olivi" target="_blank">it earned an exceptional two Michelin stars</a> straight out of the gate. “Tre Olivi burst onto the culinary scene after being awarded two Michelin stars when previously it held none, so impressed were our inspectors by the skillful chef here,” writes the MICHELIN Guide. Peppino’s latest project is a wine bar inside the archeological park of Paestum. He bought an abandoned building directly across the pathway from the magnificent Greek temple of Athena (built in 500 BC) and is creating a library cellar of local bottles. “These are the ingredients that make a great wine. I was inspired by the idea that I could do things to improve the situation here,” says Peppino Pagano of his native Cilento. “This is my way of communicating. This is a way of expressing myself without using my voice. This is my way of talking by way of my thoughts.” We are proud to present the Green Emblem award to Peppino Pagano of San Salvatore 1988. He represents an inspiring model of sustainability that applies to people of all ages in the Cilento who seek a better and more prosperous future.

Farming like the world depends on it — this is the simple yet compelling mission statement of the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA), a group of farmers and various experts that have come together to create a new agricultural certification based on three pillars: soil health, animal welfare and social welfare. In 2019, as Tablas Creek celebrated their 30th year, second-generation proprietor Jason Haas was approached by the ROA to participate in a pilot program for their new certification, Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC). Applicable to food, textiles and even personal care products, the ROA incorporates some requirements of other certifications. Properties seeking the ROC designation must be certified organic and actively engaged in building soil health, the core philosophy of regenerative farming. Soils are rigorously apprised for their carbon sequestration, and growers are encouraged or required to employ other aspects of regenerative and biodynamic farming, including composting; no-till farming; habitat creation for beneficial insects and pollinators; and the grazing of livestock. A hugely important aspect of the ROC — and what sets it apart from other certifications — is the inclusion of social welfare as a third pillar. Unless you’ve participated in a grape or produce harvest, it's difficult to understand how critical farmworkers are for nourishing our country and how punishing agricultural work is at its core. ROC ensures that farmworkers are informed of their rights as workers; are paid a living wage whether they are employed or working as subcontractors; and that working conditions are clean and safe. As the first in the world to achieve the ROC designation, Tablas Creek continues to be a pioneer for viticulture in California. Critically, Jason has used his position to amplify sustainability initiatives and address critical issues in the wine industry. On the Tablas Creek blog, Jason regularly writes about a wide range of topics, including glass bottle weights, dry farming, the impact of organic and biodynamic viticulture and even legislation and regulation. He addresses a large audience of consumers and fellow winemakers, encouraging and enabling others to follow his example. Wine enthusiasts can look forward to the impacts of a new sustainability certification, as Tablas Creek leads the way.

Vines at Eyrie have never been farmed conventionally—no herbicides or artificial pesticides have ever been used, and the land has never been tilled or irrigated. The estate has been certified organic since 2013, “mainly because I have a higher tolerance for paperwork than my father did,” says second-generation winemaker Jason Lett. After speaking with a biodynamics consultant back in the 1990s who advised ripping the soil, the Letts decided against that system. “We are adamant about no-till farming, and there is no certification for that,” Jason notes. No-till farming is especially important for the old, own-rooted vines under imminent threat of phylloxera. Jason also notes that no-till farming decreases drought stress: grasses and plants on the surface consume the uppermost water, forcing vine roots deeper. “Without plowing, you’re letting earthworms and beetles aerate the soil, and those air pockets become water-holding pockets,” he says. “You turn a pile of powder into a sponge.” Eyrie also offers something more nontangible than certifications—viticultural heritage. Jason works fastidiously to preserve the old vines planted by his father. About 7% of the original vines have been lost; these are torn out and replanted one-by-one, vine productivity and economics be damned. In caring for the old vines at the estate, Jason has also preserved some unique varieties that perform well in Oregon apart from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, grapes like Trousseau, Pinot Gris, Chasselas and Pinot Meunier. Hoping to prove that wines could not only be grown in Oregon but age gracefully in bottle, David Lett set aside his own bottlings each vintage, ultimately amassing a prolific library. Jason spent a decade developing a Cellar Certification system to evaluate the older bottles in the collection. Wines are tasted as lots, re-blended, re-bottled and freshly corked. In preserving Oregon’s viticultural heritage, Eyrie has opened a window for what sustainability could look like in the future. As climate change brings more erratic weather, and now wildfires, to the state, the role of the winemaker will change. It won’t be enough just to make wine. Winemakers will need to experiment with new rootstocks and grape varieties, and more seriously consider their water use and impact on the land. The philosophy of grape growing at Eyrie—own-rooted, dry-farmed vines planted in land that is not worked or watered—may inform a more responsible agricultural future.

When Clemens Busch had to apprentice with his father in the 1970s instead of moving out into the world, he disliked the application of herbicides and the resulting death of insects. When he took over the business a few years later—two years before the Chernobyl disaster and in the midst of protests against nuclear power plants and environmental contamination—he focused immediately on organic viticulture, which at that time was at best in its infancy in Germany and had hardly been researched and, therefore, was not taught at university. With friends, Clemens tried to adapt Steiner’s agricultural discourse to viticulture, but with all the trials and errors, it was to take another 30 years before Clemens and Rita committed themselves to biodynamic viticulture. In all the years before, though, the two were pioneers of organic viticulture in promoting ecological, sustainable and socially acceptable agriculture, which in the Moselle region means mainly viticulture. Clemens even became the second mayor of Pünderich and, heading for sustainable and socially acceptable agriculture, took the biggest skeptics on board. The grapes from the Marienburg come to the winery by ferry, since a tractor ride along the Moselle would take much too long. The processing of the manually harvested grapes, as well as the aging of the wines fermented with natural yeasts, is traditionally done in barrels. The sulfur content in the dry Rieslings is moderate or even very low, while that in the sweet Prädikat wines is correspondingly higher. In the vineyards, goats help to keep the terraces free of bushes and unwanted vegetation. Water is scarce in these extremely stony slate slopes, which are extremely time-consuming and costly to cultivate organically or biodynamically. This effort can only be adequately rewarded with world-class wine qualities and unmistakable stylistics that are shaped by their origin. Without the appropriate prices, terraced viticulture in the Mosel cannot be sustained. Clemens Busch, one of the few organic winemakers in the Mosel, paved the way, and son Johannes continues to do so. This is all supported by a fairly paid team of employees and interns who become part of the family, some living with them in the estate house. While nature is reclaiming more and more vineyards, especially Mosel downstream, which are thus lost to viticulture forever and are transforming the cultural landscape attractive to tourists into a wild natural landscape, Pünderich is now a thriving village with one of the most famous vineyards on the Moselle. Clemens and Rita have a significant share in this. Both are now over 60 years old, but unlike so many farms in the region, this one is passing to the next generation. For as much inspiration as Clemens has been to many younger winegrowers, he has not yet achieved his goal, which is to motivate as many winegrowers as possible for sustainable, ecological and socially responsible viticulture. He could imagine working as a consultant in the future to champion reasonable Mosel viticulture and fairly paid terroir wines of exceptional quality. Because without wine, there will be no tourism and no sustainable future for the Mosel region and its people that have been connected to viticulture for about 2,000 years.

At the top wine estates in Australia, the tide is turning toward sustainable/restorative agriculture and, in many cases, organic/biodynamic viticulture and winemaking. The knowledge and understanding of our impact on the planet permeates every facet of the industry, and it grows with every month that goes by. Action on that knowledge is the next step, and so the support for and promotion of businesses that embody the right movements into the future must be given. The cost of thoughtless, short-term decisions that concern vineyard management, winery waste management, energy sources, water catchment (and subsequent storage and use) and environmental impact is too costly to bear as we move forward into an age that not only champions but demands a light footprint on the earth and true symbiosis with our environment. The answer to great wine undoubtedly starts in the vineyard but finishes in the winery, and Yangarra Estate Vineyard in McLaren Vale is a testament to what is possible when the ground is restored and nurtured into bottle. Owned by the Jackson family (one of three estates in Australia owned by Jackson Family Wines), Yangarra Estate Vineyard is a prime example of what is possible with long-range vision and passion for sustainability. Farmed organically and biodynamically since 2008 (the estate was “soft” managed from its inception in 2001) and certified in 2012, Yangarra has become a beacon of forward-thinking viticulture, expressive and detailed winemaking and a vision pursuant to a greater, more sustainable future. Viticulturist Michael Lane leads a seven-person viticultural team, and the grounds are testament to the cyclical, restorative and thoughtful management that they practice. The property is home to 220 acres of vines and almost 200 acres of native bushland. These bushland areas have been regenerated to provide habitat for native flora and fauna and a sustenance for insectaries. These nature corridors support the collection of seeds (which are subsequently germinated onsite and planted). Predatory birds and mites are periodically released so that no one species is dominant over another (I saw evidence of this in the crested pigeon nesting boxes in the trees around the perimeter of some of the vineyards). In the vineyards, cover crops are sewn (voluntary grasses are supported as well) and hydroseeding is being trialed. The team—ever-conscious of soil compaction and its impact on biodiversity/health—has chosen to have sheep graze instead of midrow operations during winter when it is wet and the soils are soft. A wet system in the winery captures rainwater that is stored onsite; the wastewater is piped into specially cultivated horizontal reap beds, comprised of Phragmites australis (native reeds) that filters the wastewater, breaks down the non-beneficial matter and holds the solids. The beds are cut back in winter when water use is lower, and after application of natural compost, they naturally regenerate and complete the cycle for the coming year. Carbon sequestering, via the winery waste, is taken to the vineyard through vintage, has BD prep and cereal stubble added, where it is composted down and reapplied back into the vineyard. The cyclical, “nothing wasted, nothing lost” philosophy here is, frankly, a thing of beauty.